Brnovich Reaches 200 Career Strikeouts in Elon Baseball’s Thrilling Win Over Hofstra

ELON, N.C. – With two of the league’s best pitchers on the mound, fans at Elon University’s Latham Park saw a couple of outstanding performances as the Phoenix pulled out a 2-1 victory over the visiting Hofstra Pride on Friday, April 13.
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For Elon (18-16, 5-5 Colonial Athletic Association), starter Kyle Brnovich struck out 12 hitters to move into the program’s all-time top-10 list in that category. In just 24 career appearances, the sophomore now has 200 strikeouts to rank 10th on the all-time list. He surpassed Tal Abernathy who had 198 strikeouts between 1939-41. Brnovich, who did not earn a decision, allowed one run on two hits over 7.0 innings.

Robbie Welhaf (3-4) picked up the win with 2.0 shutout innings. He struck out five and faced the minimum.

Hofstra’s John Rooney matched Brnovich pitch-for-pitch. The junior allowed five hits and struck out eight over 7.0 innings. The loss went to Chris Weiss (2-4) who gave up two runs on two hits in an inning of work for the Pride (14-12, 4-6).

At the plate, Elon’s Ryne Ogren had the lone multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Garrett Stonehouse drove in both Phoenix runs in a 1-for-1 night.

The Pride had just two hits, including an RBI single from Matt Siedem who finished 1-for-3.

How It Happened: The pitcher’s duel was scoreless until the fifth inning when Brnovich hit back-to-back batters after striking out the first two hitters of the inning. With the runners moving on a 3-2 pitch, Siedem then hit a soft line drive down the third base line. Elon’s Joe Satterfield made a lunging play on the ball and knocked it down, but the lead runner scored to give the Pride a 1-0 lead.

After stranding a leadoff double in the last of the seventh, Elon got another two-bagger to start the eighth, this one from Ogren. Liam O’Regan followed with a four-pitch walk before pinch-hitter Josh Broughton sacrificed both runners into scoring position. Satterfield stepped in and, on a 1-2 count with the infield drawn in, bounced a high chopper of the first baseman’s head and just out of reach of a diving try by Hofstra’s second baseman for a two-RBI double that proved to be the difference.

Hofstra never threatened in the ninth as Welhaf struck out the side.

Notes: Brnovich also climbed into the program’s top-10 single-season strikeout list with 97, a number that is tied for eighth with Bill Schultz (1972) and Kyle Webb (2013)… In nine starts this year, Brnovich has struck out 10 or more six times… Elon has now played 13 one-run games on the year… The Phoenix won for the first time in 12 tries when trailing after seven innings and for just the second time in 13 games when trailing after six innings.

On Deck: Game two of the set between Elon and Hofstra is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 14. Latham Park gates open at 3 p.m.