Elon Baseball Defeats Northeastern for Another CAA Series Win

ELON, N.C. – With the game knotted at 2-2, Anthony Galason slapped a two-RBI single to right field as Elon University baseball topped Northeastern 4-2 Saturday afternoon, April 27 at Latham Park.

BOX SCORE | FINAL RESULTS

Brandon Justice (2-0) picked up the win after pitching the eighth inning. The senior from Greenville, S.C. had one strikeout and retired the three batters he faced. Starter George Kirby went 7.0 complete innings and tallied eight strikeouts. He allowed two unearned runs on five walks and didn’t give up any free passes. Ty Adcock took care of the Huskies (18-23, 8-9 CAA) in the ninth to grab the save.

Galason finished 2-for-4 with the pair of runs driven in. Cam Devanney also batted 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored, while Adam Spurlin knocked a solo home run and went 1-for-2 with a pair of runs and the one RBI.

How It Happened: The Phoenix (26-18, 15-2) opened the scoring in the second. Devanney led off with a single to left and took second as the fielder allowed the ball to get past him for an error. The redshirt-junior then moved up on a wild pitch and scored on Nick Cicci’s single to left. After Cicci was caught stealing, Spurlin poked a 1-2 offering to the right of the scoreboard to give the home team the early 2-0 lead.

Northeastern pulled even with a two-run top of the fifth. The inning got off to a weird start as Jeff Costello started off the frame with a pop up near first base that Spurlin lost in the sun. The first base umpire mistakenly ruled the ball foul, and Costello was held to a single on the play. Jake Rosen then smacked a ball to right that hit off of Adcock’s glove to put runners on first and second. Kirby then wheeled to second to try to get the lead runner, but Spurlin took his eye off the ball as it went into the outfield and allowed both runners to move up a bag. Elon accepted a John Mazza ground out as Joe Satterfield stepped on first for the unassisted put out, but a run came in on the play. A Cam Walsh single to the outfield then plated the other runner to make it a 2-2 ball game.

The red and black put the pressure on in the seventh as Costello doubled to the gap in left to start the inning. Jeff Rosen then laid down the sacrifice bunt. Some more chaos ensued as Pico fielded a line out and wheeled around to tag third base. The third base umpire ruled the out and then signaled to the bag as Elon thought it had turned the double play to end the inning. However, after some heated discussion, the runner stayed at third and Kirby went back to the mound. The Phoenix would then get Mazza to ground out to second to keep the scored tied at 2-2.

Spurlin walked to begin the home half of the eighth and proceeded to take second on a wild pitch. Pico earned a base on balls, prompting a mound visit and the end of starter Sean Mellen’s day. Tyler Stanley dropped a bunt and the Huskies attempted to get the force at third, but the throw wasn’t in time. With no outs and the bases juiced, Galason then batted the first pitch he saw as Spurlin and Pico both ran home on the play.

Notes: The series win marks the seventh in a row and sixth straight in conference play…Elon has now won nine consecutive CAA games and still has not dropped a league game at home…Spurlin’s solo shot marked his sixth of the season…Adcock’s save was his seventh of the season and second in as many days…The two programs are now even at 8-8 in the all-time series.

On Deck: Elon and Northeastern wrap up the weekend series with a 1:30 p.m. finale tomorrow, April 28.