Story courtesy of Elon sports information

Elon 16, Brown 8

ELON, N.C. ? Robert Rodebaugh went 3-for-4 with two home runs, four runs scored and four RBI to lead the Elon Phoenix to a 16-8 non-conference baseball victory over the Brown Bears from Latham Park on Tuesday night. With the victory, Elon improved to 21-8. Brown fell to 0-10 this year.

Brown grabbed the lead in the second inning. Devin Thomas drew a walk to lead off the inning and then stole second. Thomas moved to third on a single from Matt Nuzzo. A RBI single from Dan Shapiro knocked in Thomas with the first run of the game. The Phoenix then caught Nuzzo between home and third on a failed squeeze for the first out and Tom Porter fanned Robert Papenhouse for out number two. Shapiro crossed the plate on a single from Ryan Murphy, giving the Bears a 2-0 lead. After a stolen base and walk to put men on first and second, Elon turned the ball over to Jesse Lewter. Lewter retired the first batter he saw thanks to a diving catch in center from Ryan Addison.

The Phoenix answered right back in the bottom of the inning. Grant Rembert started the stanza with a single to right before Rodebaugh launched a blast over the wall in right-center to even the score at two. Addison then sent the next pitch into the rightfield gap for a double. Pat Irvine’s single back up the middle put runners on the corners for Radford who knocked home Addison with an infield single. Elon plated its fourth run of the frame when Donny Jobe singled home Radford with a liner to the gap in right.

A ground out from Thomas scored Danny Hughes with Brown’s third run of the night in the third inning. The Bears regained the lead when Robert Papenhouse tripled to drive in both Nuzzo and Shapiro. Papenhouse also scored on the play when the throw to third went to the fence, giving Brown a 6-4 advantage.

In the bottom of the third, Elon loaded the bases with two walks and a single. Addison’s single to right drove in two to knot the score at six and put men on the corners with no outs. Following a pitching change by the Bears, Addison swiped second. The seventh Phoenix run of the night scored when Irvine singled home Rodebaugh. A sacrifice fly from Radford brought in Addison before Jordy Snyder’s double down the line in right allowed Irvine to score.

A two-out single from Thomas drove in Bryan Tews to trim the Phoenix lead to 9-7 in the top of the fifth.

Elon got that run right back in its next at bat when Chris Price led the inning off with his sixth homer of the season, a shot over the wall in right-center. Irvine’s one-out single up the middle drove in both Rodebaugh and Addison to extend the Phoenix lead to 12-7.

Jobe scored Elon’s 13th run of the night when he crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly from Price in the fifth inning.

Rodebaugh connected for his fifth homer of the year, and second of the game, leading off the sixth inning as Elon extended its advantage to 14-7.

Brown tacked on another run in the eighth on a solo shot from Hughes.

Rodebaugh’s groundout in the bottom of the eighth allowed Rembert to score, making the score 15-8. Kevin Pratt then blasted his first career homer, a line drive over the wall in left. John Walker’s single to left gave Elon its 20th hit on the night, its highest total on the year.

Jesse Lewter (1-1) earned the win in relief for Elon. He went 1.1 innings and allowed four runs (one earned) on two hits.

Jeff Dietz (0-2) took the loss for Brown after allowing eight runs on eight hits in 2.0 innings of work.

All of Elon’s offensive starters recorded at least one hit on the night. Along with Rodebaugh, the Phoenix offense was paced by Addison (4-for-5, three runs, two RBI) and Irvine (3-for-4, run, three RBI).

Brown was led by two hits apiece from Hughes, Tews, Shapiro and Papenhouse.

Elon will travel to College of Charleston for a three-game Southern Conference series beginning Friday at 5:00 p.m. Brown will travel to Davidson for a 6:00 p.m. start tomorrow evening.

Story courtesy of Davidson sports information

Wake Forest 14, Davidson 6

DAVIDSON, N.C. ? Wake Forest first baseman Allan Dykstra clubbed three home runs, driving in five runs, as the Demon Deacons sent host Davidson to its ninth consecutive loss on Tuesday evening, 14-6. Wake Forest scored in every inning except the eighth as it improved to 20-7 on the season, while the Wildcats fell to 10-14.

Dykstra’s first home run was a solo shot to break a 5-5 deadlock in the fourth, coming off Davidson sophomore starter Brant West (3-4). The next inning, his three-run bomb capped a five-run frame, extending the Demon Deacon lead to 11-5. Dykstra completed the scoring on the evening with another solo blast leading off the ninth.

Five other players had two hits as Wake Forest banged out 16 safeties in the contest. Evan Ocheltree drove in three runs with a double and a triple, and Dustin Hood had a single and a double while scoring three times.

For Davidson, juniors Rob Wilson and Blake Osborn each had two hits, while the latter drove in a pair of runs. Senior Alex Entrekin also had two RBIs for the Wildcats.

The first pitch of the game was ripped to left field for a double by Matt Antonelli, who then stole third and scored on a looping single to right by Hood. One out later, Hood scored from first when Brendan Enick’s single got past the center fielder and rolled all the way to the fence for a 2-0 Wake Forest lead.

Davidson came right back and tied the score in the bottom half on a two-out, bases-loaded single by Osborn.

After Antonelli gave the Demon Deacons a 3-2 lead in the second with an RBI double, the Wildcats knocked Wake starter Kip Byrum from the box with three runs. Wilson delivered a two-out single to score freshman Jordan Mills, and three batters later Entrekin stroked a two-run single for a 5-3 Davidson advantage.

Wake Forest controlled the rest of the game, however, holding the Wildcats to just one run on two hits over the last seven innings while retiring the last 14 batters to end the game.

Brian Shust dropped an RBI double down the right-field line in the third, and Andy Goff followed with a run-scoring grounder, tying the game at five. Dykstra then hit his first homer in the fourth for the 6-5 Wake Forest lead.

Ocheltree’s two-run double in the fifth preceded Dykstra’s three-run clout, and he lofted a high fly to left that twisted in the wind and fell for an RBI triple in the sixth. Weldon Woodall blooped an RBI single in the seventh to score Hood, who had doubled.

The Wildcats’ final run came in the fifth when Osborn singled, sophomore Hugh Eden doubled just inside the third-base bag and Mills hit a sharp grounder to short to plate Osborn. Beginning with Mills, three relievers retired the last 14 batters, only one of which got the ball out of the infield. Josh Ellis struck out five in two perfect innings, and Ben Hunter fanned two in the final two frames.

Greg Young (1-0) got the victory in relief, allowing just one walk in 2.1 innings while striking out one batter.

Davidson had won the previous three games against Wake Forest, dating back to 2004.

The Wildcats will try to snap their skid tomorrow evening when they host Brown at 6 p.m. Wake Forest hosts Virginia Tech this weekend for a three-game ACC series starting on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

Story courtesy of Wofford sports information

South Carolina 13, Wofford 1

COLUMBIA, SC -- Senior Michael Campbell and freshman Reese Havens drove in three runs apiece Wednesday night and five pitchers combined to limit Wofford to six hits as fifth ranked South Carolina posted a 13-1 win over the Terriers.

Dan Luczak, who relieved starter Harris Honeycutt after four innings, was credited with the win to

improve his record to 2-0. Wofford starter Adam Wood, 0-2, was charged with the loss.

The Gamecocks took a 1-0 lead in the second and Wofford tied the game in the third when Zach Pittman hit his second home run in as many games.  The Gamecocks countered with five third inning runs, scored once in the fourth, three times in the sixth, once in the seventh and twice in the eighth.

Campbell drove in two runs with a third inning single and another with an infield out in the fourth. Havens doubled in the first Gamecock run in the second inning, singled to drive in one in the three run sixth, and drove in a third run in the eighth with a ground out.

Senior outfielder Mark Stanley hit a bases empty home run in the sixth inning, his first homer of the year and second of his career. Justin Smoak, Drew Martin and James Darnell also had runs batted in.

South Carolina is now 23-3 overall and in first place in the SEC East.  Wofford is 15-14 overall.  The Terriers will visit Furman for a three-game series starting Friday night a 7:00 p.m.          

Story courtesy of Appalachian State sports information

Appalachian State 7-8, Gardner-Webb 4-9 (Game 1 13 inn.)

BOONE, N.C. ? On a strange Tuesday at Red Lackey Field, Appalachian State University came out of the gates versus Gardner-Webb with three runs to win a game that spanned five weeks and 13 innings but gave up three runs to suffer its second ninth-inning setback in three days. Appalachian defeated GWU, 7-4, in the 13th inning of the Feb. 21 game halted due to darkness in Boiling Springs, N.C. but fell in Tuesday’s regularly scheduled contest, 9-8.

The Feb. 21 contest between ASU and GWU was knotted at 4-4 when it was halted in the top of the 13^th and Appalachian was in no mood to see it go much longer when it resumed on Tuesday, as it strung together five singles in the top of the 13th en route to the 7-4 win. Rand Smith, Wes Borden, Ben Billingsley, Kevin Butler and Nick DeRose all registered base hits in the top of the 13th and Adam Mills retired all three batters he faced in the bottom of the frame to give the Apps their first win over the Bulldogs since 1990. Zach Quate (2-2) recorded the win despite not pitching versus GWU in five weeks while Borden, Butler and DeRose all capped four-hit efforts in the victory. While officially listed as being played on Feb. 21, the win snapped a season-long eight-game losing streak for the Mountaineers.

Appalachian (10-14) also appeared to be on its way to victory in Tuesday’s regularly scheduled game when it jumped out to leads of 5-0 and 8-4. However, the ASU bullpen couldn’t hold on to its second big lead in three days, as GWU scored a pair of runs off Quate in the seventh and three more off Calvin Teague (1-1) in the ninth to take its first lead of the day at 9-8. The late-inning struggles were reminiscent of Sunday when Appalachian squandered an 8-1 ninth-inning lead in a 9-8 loss at Elon.

The Mountaineers threatened in the bottom of the ninth by putting runners on first and second with just one out, but Bulldog southpaw Ben Campbell induced a fly out and pop up to end the game and record his first save of the season. Gardner-Webb’s Tim Thomas (3-3) tossed a scoreless inning to claim the win.

Second baseman Ben Billingsley led Appalachian at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance that included a three-run homer in the fourth. Borden added a two hits and two RBI while senior shortstop Joey Robinson also drove in a pair of runs and Smith and center fielder Chris Baker chipped in with two hits apiece.

Gardner-Webb right fielder Matt Maloney enjoyed a monster day at the plate, going 5-for-5 with three doubles, the third of which drove in a run to spark the ninth-inning rally.

Appalachian continues a nine-game homestand this weekend when it hosts archrival Western Carolina for three games at Red Lackey Field. The series opener is set for Friday at 3 p.m.

Georgia Tech 19, Western Carolina 5