Elon 6, Samford 4
ELON, N.C. -- Jimmy Reyes continued his climb up the Elon top-10 list for career strikeouts as he recorded eight K's without issuing a walk over seven innings as the Phoenix knocked off the Samford Bulldogs 6-4 in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference baseball series from Latham Park on Wednesday night.
Reyes, who improved to 9-3, has won in six consecutive outings. He scattered five hits and allowed just one run. He now boasts 227 career strikeouts, good enough to move into fifth place on the program's career list.
With one out in the top of the first, Michael Johnson reached on an infield single before stealing second with two outs. Trey Hayes gave the Bulldogs (29-22, 16-11 SoCon) runners on the corners with another infield hit before Gary Cramer lined a single to right to score Johnson with the first run of the night.
Elon (35-19, 18-10) got its bats going in the bottom of the fourth when Niko Fraser led off with a bunt single. After a ground out sent Fraser to second, Neal Pritchard walked ahead of a Ryan Adams single which plated Fraser and left runners on the corners. The rains then started to fall, forcing a delay of 31 minutes. Once play resumed, Scott Riddle gave the Phoenix the lead with a ball through the left side that drove home Pritchard. With two outs, Seth Canipe cleared the bags with a three-run homer to center that made it a 5-1 game. It was his 10th of the season.
Riddle upped Elon's advantage to 6-1 when he greeted new Bulldog hurler Tyler Vanderheiden by drilling a 1-0 pitch well over the wall in left-center for his fifth home run of the season.
After the first hitter of the top of the eighth was retired, Elon reliever John Brebbia issued back-to-back walks to Wayne Miller and Johnson. The Phoenix handed the ball to Kyle Webb who got a ground ball to third off the bat of Mason Meredeth, but the throw to second to get the force went into right field as Miller scored to make it 5-2. With runners on the corners, Hayes hit a slow ground ball to short that erased Meredeth, but allowed Johnson to score the third Samford run. Hayes went to second on a wild pitch and then stole third before scoring on a Cramer double to right as the Bulldogs closed its deficit to 6-4.
The Phoenix's half of the eight began with a Pritchard single before Adams doubled to left-center. After a strike out, Samford intentionally walked pinch-hitter Ben Scott to load the bases for Canipe who was retired on an infield fly. Justin Hilt sent a 3-1 pitch deep to left-center, but the Bulldog left fielder hauled the ball in on the warning track to keep Elon off the board.
Thomas Girdwood, who came on to get the last out of the eighth, retired Samford in order in the ninth to claim his eighth save of the year.
Samford's Jonathan Stephens (7-2) suffered just the second defeat of his career after he was charged with five runs on five hits in five innings.
Offensively, Elon was led by Riddle's 2-for-4, two-run, two-RBI night while Adams also added two hits in four at bats for the Phoenix which out-hit the Bulldogs 8-6 on the night.
Hayes collected three of Samford's six hits while Cramer added two hits.
The two sides will square off for game two of this series at 4 p.m. on Thursday afternoon from Latham Park.
Gardner-Webb 15, Furman 4
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? O.J. McFarland homered twice and drove in a game high six runs to power Gardner-Webb to a 15-4 victory over Furman in the Paladins’ 2010 home baseball regular season home finale Wednesday afternoon at Latham Stadium.
McFarland delivered a two-run blast in the sixth inning and cracked a grand slam in the ninth for the Bulldogs (24-27), who banged out 19 hits against Paladin pitching, including four home runs.
Daniel Merck and Kurt Fulginiti also stroked round trippers for Gardner-Webb, which scored three times in the third to break a 2-2 tie.
After Furman (16-36) cut it to 5-3 with Brian Harrison’s leadoff home run in the fourth, the Bulldogs answered with a Fulginiti solo jack in the fifth and with three more runs in the sixth, two of which came on McFarland’s two-run long ball
Gardner-Webb finished off its big offensive display with a six-run ninth highlighted by McFarland’s grand slam and two-run home run by Merck.
The ample run support made an easy winner of Bulldog starter Michael Hanzlik (4-3), who allowed four runs on eight hits over seven innings. He walked three and fanned five.
Taking the loss was Paladin freshman Emil Brignola (0-1), who entered the contest having thrown only 1 1/3 innings this year. He was tagged for five runs on four hits over 2 1/3 frames.
Every Bulldog starter had a hit, including John Harris led and Adam McFarland who banged out three hits apiece. Six other starters tallied two hits for Gardner-Webb.
Paul Nitto paced Furman with a 2-for-3 performance that included a two-run run home run in the second that tied the game at 2-2. Will Miller double twice, and Will Owens also registered two hits for the Paladins.
Furman opens its final Southern Conference series of the season Thursday evening at UNC Greensboro in a 7:00 p.m. game. The Paladins (8-19 SoCon) are in ninth place in the SoCon, a game behind eighth place Wofford (9-18 SoCon), which currently holds the eighth and final qualifying seed for this year’s SoCon Tournament, slated for May 26-29 at Charleston’s Riley Park.
UNC Greensboro (7-20 SoCon) is a game back of Furman in 10th place.
Furman holds the advantage in an potential tie with Wofford by virtue of its three-game series sweep of the Terriers in Greenville last weekend.
Ian Parry (4-6) is expected to pitch for Furman in Thursday’s series opener at UNCG.