Elon 8, UMBC 7
ELON, N.C. – Trailing by five runs going to the last of the sixth inning, the Elon baseball team rallied by scoring six runs over its final three at bats to claim an 8-7 victory over the visiting UMBC Retrievers at Latham Park on Monday afternoon.
After the top of the sixth, Elon (11-5) trailed 7-2. The Phoenix began its comeback with three in the sixth. Sebastian Gomez got it started with a single to left and stole second. After a fielder's choice left runners on the corners with one out, Chris King's rocket of an infield single allowed Gomez to score and continued to keep runners on first and third. Andy Moore made it a 7-4 contest with a single to center before Ryan Cooper was hit by a pitch with the bags full to pull the maroon and gold within two, 7-5.
The contest remained 7-5 until the last of the eighth. With men on first and second with one out, Cooper laced a double down the right-field line that scored one. Casey Jones drew a walk to load the bases ahead of a wild pitch that allowed David Lowrey to race home with the game-tying run. After Elon reloaded the bases, Nick Zammarelli drew a five-pitch walk to force home Jones with the winning run.
The Phoenix fell behind in the top of the first when UMBC (1-6) scored when Anthony Gatto singled home Kevin Lachance.
Elon came right back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning on RBI singles from Jones and Lynch.
UMBC added two runs in the second, three in the fourth and one in the sixth to build its lead.
The Retrievers had many chances to increase their lead before the Phoenix rallied. UMBC left the bases loaded in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings. In the seventh, UMBC filled the bases with no outs before Chris Hall worked out of the jam, getting a force out at home, a strike out and a foul out to end the threat.
Picking up his first career win was Grant Fisher (1-0). Fisher went 2/3 scoreless innings for the victory. Ryan Pennell tossed the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season.
The loss went to Jonny Dierks (0-1), who gave up four runs on four hits in two innings out of the UMBC bullpen.
Elon will be right back in action on Tuesday, as the Phoenix will host Liberty at 5 p.m.
Coastal Carolina 3, UNCG 0
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – UNCG closed out its participation in the Chanticleer Classic on Monday evening, falling to host Coastal Carolina 3-0 inside TickerReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark.
The Spartans fell to 6-8 overall, while the Chanticleers improved to 7-8.
Senior RHP Dylan Thompson was very solid in his third start of the season, limiting Coastal Carolina to just one run on two hits with no walks and two strikeouts in a career-high seven innings pitched. The tough-luck loss was his first decision of the campaign. Chanticleer starter Cole Schaeffer (3-0) was equally impressive, hurling seven scoreless innings and scattering four hits while tallying two walks and two strikeouts.
The teams combined for just nine hits in the game and made four errors between them. Additionally, only two of Coastal Carolina’s three runs were earned.
A quartet of Spartans recorded one base hit with senior infielder Sean Guite and junior infielder Jordan McDonald extending their hitting streaks to seven games each.
After the Spartans went down in order in the top of the first inning, the Chanticleers struck for a run in the bottom of the frame. With one out, Michael Paez was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a ground out by Connor Owings. Zach Remillard brought him home with a single to left field as Coastal led 1-0 after one complete.
UNCG put its first runner in scoring position with two outs in the top of the third, as sophomore catcher Jake Hall singled and moved to second on a walk by junior outfielder Zac MacAneney. However, junior outfielder Tyler Long flied out to left center to end the half inning.
Thompson did not allow another Chanticleer base-runner until the sixth inning, as he cruised along to the seventh. Meanwhile, the Blue and Gold had a great chance to break onto the scoreboard in the top of the sixth. Junior outfielder L.J. Kalawaia singled down the left-field line and moved to second on a fielding error in the outfield. However, he would be doubled off as Owings made a great leaping catch at second base and caught Kalawaia off of the bag. McDonald lined out to Owings for the third out.
Coastal Carolina took advantage of some faulty defense by UNCG in the bottom of the eighth and added three hits in the frame to extend its lead to 3-0 with two runs. Junior infielder Hunter King managed to draw a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth, but the Chanticleers shut the door thanks, in part, to a pair of strikeouts to preserve the shutout.
The Spartans continue their road swing Tuesday with their fourth game in as many days, taking on East Carolina inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
College of Charleston 8, The Citadel 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Freshman Bailey Ober continued his hot start for College of Charleston, tossing a two-hitter in an 8-0 victory over The Citadel in the rubber game of the series Monday night at Riley Park.
The Cougars (12-3) took the final two games of the series after The Citadel won a 5-4, 11-inning thriller on Saturday. The Bulldogs dropped to 7-9 heading into Wednesday's 5 p.m. home against USC Upstate, their last contest before the start of Southern Conference play this weekend at Davidson.
Ober improved to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to an even 1.00 in 27 innings. He allowed a leadoff single to Mason Davis in the first and a two-out bunt single to Drew DeKerlegand in the fourth, but the only other Bulldog base-runners came on two hit batters and a Cougar error. Ober did not issue a walk and struck out eight.
The complete-game shutout was the first against The Citadel since Jordan Smith of Western Carolina turned the trick in a 6-0 Catamount victory on May 20, 2011. The Bulldogs put two runners on base in only one inning, and Ober faced the minimum 15 batters over the final five frames.
College of Charleston got the only runs it needed in the top of the first against Bulldog starter Kevin Connell on back-to-back RBI singles by Carl Wise and Brandon Glazer. Wise drove in a run with a triple in the third and scored on a base hit by Alex Pastorius to make it 4-0.
It stayed that way over the next four innings as Zach Sherrill and Austin Livingston both worked a pair of shutout innings out of The Citadel bullpen. The Cougars reached Livingston for two runs in the eighth and tacked on another two in the ninth to break the game open.