Elon Advances to Face Georgia Southern in SoCon Title Game

GREENVILLE, S.C. ? Behind a four-run sixth inning, No. 1 seed Elon came from behind to defeat No. 3 seed The Citadel, 8-7, in an elimination game at the 2009 Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Fluor Field. 

The Phoenix (40-15) advances to face No. 2 seed Georgia Southern (41-15) in Sunday’s championship game at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SportSouth on a tape-delay basis at 7:30 p.m.

The Citadel ends the regular season at 37-22.

The nightcap win for the Phoenix came after the Bulldogs won the first game of the day, 5-1, to push Elon to an elimination game.

The Bulldogs out-hit Elon, 17-8, and blasted four home runs to the Phoenix’s two, but could not quite overcome the 8-3 deficit they faced heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Trailing 3-2 entering the sixth, the Phoenix loaded the bases behind two walks and a bunt. Justin Hilt was hit by a pitch, bringing in Pat Irvine. Dallas Tarleton then singled to center field scoring a pair of runs. The final run came on a wild pitch by Raymond Copenhaver, which scored Hilt making the score 6-3.

Elon pushed its lead to 8-3 midway through the seventh inning before The Citadel responded with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the frame to cut the lead to 8-5.

A 1:21 rain delay stopped the game midway through the eighth inning. After play resumed, The Citadel’s Nick Orvin blasted a shot over the “Green Monster” cutting the Phoenix lead to two at 8-6. The Bulldogs continued to use the long ball to get back in the game as they hit their fourth homer in two innings as Richard Jones hit his second home run in as many at-bats to trim Elon’s margin to one at 8-7.

However, the Bulldogs could get no closer as Thomas Girdwood closed out the game for the Phoenix. With his 17 saves, Girdwood has tied the SoCon’s single-season saves record.

Elon’s two home runs in the nightcap set a new SoCon record for homers in a season (131).

For Elon, Mike Melillo and Tarleton had identical 2-for-4, two-RBI performances as Melillo chipped in with a home run while Tarleton notched a triple.

In a losing effort, Jones was 4-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs. Orvin went 3-for-5 with a homer and Chris McGuiness was 2-for-3 with a home run.