April 5, 2011
ELON, N.C. -- Elon scored five runs in the fifth and four in the eighth to defeatOld Dominion Tuesday night, 9-4 at Latham Park.
Elon (19-11) loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit to start the first inning as Harry Austin and Alex Swim both walked around Niko Fraser being hit by a pitch, but failed to score as Ben Verlander got an infield fly and a double play to end the threat.
ODU took a 1-0 lead in the third after a leadoff double from Nathan Hartman turned into an ODU (14-16) run when, after a wild pitch, Hartman scored on a RBI ground out from Kenny Stoneback.
In the fifth Hartman grounded a one-out single into left field and went to second as, with two away, Stoneback reached on a passed ball on strike three. An error on the play sent Hartman to third. Brandon Shelton pushed the Monarchs' advantage to 2-0 with a single to center that plated Hartman.
Four straight two-out walks - to Swim, Neal Pritchard, Ryan Kinsella and then Garrett Koster - got Elon on the board in the last of the fifth. McCoury then cleared the bases by belting a 2-0 pitch deep over the wall in left for his first career grand slam that put the Phoenix in front 5-2. The homer was the third of the year for McCoury and the first hit of the game for Elon.
ODU scored two more runs in the eight to cut the lead to 5-4. Chris Baker singled home Brandon Shelton, then Shawn Sizemore walked with the bases loaded to bring home Brent Frazier.
Elon added four runs in the eighth Austin singled into shallow right to score Rasmus. Austin then swiped second and third, giving the senior 70 steals for his career. Fraser's single plated Austin with the second run of the frame.Fraser scored the eighth run of the game as Swim tripled to center before Pritchard lined a single to left to cap the scoring.
Whitehead (2-0) picked up the victory after allowing just two runs (one earned) on three hits in his seven innings. The freshman walked two and struck out five. Brebbia earned his second save of the year with 1.1 perfect frames.
ODU Freshman pitcher Ben Verlander (1-2) took the loss, but did not allow a hit in 4.2 innings as the ODU starter. He was plaqued with seven walksand three hit batters along with two strikeouts.
McCoury drove in a career-best four runs with his blast while Pritchard had Elon's only two-hit day, going 2-for-3 with a run and one RBI. Elon stole seven bases as Austin and Fraser both swiped two bags while Rasmus took a career-best three bases.
Two of ODU's four hits on the night were tallied by Hartman who finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
The Monarchs host Norfolk State Wednesday night at 6:30 in Autism Awareness Night.
ODU 001 010 020=4-4-0Elon 000 050 04x 9-7-2ODU Battery: Verlander, Bashara(5), Ali(8) Wisniewski(8) and HernandezELon Battery: Whitehead, Fisher(8),Dylan(8), Brebbia(9)
WP: Whitehead (2-0) LP:Verlander (1-2) Save: Brebbia(2)HR- McCoury