ELON, N.C. – Trailing 6-5 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, the Elon University baseball team erupted for a six runs on its way to an 11-6 conference victory over the visiting Northeastern Huskies. The win evened up the series at a game apiece.
A trio of Elon (10-13, 1-1 CAA) hitters drove in two or more runs. Shawn Blake went 1-for-4 with a home run and four RBI, Kyle Jackson was 3-for-3 and drove in three runs and Ryne Ogren drove in a pair during a 3-for-4 day at the plate.
For Northeastern (8-12, 1-1), Cam Hanley and Max Burt both had two hits, scored once and drove in one.
George Kirby (1-2) earned the first win of his career for the Phoenix. Kirby threw 4.1 innings out of the bullpen and allowed one run on four hits. He struck out five hitters.
Taking the loss was David Stiehl (1-3) who walked seven hitters and allowed four hits in 2.1 innings. Elon scored seven runs off of the Huskies’ reliever.
How It Happened: Elon found itself trailing 6-5 at the stretch before the maroon and gold rally began. With one out in the last of the seventh, Will Nance walked and moved to second on a Kory Shumate single to left-center. Once a walk loaded the bases, Ogren delivered a two-run double that blooped down the right field line just out of the reach of the diving outfielder. Northeastern loaded the bases back up by intentionally walking James Venuto and Jackson made the Huskies pay. The senior outfielder ripped the first pitch he saw just inside the third base bag for a two-RBI double as Elon built a 9-6 advantage. The Phoenix would tack on two more on Blake’s sacrifice fly that just missed clearing the wall in right and a Zach Evers double down the left field line.
After Elon took a 1-0 lead in the first on a Jackson sac fly, Northeastern was able to tie it up in the second as Burt doubled and scored on a pair of wild pitches. The Phoenix quickly regained a 2-1 edge in its half of the second on a Joe Satterfield RBI ground out.
Northeastern took advantage of an Elon error in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead. The first hitter of the inning reached on an error and scored on Hanley’s double. After the next two hitters were retired, a pair of walks loaded the bases for Scott Holzwasser who drove in two with a single to right-center.
The Huskies would add single runs in the fifth and the sixth to cap their scoring.
Elon scored two in the fifth on Blake’s fifth home run of the year and one in the sixth on Blake’s ground out.
Notes: Ogren extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games… During his streak, Ogren has gone 22-for-47 (.468)… Blake has homered in four of Elon’s last five games… Blake’s four RBI were a personal best… Satterfield scored a season-high three runs… Elon’s 11 runs were a season high.
On Deck: Elon will look to move to 2-1 in conference play on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 12:30 p.m. at Latham Park, a change from the originally scheduled time of 2 p.m.