March 18, 2005

Box Score

Charleston, SC - Elon scored two runs in the top of the 11th inning on a Matt Hill RBI-single and an Adam Weaver sacrifice fly to down The Citadel 4-2 in Southern Conference baseball action Friday night at Riley Park.

The Citadel (7-9, 0-4 SoCon) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to a two-run double off the bat of sophomore designated hitter Zach Brown. With seniors Chris Ard and Josh Stackley on third and second, respectively, Brown ripped a 3-2 pitch into the right-centerfield gap giving the Bulldogs a two-run first inning lead.

Elon (13-7, 4-3 SoCon) got on the board in the top of the fourth on a Chris Vasami solo homer to left-center. Vasami, the Phoenix designated hitter, ripped a 2-1 fastball over the left-centerfield wall cutting the Bulldogs' lead in half, 2-1.

The Phoenix knotted the score at two runs apiece in the sixth after a Grant Rembert solo home run down the left field line. Elon looked as if they were going to take the lead with runners on first and second with only one out following Rembert's homer, but Citadel starter Ryan Owens struck out third baseman Matt Hill and got short stop Adam Weaver to ground out to second to end the Elon rally.

The game remained tied until the 11th when Elon got runners on second and third and then got a run scoring single off the bat of Hill. The Phoenix then pushed their lead to 4-2 on a sac fly to center by Weaver.

Matt Chastain picked up his first win of the season for Elon as he pitched the final one and a third innings. The Citadel's Link Saunders took the loss and fell to 3-2 on the season. Saunders came on in the sixth in relief of Bulldog starter Ryan Owens but surrendered the game winning run in extra innings.

The Bulldogs tallied 12 hits on the night, but left 14 runners on base. Covington and Brown led The Citadel with three hits apiece.

Elon and The Citadel will face off again tomorrow in game two of the three game conference series.