May 22, 2009

Box Score

Greenville, S.C. - After fourth-seeded Western Carolina scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a short-lived, 5-3 lead, top-seeded Elon retaliated with 12-unanswered runs in building a 10-run edge before downing the Catamounts, 15-7, in the night cap Thursday at the 2009 Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Fluor Field.

Elon pounded out 18 hits including Bennett Davis hitting for the cycle and Chase Austin driving in six on a pair of home runs and a triple in the win, the 19th-straight conference triumph by the Phoenix. The loss snapped Western's 10-game winning streak away from home which included nine-straight road victories and one neutral site win.

With the win, Elon (39-14) gets Friday off before playing in the 9:00 am game on Saturday against either The Citadel or Appalachian State. Western Carolina (35-21) will return to action on Friday evening with a 7:00 pm game against Furman which eliminated the College of Charleston on Thursday afternoon.

After scoring three runs in the first inning but still trailing 5-3, Elon blew the game open in the second with six runs. Austin opened up the scoring with a triple that scored three runs. Later in the inning, Davis hit a three-run home run to left center that put the Phoenix up 9-5.

Austin finished 3-for-5 with two home runs, a triple and six runs driven in while Davis recorded four RBIs on four hits. Mike Melillo was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

With his performance, Austin tied three SoCon Tournament single-game records. His 11 total bases and two home runs match numerous others, including Georgia Southern's Kyle Blackburn, who also recorded two homers and 11 total bases in the previous game. His six RBIs also ties him with five others.

Picking up the win for Elon was Daniel Britt (8-0), who allowed five runs but none after the first inning. Suffering the loss was the Catamounts' Garrett Ozar (4-5), who surrendered nine runs in an inning and a third of work.

Freshman Garrett Baker struck out a career-best five in three innings of work in relief for WCU after replacing Kyle Stewart who fanned one and Jason Sullivan who strukc out six in three and a third.

Elon added insurance runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings, pushing the score to 15-5. In the third inning, Austin hit his second homer of the game scoring two runs.

The Catamounts managed to drive in two runs in the bottom of the ninth before Elon closed out the game. Andy John delivered an RBI single with the game's final run scoring on a game-ending double-play as Rembert Rollison scampered home before the second out was recorded.

J.C. Lyons belted a three-run home run in the losing effort giving him two for the tournament and six RBI overall. Brent Greer, who finished 1-for-3, became Western's single-season leader for hits with 102 to move past Kevin Bellemo and the late Keith LeClair who each had 101. Matt Johns also stretched his current hitting streak to a career-best 22 games with a 1-for-3 evening while Nick Liles was 2-for-5 to lead the way for WCU, extending his season-best hitting streak to 14 games.