UNCW Advances To Fourth Straight CAA Title Game With 11-3 Win Over Elon
Rob Washburn
Box Score
CAA Championship Central
Highlights
HARRISONBURG, Va. (May 25, 2018) – Fourth-seeded UNCW exploded for 17 hits and advanced to the title game of the CAA Baseball Championship for the fourth consecutive year with an 11-3 victory over #2 Elon on Friday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park.
The Seahawks (36-20), who won for the sixth time in their past seven games, will try to capture their fifth CAA crown on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Phoenix (36-22), who saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end, will be back in action at 7 p.m. on Friday against the winner of today’s second game between #1 Northeastern and #5 Delaware.
Seven of UNCW’s nine starters recorded multiple hits and seven drove in at least one run. Freshman shortstop Greg Jones went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a pair of RBI’s, while catcher Ryan Jeffers was 2-for-4 and knocked in three runs for the second straight game. Designated hitter David Sheaffer reached base four times and scored three runs with a 2-for-3 effort that included two walks.
Elon was led by right fielder Ty Adcock, who was 2-for-3 with an RBI, and designated hitter Garrett Stonehouse, who went 2-for-5.
Reliever Austin Easter (4-2) was credited with the victory for UNCW, while Austin Warren earned his first save after closing the game with 4.1 shutout innings. Phoenix starter George Kirby (10-3) took the loss.
UNCW struck first with a two-out rally in the third inning. Jones and Kep Brown reached on back-to-back singles and Cole Weiss followed with an RBI single to right that plated Jones for a 1-0 lead. It was the third straight tournament game that Weiss has driven in the first Seahawks’ run.
Elon answered back quickly in the top of the fourth. Cam Devanney was hit by a pitch and came around to score on Adcock’s two-out double to the left-center gap, tying the game at 1-1.
For the second day in a row, the fourth inning proved to be productive for the Seahawks. Sheaffer led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Noah Bridges’ bunt single put runners on the corners and Jackson Meadows followed with a sacrifice fly to center that brought in Sheaffer. With two outs, Mason Berne delivered an RBI double into the right-field corner and then scored on Jones’ base hit to left. A double off the fence in left-center by Brown plated Jones for a 5-1 UNCW advantage.
The Phoenix battled back within 5-3 in the fifth. Stonehouse singled and Ryne Ogren doubled with one out and both were able to score. The Seahawks took advantage of three consecutive walks to add a run in the bottom of the frame on a Jeffers’ sacrifice fly.
UNCW blew the game open with a five-run sixth. With two on and one out, Bridges produced an RBI double and Meadows followed with a run-scoring single. A two-run double by Jeffers increased the UNCW lead to 10-3 and Jones capped the outburst with an RBI single.