Sixth-Inning Home Runs Lift Charleston Over Elon, 6-2
Rob Washburn
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WILMINGTON, N.C. (May 28, 2021) – Sixth-inning home runs from Harrison Hawkins and Landon Choboy lifted fourth-seeded Charleston to a 6-2 win over #3 Elon in a CAA Baseball Championship elimination game Thursday afternoon at UNCW’s Brooks Field.
It was the second victory of the day for the Cougars (27-24), who will be back in action at 1 p.m. on Saturday against either Northeastern or UNCW. Elon’s year came to a close with a 22-22 record.
The game was tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth when the Cougars strung together five consecutive hits. After a one-out single from Matt Lobeck, Hawkins belted his team-leading 11
th homer of the year to left. Tanner Steffy and Ari Sechopoulos followed with base hits before Choboy launched a three-run shot to right to put Charleston on top, 6-1.
Choboy finished 2-for-3 with three RBI’s, Hawkins was 2-for-4 with two RBI’s and Sechopoulos was also 2-for-4 for the Cougars.
Redshirt freshman Ty Good (7-5) picked up the victory after an impressive performance out of the bullpen. The right-hander entered in the fourth and gave up just one run on five hits over the final 6.0 innings while striking out three.
Charleston jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Freshman Trotter Harlan led off with a base hit, advanced to third on Hawkins’ one-out double and came home on a Steffy grounder.
Elon answered with a run in the third. Alex Iadisernia doubled down the left-field line with two outs and was driven in by an Anthony Galason base hit to tie the game at 1-1.
Elon got a strong start from lefty Jared Wetherbee, who limited Charleston to one run over the first 5.0 innings in his longest start since February 27.
Trailing 6-1 in the eighth, the Phoenix put their first two runners on base and took advantage of a Cougars’ error to trim the deficit to four. Elon had the bases loaded with one out, but Good recorded a strikeout and pinch hitter J.P. Sponseller’s sharp line drive was snagged by Sechopoulos to end the threat.
Cole Reynolds paced the Elon offense with a 3-for-3 performance and Iadisernia was 2-for-5 with a run scored.