Elon Uses Pair Of Five-Run Innings To Defeat Charleston, 10-5, At CAA Baseball Championship
Rob Washburn
Box Score
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. (May 26, 2023) – Second-seeded Elon exploded for a pair of five-run innings and topped #4 Charleston, 10-5 on a windy and wet Friday afternoon at the CAA Baseball Championship.
Elon (33-21) stayed alive in the tournament and will face the loser of this afternoon’s final contest between UNCW and Northeastern at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Charleston (36-22) was eliminated from the championship with the loss.
The Phoenix’s 16-hit attack was led by catcher Parker Haskin, who went 4-for-6 with a homer and three RBI’s, and second baseman Ryan Sprock, who was 3-for-5 and drove in four.
For Charleston, second baseman Joseph Mershon was 1-for-3 with a triple and knocked in three of Cougars’ five runs.
Elon broke open a scoreless game in a big way in the third, sending 11 men to the plate and tallying five runs on seven hits. Haskin got things started by launching a two-run homer just inside the foul pole in right. Charlie Granatell and Justin Cassella followed with singles and both came around to score on Spock’s double into the right-field corner. The sixth consecutive hit of the inning, a single by Connor Offshack, brought in Sprock and extended the Phoenix lead to 5-0.
After Charleston reliever Jake Brink pitched out of a bases loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the fourth, the Cougars’ offense responded in the top of the fifth. With two on and one out, Mershon ripped a triple down the right-field line that cut the deficit to three. A sacrifice fly from Cole Mathis plated Mershon and brought Charleston within 5-3.
The Phoenix was able to put the game away by scoring five runs with two outs in the seventh. James Broderick opened the rally with a RBI triple to right and he came home on a Haskin single. With the bases loaded, Sprock’s base hit bounded off the pitcher’s glove and into left field, bringing in two more Elon runs. A run-scoring single to left by Offshack increased the Phoenix advantage to 10-3.
Charleston added a pair of runs in the ninth on an RBI single from Tyler Sorrentino and Mershon groundout.
Freshman Justin Mitrovich (7-4) picked up the win for Elon after allowing three runs, only one of them earned, and striking out six over 5.0 innings. Joe Savino worked the final four frames for the Phoenix to get his third save.