Friday, April 01, 2005

JOHNSON CITY. Tenn. (Apr. 1, 2005) - Behind timely hitting and stellar pitching, the Elon Phoenix took an early 6-0 lead against East Tennessee State and cruised to a 11-1 victory over the Bucs in Southern Conference action Friday night from Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn. With the win, the Phoenix raise their record to 17-12, 8-5 in Southern Conference games while the Bucs fall to 13-8, 4-6 in conference play.

            Elon took the early lead with two runs in the top of the second. Chris Price led off the inning with a double down the left field line and moved to third on a single by Drew Davis. Matt Stocco scored Price with a RBI single to right-center and Paul Bennett singled through the left side to score Davis.

            The Phoenix added four runs to their lead with a two-out rally in the top of the third. With two down, Davis doubled to left-center and crossed the plate on a subsequent single to left by Evan Erickson. Stocco then hammered a triple to center to score Erickson and later crossed the plate on a bunt single by Bennett. Gary Morris capped the inning with a single to left to score Bennett from third.

Elon put the game away with two runs in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth.

Erickson drove in two runs with a single in the top of the sixth. In the seventh, Morris hit an RBI triple and later scored on a wild pitch. Davis then hit his first homer of the season, a solo shot over the left field wall in the top of the eighth.

The Bucs scored their lone run in the bottom of the ninth. Junior right fielder Shane Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) hit a one-out double down the right field line and moved to second on an error. Freshman catcher Bubba Herbold (Knoxville, Tenn.) then brought Byrne home with an RBI groundout.

Matt McSwain earned the win (5-0), going five innings and allowing just two hits and walking none while striking out eight. Buccaneer junior lefty Steven Calicutt (Spartanburg, S.C.) was charged with the loss (2-5), allowing six earned runs on nine hits in 2.2 innings of work.

Seven Elon players had multiple hits in the win, led by Davis, Stocco and Bennett who each had three. Davis led the Phoenix with three runs scored while Erickson had a game-high three RBIs. Price extended his hitting streak to 15 games, going 2-for-5.

The Bucs were led by Byrne, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles in the loss.

The Buccaneers and Phoenix return to the diamond tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. at Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn. for the second game in their three-game SoCon weekend series.