Whitehead Pitches Elon to 7-3 Victory

Game 9: #3 Elon 7, #7 The Citadel 3
Box Score
Quotes
SoCon Tournament Central

GREENVILLE, S.C. - David Whitehead worked a complete game as No. 3 seed Elon eliminated No. 7 seed The Citadel, 7-3, in game nine of the 2012 Southern Conference Baseball Tournament Friday afternoon at Fluor Field.

Elon (33-25) reaches the tournament semifinals on Saturday where it will need two wins against Georgia Southern to reach Sunday's championship game.

The Citadel (25-33) is eliminated from the tournament with its second loss in the event.

Whitehead scattered eight hits and gave up three runs while tying a season high with six strikeouts. The sophomore did not walk a batter while tossing his first career complete game. He improved to 5-3 on the year.

Elon put the game out of reach with three runs apiece in the fourth and fifth innings, punctuated by a pair of two-run home runs. After a Sebastian Gomez RBI double in the fourth, Joey Tomko drilled his second homer of the season to make it 4-0 Elon.

In the fifth, Alex Swim singled in Blaine Bower, and he was followed by Ryan Kinsella's opposite field shot to left, which was the sophomore's eighth of the year.

Kinsella, who was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs on the day, is 8-for-13 with a home run and seven runs batted in through three tournament games.

The Citadel scored twice in the sixth on a Justin Mackert RBI double and an RBI ground out from Bo Thompson, but that was all the scoring the Bulldogs could muster.

Bulldog starter Logan Cribb surrendered five runs, four of them earned, on eight hits in 4.2 innings. He struck out three while dropping to 3-4.