Elon Rebounds for 14-12 Victory Over Charleston

Game 5: #3 Elon 14, #2 College of Charleston 12
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SoCon Tournament Central

GREENVILLE, S.C. - No. 3 seed Elon withstood a ninth-inning rally and powered its way to a 14-12 victory over No. 2 seed College of Charleston in an elimination game Thursday at the 2012 Southern Conference Baseball Championship at Fluor Field.

Elon (32-25) stays alive in the tournament and will face the loser of tonight's Georgia Southern-The Citadel game at 3 p.m. Friday. With the loss, College of Charleston (37-20) is eliminated from the tournament.

Trailing 14-9 entering the bottom of the ninth, College of Charleston's first five batters of the frame reached, including an RBI single by Marty Gantt and a two-run, bases loaded single from Brandon Murray that made the score 14-12. After Nate Young induced a Daniel Aldrich pop up for the first out, he gave Rob Harding a free pass to load the bases once again. However, the Elon closer was able to shut the door by striking out Bradley Goodson and ending the contest with a Tyler Jackson ground out to second.

The teams combined to set a new tournament record with 39 hits on the day.

A day after suffering the largest defeat in SoCon Tournament history, Elon wasted little time in trying to erase that memory by scoring six runs on eight hits through the first two innings. The Phoenix took advantage of costly College of Charleston errors in each frame that made all six runs unearned. Ryan Kinsella notched an RBI-single in the first and a two-run double in the second, while Joey Tomko followed with run-scoring singles in each frame.

The damage could have been even greater if not for Brandon Murray's two outfield assists in the first, as he gunned down Blaine Bower and Tomko from left field.

Elon's offensive onslaught was sustained with four more runs in the fifth and single scores in the sixth, seventh, and ninth. The Phoenix had a season-high with 21 hits and were the recipients of eight walks from Cougar pitchers.

Kinsella, Elon's first baseman, was 4-for-6 with a season-high 5 RBIs in the contest. Chris Bresnahan, Sebastian Gomez, and Jake Luce each had three hits on the afternoon.

Murray and Gantt were each 4-for-6 at the plate with 3 RBIs. Murray launched his 12th home run of the season in the eighth inning.

Charleston catcher Jimmy Holton tallied a career-high three hits, including his first collegiate home run.

Charleston starting pitcher Josh Renfro lasted just two innings after surrendering six runs on eight hits, although all six runs were unearned due to untimely errors. He was saddled with the loss to fall to 6-7 on the year.

Spencer Medick, who started on the mound for Elon, was lifted early as well, leaving the game after three innings. He gave up four runs on eight hits

Elon reliever Andrew MacDonald was credited with the victory to improve to 5-3 while Young earned his 11th save by recording the final three outs.