Elon 6 UNC-Wilmington 4
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A three-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning erased a 4-3 deficit as the Elon Phoenix eliminated the UNC Wilmington Seahawks from the Charlotteville Regional by a 6-4 score on Sunday afternoon.
The win lifted the maroon and gold to Sunday’s regional final against sixth-ranked Virginia. Elon will need to defeat Virginia on Sunday and again on Monday to advance to the Super Regionals.
Down 4-3 with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Elon (34-29) began its rally when Danny Lynch drew a walk. After pinch-runner Blaine Bower stole second, Chris Bresnahan came up with a clutch single through the left side of the infield to knot the game at four. Quinn Bower followed with a single before a wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position. Elon’s all-time hits leader Alex Swim delivered a two-RBI shot up the middle as the Phoenix edged in front, 6-4.
Virginia 11 Elon 3
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia advanced to the next weekend’s NCAA Super Regionals with an 11-3 win over Elon on Sunday (June 2) in the 2013 NCAA Charlottesville Regional championship game before a crowd of 3,792 at Davenport Field.
Virginia improves to 50-10 and will the host the NCAA Super Regionals in a best-of-3 series beginning Friday (June 7) or Saturday (June 8). The Cavaliers’ opponent and dates and times of the NCAA Super Regional will be announced Monday (June 3) at approximately 11 p.m. Elon made its sixth NCAA Baseball Championship appearance and finished the season with a 34-30 record.
Trailing 3-0, the Cavaliers broke the game open with a six-run third inning. Nate Irving (So., Yonkers, N.Y.) ignited the rally with a leadoff double and scored on Jared King’s (R-Sr., Radford, Va.) double down the left field line. Joe McCarthy (Fr., Scranton, Pa.) and Brandon Downes (So., South Plainfield, N.J.) drew back-to-back walks to load the bases and Derek Fisher (So., Rexmont, Pa.) delivered a two-run single to right ending the day for Elon starter Nate Young. Reed Gragnani’s (Sr., Richmond, Va.) groundout moved Downes and Fisher into scoring position.Nick Howard (So., Olney, Md.) delivered a two-run single and Kenny Towns (So., Burke, Va.) drilled an RBI double to left.
