College of Charleston
Elon
@CofCBaseball Suffers First Loss in 10 Games
4/12/2015 12:25:00 AM | Baseball
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – College of Charleston baseball suffered a 4-1 loss to Elon in Colonial Athletic Association competition at Patriots Point on Saturday afternoon, snapping a nine-game winning streak and inheriting their first loss in CAA play this season.
After a convincing win in the series opener on Friday night, which capped the Cougars' best 30-game start in nine seasons, Elon starter Michael Elefante solved the Cougar bats and held CofC to one run on seven hits to even the series on Saturday.
The teams will play a series-decisive rubber game on Sunday, with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.
Charleston (23-8, 10-1 CAA) obtained six of its seven hits from three players: Blake Butler, Nick Pappas, and Erven Roper, who all went 2-for-4 in the affair. Alex Pastorius went 1-for-4 and accounted for CofC's lone RBI when he brought Champ Rowland around to score in the third inning.
Brandon Glazer (6-1) was tagged with his first loss of his season despite pitching effectively for the majority of his 6.0 innings on the hill, but was plagued by a three-run third inning. Nathan Helvey pitched 2.0 innings without allowing a baserunner, and Carter Love pitched the ninth after an hour and 23-minute weather delay segmented the eighth inning.
“You have to give Elon a lot of credit,” said head coach Monte Lee. “Their starting pitcher did a really nice job and gave them a quality start, and their bullpen was really good as well. Their pitching staff really did a nice job today overall. They threw up a big inning in the third and capitalized on a couple of free passes we allowed them, but outside of that one inning, Brandon Glazer threw well. Our bullpen did a nice job as well. Our offense has been amazing all year, but their pitching staff did a nice job against us and they won the ball game.”
Elon mounted its first lead of the series with a run in the second, after the Cougars were held scoreless in the first inning for the first time in six games.
The Phoenix padded the lead in the third, starting the inning with a triple by Nick Zammarelli and RBI single by Casey Jones, followed by a two-run bomb by Ryan Cooper which put the Cougars in a 4-0 hole.
Charleston chipped away in the bottom half of the inning after Roper singled up the middle to start the inning, and Pastorius eventually delivered the run with a two-out, full-count RBI single to right field.
That would account for the game's only scoring, as the Cougars stranded a runner in the fourth inning and brought the tying run to the plate in the sixth, but couldn't cash in. Charleston put a runner on base in each of the last three innings as well, but finished the game 2-for-16 (.125) with runners on base, accounting for eight stranded runners.
In the rubber game, lefty Wade Arduini will get the start for the Cougars and deal against Elon's Lukas Bakker.
“We just have to be ready to go tomorrow,” said Lee. “That's the big thing. We just have to find a way to win the series. It doesn't matter if it's high scoring, low scoring; we just have to find a way to win a game tomorrow and win the series. That was the message after today: Find a way to win.”
POSTGAME NOTES
Charleston entered the weekend ranked No. 33 in the first release of the NCAA RPI. The Cougars were ranked 26th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Poll and 30th in the Collegiate Baseball Poll, while receiving votes in the D1Baseball Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll.
The loss snapped CofC's nine-game winning streak. The longest streak in program history was 15 games in 2004, and CofC has spawned streaks of seven games or longer 14 times since then.
The Cougars were held under 10 hits for the first time in six games. The Cougars were denied a homerun for the first time in six outings as well.
Blake Butler has reached base successfully* in 29 straight games going all the way back to opening weekend. On the season, Butler has at least one base hit in 27 of CofC's 31 games.
Carl Wise has reached base* in 17 consecutive games.
*A reached-base streak includes base hits, walks, and hit by pitches. Reaching on an error or fielder's choice does not extend a reached-base streak.
