GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Thomas Girdwood tied the SoCon single-season record with his 17th save after working a scoreless inning and a third and
Chase Austin belted his program-record 22nd homer to lead the 22nd-ranked and top-seeded Elon Phoenix past the third-seeded The Citadel Bulldogs in an elimination game of the 2009 Southern Conference Tournament on Saturday night. Elon improved to 40-15 and secured the first back-to-back 40+ win seasons in program history. The Citadel ended the year at 37-22.
The first two Bulldog hitters reached in the bottom of the second as Richard Jones singled and Chris McGuiness was hit by a pitch. David Greene's liner to center loaded the bases.
Ken Ferrer got out of the jam by getting Matt Simonelli to pop out to second, Sid Fallaw to strike out and Kyle Jordan to hit into a force out at third.
Elon's half of the third began with a
Dallas Tarleton triple to center.
Harry Austin's one-out sacrifice fly to center allowed Tarleton to score the game's first run.
With two away in the bottom of the third, Sonny Meade singled up the middle before Jones' flair to right put runners on the corners. McGuiness then tied the game up with a single up the middle. Greene reached on an infield single to load the bases before Simonelli grounded back to Ferrer for the final out.
Chase Austin gave the lead back to Elon in the fourth when he led off the frame with a homer off the roof of the building 30 feet beyond the Green Monster in left. The bomb was the 22nd of the year for him, setting a new school record for home runs in a season. The blast also tied the league record for homers for a team in a year as it was Elon's 130th of the campaign, equaling the mark set by College of Charleston in 2008.
Fallaw and Jordan led off The Citadel fourth with back-to-back singles before Orvin's slow roller moved up both runners, but recorded the first out. Bryan Altman's ground out to second brought home Fallaw to knot the score back up at two. The Bulldogs claimed their first lead when Meade lined a single to right to score Jordan from third.
The Phoenix loaded the bases thanks to two walks and an error in the sixth. With one out,
Justin Hilt was hit by a pitch to force home
Pat Irvine as Elon tied the game back up at three. Taleton put his side back in front with a single to left-center that scored both
Bennett Davis and
Mike Melillo. With Hilt on third after Tarleton's single, a wild pitch was uncorked to bring home the sixth Phoenix run of the game.
Irvine extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in teh top of the seventh. After a balk, Melillo ripped his 18th homer of the year over the wall in left as the Phoenix built an 8-3 lead. It also established a new SoCon mark for home runs in the year for the team - 131.
The Citadel got one back when Jones led off the bottom of the seventh with his 16th homer of the year, a shot over the wall in right-center. McGuiness made it back-to-back shots with his 15th blast of the year to right and the Bulldogs closed its deficit to 8-5.
After a rain delay of an hour and 21 minutes, Nick Orvin belted his second homer of the year over the wall in left which pulled The Citadel within two. With two outs, Jones went deep for the second straight at bat. His 17th homer tied the program record and made the score 8-7.
Greene got aboard with the tying run in the bottom of the ninth with a lead-off single up the middle. Girdwood then fanned Simonelli and got Fallaw to fly out. After a balk moved pinch-runner William Ladd to second Girdwood fanned Kyle Jordan for the final out.
Jordan Darnell (3-0) picked up the win in relief. He threw one scoreless inning behind
Ken Ferrer who allowed three runs on 10 hits in 4.0 innings.
TJ Clarkson (3-2) gave up four runs (three earned) on four hits in 5.0 innings to take the loss. He tied a career high with seven strikeouts.
Both Melillo and Tarleton posted 2-for-4, two-RBI games for the Phoenix.
Jones had a four-hit, two-run, two-RBI game to pace the Bulldog attack. Orvin had three hits.
Elon will take on second-seeded Georgia Southern at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon for the SoCon title. It is the second straight title game appearance for the Phoenix. The game will be televised on a tape delay at 7:30 p.m. on SportSouth.
-- ELON --