Box Score

ELON, N.C. -- Grant McCoury tossed six shutout innings in his first career start and the Elon Phoenix bats pounded out 12 hits en route to a 13-0 victory over the visiting Old Dominion Monarchs from Latham Park on Wednesday night. 

Elon concluded its eight-game homestand with a 6-2 record and now sits at 25-14 on the season.  Old Dominion fell to 19-19 in 2011.

The victory also moved Elon skipper Mike Kennedy within one win of a milestone 500th victory.

The Phoenix jumped out quickly in the first inning, turning walks to both Jake Luce and Eric Serra into two runs.  After a wild pitch put Luce and Serra at second and third, Neal Pritchard lined a single to left to plate Luce.  Alex Swim followed with a sacrifice fly to center to drive home Serra.  With two down, Ryan Kinsella hit one off the wall in right for his third triple of the season which scored Pritchard to make it 3-0.  ODU starter Joe Haumacher then hit the next three batters, forcing home Kinsella with the fourth run.  Batting for the second time in the inning, Luce drew another walk, this one with the bases loaded to force in Garrett Koster.  Serra drove home two more with a single to right before the inning came to a close with Elon holding a 7-0 advantage.

Swim got Elon going again in the fourth with a one-out double to left-center.  With two outs, both Kinsella and Koster drew walks to load the bases for Ben Scott who grounded a single up the middle that scored two.  Harry Austin's line drive single to left followed, scoring Koster to stretch the Elon lead to 10-0.

The Phoenix pushed across another three runs in the last of the seventh, building its lead to 13-0.  With one out and Austin on first after a fielder's choice, a Monarch error on a Matt Kirchner ground ball put runners on the corners.  Serra drove in his third run of the night with a single to left.  Pinch-hitter Chris Bresnahan followed with a walk to load the bases before Anthony Hezar delivered a pinch-hit single down the left field line to score two more.

McCoury (1-0) was the winner and scattered three hits and three walks during his six frames on the mound.  He also struck out two.  McCoury had tossed just 8.1 innings this season prior to Wednesday's tilt.  Behind McCoury, Grant Fisher threw two scoreless innings and Mitch Conner tossed a perfect ninth.

Haumacher (1-3) was roughed up for seven runs on two hits and three walks in just two-thirds of an inning.  He also hit three batters.

Eight of Elon's nine starters had at least one hit and scored at least once.  Serra finished the night 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI while Scott, Austin and Hezar all tallied two-RBI games.  Kinsella posted the only other two-hit performance for the Phoenix, going 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI.

The Southern Conference-leading Phoenix will hit the road for a pivotal SoCon series this weekend at second-place Georgia Southern.  Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Statesboro, Ga.  Elon fans can follow along with all the action this weekend via live stats and the live, interactive chat which are both accessed through the elonphoenix.com web site.