Box Score

ELON, N.C. -- The 10 Elon baseball players celebrating Senior Day on Friday will never forget their final game at Latham Park as the Phoenix shutout the Furman Paladins 14-0 to clinch the 2011 Southern Conference regular-season title, its fourth in program history and third in the last four seasons.

The Phoenix improved to 36-19 overall and 23-7 in the SoCon while Furman fell to 23-31, 13-16.

"It's for the players," said Elon head coach Mike Kennedy of his team's 2011 title.  "In order to be in these positions, to have a chance to celebrate and win championships, you have to be driven.  It's just great for them that it's theirs, it's all theirs.  These things aren't easy.  They're not easy to win.  Our freshmen may not get another one.  This means that we've had a group of kids who've just come in and passed the torch.  I just think it speaks volumes for our program."

Elon jumped out big in the third inning, scoring seven times and sending 11 hitters to the plate.  Ben Scott got it started with a single up the middle and moved to second on a ground out.  Niko Fraser gave the Phoenix a 1-0 lead with a triple to left-center.  Jake Luce made it a 2-0 game when his ground out allowed Fraser to score.  Sebastian Gomez kept things going with a two-out single down the right field line.  He was then able to ride home on Neal Pritchard's bomb to center.  The blast was the eighth of the year for Pritchard.  Ryan Kinsella followed by crushing his fifth bomb of the year down the right field line as Elon built a 5-0 lead.  Alex Swim extended the inning with a single to right and stole second before Garrett Koster was hit by a pitch.  After a wild pitch advanced both runners, Scott singled for the second time in the inning to plate both Swim and Koster as the Phoenix lead reached 7-0.

The Phoenix offense kept the attack going in the fourth as Elon loaded the bases with walks to Fraser and Luce before Gomez was hit by a pitch.  Pritchard picked up his third RBI when his walk forced Fraser in from third with the eighth Elon run.  Kinsella extended the Phoenix advantage to 9-0 by lining a single to left that allowed Luce to score.  Swim lined one to left to score Gomez with the 10th run of the afternoon.  A bases loaded sacrifice fly from Scott finished the scoring in the frame as Pritchard scored to make it 11-0.

The score remained 11-0 until the last of the seventh when Pritchard drew his second bases-loaded walk of the afternoon.  This one forced home Scott who had been hit by a pitch to start the inning.  Kinsella was also issued a free pass with the bags full, allowing Austin to trot home from third after he had earlier reached on a single.  Pinch-hitter Matt Kirchner then drew the third consecutive walk to force Gomez in from third.  Gomez was aboard after being hit by a pitch for the third time in the game. 

Dylan Clark needed just 83 pitches to work through seven scoreless innings on his way to evening his record at 3-3 with the win.  Clark walked one and struck out three.  John Brebbia and Greg Amorosso each tossed a scoreless frame to secure the Phoenix victory and seventh shutout of the year.

Furman's Tyler Wood dropped to 3-4 after he allowed seven runs on eight hits in just 2.2 innings.

Seniors Pritchard (1-for-3, two runs, four RBI) and Scott (2-for-3, two runs, three RBI) to lead the Elon attack.  Kinsella also drove in three runs while going 2-for-3.

J.B. Jenkins (3-for-4) and Will Miller (2-for-3) combined for five of Furman's nine hits on the afternoon.

Elon will enter the SoCon Tournament as the top seed and will play a to-be-determined foe at 5 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon in Charleston, S.C.