ELON, N.C. -- The Elon baseball team will begin its quest to win its second Southern Conference Tournament title this week as the third-seeded Phoenix will open up play at 5 p.m. on Wednesday against sixth-seeded Furman.  Second-seeded College of Charleston and seventh-seeded Georgia Southern fill out Elon's half of the bracket.

Each of Elon's tournament games can be heard live on WPCM 920 AM and for free at elonphoenix.com.  Through SoConsports.com, fans will be able to watch a free video stream of every tournament contest.

2013 Baseball Viewbook
Game Notes | Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio
Tournament Bracket

Quick Hits
• Of Elon’s 309 RBI, 94 (30.4 percent) have come with two outs.  The Phoenix has 143 two-out hits on the season.
• All three of Elon’s primary weekend starters are throwing more than 65 percent of their pitches for strikes.  Dylan Clark’s strike percentage is 65.1, while Spencer Medick is throwing 66.6 percent of his pitches for strikes and Kyle Webb is throwing 66.3 percent of his pitches for strikes this season.
• Elon is 19-1 on the season when out-hitting its opponent.

Possible Starting Pitchers
RH Kyle Webb (6-2, 3.28 ERA, 85.0 IP, 16 BB, 81 K)
LH Spencer Medick (6-6, 5.11 ERA, 75.2 IP, 17 BB, 61 K)
LH Dylan Clark (5-4, 4.13 ERA, 69.2 IP, 12 BB, 48 K)
RH Nate Young (2-1, 4.30 ERA, 29.1 IP, 18 BB, 27 K)
LH Brandon Kacer (1-0, 10.43 ERA, 14.2 IP, 12 BB, 12 K)
LH Tyler Manez (1-3, 6.75 ERA, 28.0 IP, 18 BB, 26 K)

Elon’s SoCon Tournament History
Playing in its 10th SoCon Tournament, Elon has gone 19-16 all-time in the league showcase.  The lone tournament title for the Phoenix came in 2008 as the top-seeded Elon team had a record-setting performance as it rolled through the event.  Elon has never been seeded lower than fourth in the event (2004, 2005, 2010) and has been the top seed four times (2006, 2008, 2009, 2011).  The only team Elon has not faced in the tournament is Davidson.  The maroon and gold is 2-0 vs. Appalachian State, 2-3 vs. College of Charleston, 3-7 vs. The Citadel, 1-1 vs. Furman, 3-3 vs. Georgia Southern, 4-0 vs. UNCG, 2-0 vs. Samford, 1-2 vs. Western Carolina and 1-0 vs. Wofford.  As the one seed, Elon has gone 9-6.  The Phoenix is 5-4 as the three and 5-6 as the four.

High Honors
Elon junior first baseman Ryan Kinsella was selected as the 2013 Southern Conference Baseball Player of the Year in voting of the league’s coaches.  Kinsella was also named a first-team all-league selection by both the coaches and media.  Senior righty Kyle Webb was a second-team pick by both groups, while junior outfielder Sebastian Gomez was a second-team selection by the coaches.

Kinsella’s honor marks the fifth time an Elon player has earned SoCon Player of the Year (player, pitcher of freshman) accolades from the coaches.  He joins Steven Hensley (2006 Freshman of the Year; 2008 Pitcher of the Year), Thomas Girdwood (2008 Freshman of the Year) and Chase Austin (2009 Co-Player of the Year).  The only other Elon player to collect one of the big three awards at the conclusion of the season was John Brebbia (2011 Pitcher of the Year – media).

Tough Competition
Elon always plays a tough schedule and 2013 has been no different.  Through its first 39 games, the Phoenix played eight games against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game.  Of those, seven were against teams rated in the top eight.  No other SoCon team played more than four games against top-25 opponents.  The maroon and gold’s schedule is currently ranked as the 42nd-toughest in the nation.  College of Charleston’s strength of schedule is second-best in the SoCon at 58.

Among the Nation’s Best
In the most recent release issued by the NCAA, four Elon players rank among the Division I active leaders in various categories.  Senior Alex Swim currently is Division I’s active leader with 931 at bats, is fourth with 279 hits, fourth with 229 games played, fourth with 19 sacrifice flies, 20th with 157 RBI, 33rd with 151 runs scored and 48th with 10 triples.  Senior Niko Fraser rates 36th with 11 triples, while senior Nate Young’s 18 saves are currently 31st nationally.  Junior Ryan Kinsella’s 148 RBI are 29th and his 32 homers are ninth among current players. 

Singled Out
Over his last four starts, senior righty Kyle Webb has gone 3-0 with a 2.61 ERA.  In that span, Webb has allowed just one extra-base hit – a two-out double in the fifth inning against Wofford on April 21.  In fact, over his last 26.1 IP Webb has not allowed an extra-base hit.  In 85.0 innings on the year, Webb has surrendered just 14 extra-base hits, 13 of which were doubles.