A member of the Samford University coaching staff, trying to motivate his troops before a series against Elon University this past weekend, gave his team a message. The Phoenix, in his opinion, was the worst team in the Southern Conference.
Forget the 8-4 SoCon record entering the series. Forget the series wins over conference powers Georgia Southern University and Appalachian State University. Forget all of it. The Phoenix shouldn’t have even stepped out onto Joe Lee Griffin Field.
But the coach forgot to check his surroundings. A couple players from the opposition overheard his speech and relayed the message to their teammates. After the game, assistant coach Robbie Huffstetler sarcastically mentioned the statement on Twitter. That's because Elon made the Samford coach eat his words.
Everything came together for the Phoenix. Plays were made all over the field. A dart thrown by sophomore rightfielder Eric Serra to the plate in the 11th inning of the second game retired a runner and extended action into the 12th of what would become an 18-inning game. Pitchers shut down hitters when they needed to and hitters came up with just enough timely hits to sweep the Bulldogs out of their home ballpark.
“I thought, as a team, this is probably the best we played all year,” said Phoenix coach Mike Kennedy.
Elon (18-11, 11-4 Southern Conference) concludes a seven-game road trip this week with games at the University of North Carolina and Furman University.
The weekend set with the Paladins should leave Elon hitters salivating. Furman’s pitching staff has been hit hard all year long, ranking near the bottom of the 11-team league in ERA (5.49, 10th), strikeouts (182, 9th) and home runs allowed (25, 11th).
Nothing suits junior catcher Alex Swim better. He went 12-19 against Samford to extend his hit streak to 22 games. During that stretch, he’s seen his batting average jump more than 100 points, from .222 to .385.
Swim was named the Southern Conference Player of the Week April 2.
“He’s the best hitter I’ve ever played with,” said junior centerfielder Niko Fraser. “But that doesn’t surprise me at all. I’m really happy for him. He’s good. He’s really, really good.”
It’s a feeling of relief for the Phoenix skipper, who can rest easy penciling Swim into the three-hole every day and worrying about more pressing issues.
“He’s on fire, man,” Kennedy said. “What he did this weekend especially, it’s really stupid. It’s crazy, man. It’s like every time he gets up there you think he’s going to get a hit and you’re surprised if he doesn’t.”
While the Phoenix has taken care of business in conference play thus far — Elon’s three conference series wins this year (out of four total) were against the three teams picked to finish ahead of the Phoenix in the preseason coaches’ poll. But that dominance hasn’t translated against top opponents from outside of the SoCon.
Elon’s gone 0-7 against teams from the ACC and SEC this season, a far cry from last year’s 3-5 mark.
They’ll have a chance to change that Wednesday evening in Chapel Hill against a Tar Heels team that is ranked No. 6 in the country. North Carolina allowed three infield hits and the Phoenix didn’t scratch across a run in a March 7 defeat at Latham Park.
If Elon falls, it won’t be because of a lack of focus.
“It won’t be a problem playing UNC,” Swim said. “Those guys are always one of the top teams in college baseball so we’ll be up for that game and hopefully we come out with a win.”
Regardless of what the scoreboard says after nine innings at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill Wednesday, it’s safe to say the Elon Phoenix has proven they aren’t the worst the SoCon has to offer. Despite what some may say.