Elon baseball fell just short of upsetting North Carolina in a high-scoring affair as it lost 12-10 on April 8. It was a grueling, three and half hour affair that saw multiple lead changes throughout the back-and-forth game.
It was the second year in a row where Elon lost to North Carolina by two or less runs. Elon hasn’t beaten the Tar Heels since 2010. But Elon put up a valiant effort against the 16th ranked team in the country and one of the best pitching staffs in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Freshman Hank Krift started on the mound and got off to a good start, securing two quick outs to begin the game. He followed it up by letting up a double and a walk but got out of the first inning jam with his first strikeout of the day, stranding two runners. The top three batters for the Phoenix each failed to get on base to start the game.
Krift began the second inning where he left off with a pair of strikeouts. He then allowed a single to shallow right field, but the Tar Heel baserunner was caught trying to steal second base thanks to some reactionary play by catcher Alex Duffey. Duffey, who leads the team in runs batted in, followed it up with a leadoff double that bounced off the wall. Immediately after, redshirt sophomore Vince Fattore hit one that rolled past the third baseman into left field, giving Elon runners on the corners with no outs. Graduate student Will Vergantino hit a sacrifice fly to bring Duffey home and give Elon an early 1-0 lead. Redshirt junior Justin Szestowicki followed it up with a hit of his own, blasting a double to center field to drive in Fattore. A ground out ended the second inning damage for the Tar Heels.
Relief pitcher Sam Nomura came in for Krift in the top of the third inning as Elon started a bullpen game. Elon employed eight pitchers throughout the game as the team dug deep into its bullpen. Head coach Mike Kennedy said he didn’t want to overuse any players before its series against conference opponent Towson this weekend.
“We've got a weekend series coming up, and we have to have guys available for league play,” Kennedy said. “At the end of the day, it'd be nice to beat Carolina, but we got to try to win games in the league and get ourselves in position to make a run in this league.”
North Carolina, who is 17-1 against non conference opponents this year, got on the board for the first time in the fourth inning, but each team continued to utilize its bullpen and hits were hard to come by. The next instance of scoring wouldn’t come until the explosive sixth inning.
In the top of the sixth, North Carolina quickly got runners on first and third base with zero outs. Sophomore Hudson Narke walked another to load the bases and a botched double play allowed the Tar Heels to score one and tie it at 2-2. Gavin Gallaher then smashed a 3-run home run over the center field wall to take a 3-run lead for North Carolina.
However a 5-2 deficit didn’t deter the Phoenix. Junior Ryan Sprock began the bottom of the sixth inning with a single, Fattore was then hit by a pitch and senior Kenny Mallory Jr. doubled, driving in Sprock and advancing Fattore to third base. The run was only the beginning for Elon. A Vergantino walk loaded the bases and forced a North Carolina pitching change and a mound visit by North Carolina head coach Scott Forbes. With the bases loaded, Szestowicki was patient and forced a walk, advancing a runner home automatically.
Duffey said the team did a good job of taking walks and the key was eliminating pitches.
“We were able to stop swinging at one of their pitches and it shut them down to two pitches for us,” Duffey said. “When we're able to do that against guys, it's a lot easier at the plate.”
North Carolina then got a strikeout to get the second out of the inning, but it didn’t end the damage. In the next at-bat junior Jackson Alford hit the ball right towards the second baseman, seemingly ending the inning, but the second baseman threw the ball way over the first baseman, allowing two Phoenix baserunners to score. It was the first error of the game. Another loading of the bases allowed Elon to score three more in the inning, bringing its inning total to 7 runs. Going into the seventh inning, Elon had recaptured a healthy 9-5 lead.
Duffey was happy with how the team fought back from letting up four runs in the top of the sixth and said this is something that they have keyed in on this year.
“We've been trying to focus on that this year. We struggled with getting punched back, and then falling out,” Duffey said. “So it was good to see that, and it starts with some leadoff walks … getting the leadoff guy on in those innings after they score is real important to manufacture a couple runs to punch back.”
Kennedy praised the team’s patience and ability to get walks throughout the game. He said it was something they focused on in the preparation for the game.
“It's something we talked about heavily yesterday, about really getting better pitches to hit, and giving ourselves a chance with guys on base,” Kennedy said. “You don't always have to do that by getting a hit. You can walk. You can get hit by a pitch. So we talked about it yesterday in our team meeting, just the ability to make sure we're getting better pitches to hit, and I thought we did a much better job of that today.”
But on a cold, windless night, the ball continued to carry. North Carolina hit a grand slam in the seventh inning to tie the game at 9-9. Gallaher then blasted his second home run of the game, this time a 2-run home run, high above the wall to give the Tar Heels the lead again. After 3 total runs in the first five innings, the two teams had scored 17 runs in the last inning and a half.
Sprock closed the gap to a 1-run deficit after a Sprock homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. North Carolina recaptured its 2-run lead after a solo homer in the ninth. North Carolina’s pitching was clutch down the stretch as Elon went 1, 2, 3 in the ninth inning to end its bid to upset the Tar Heels. Duffey said the team’s lack of runs down the stretch could be attributed to North Carolina’s pitchers attacking more and forcing Elon to swing out of the strike zone.
Kennedy said the team wasn’t able to execute when batters had two strikes and said that it played a role in the loss. Kennedy was disappointed with the team’s inability to close the game out in the final few innings.
“I think knowing when you're playing an ACC school, you have some energy, but you got to finish, and we didn't finish today,” Kennedy said.
Elon plays Towson next at 6 p.m. April 11 at Latham Park.