May 21, 2010

Box Score

ELON, N.C. - Elon's Ken Ferrer pitched a complete game, giving up just one run on five hits to lead the Phoenix baseball team to a 5-1 win over Samford in the final game of the teams' three-game Southern Conference series Friday afternoon at Latham Park.

"That's the story of the game, he (Ferrer) was better than we were," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "He was really sharp all day. I thought our bats got better as the day went on, but the bottom line was he was really good and they played clean defensively."

With the loss, Samford drops to 30-23 overall and 17-12 in SoCon play. Elon improves to 36-20 overall and 19-11 in league play. The game ends the regular season for both teams.

Elon enters next week's SoCon Tournament as the No. 4 seed, while Samford is the tournament's No. 5 seed. Samford and Elon will meet in the first round of the tournament on Wednesday in Charleston, S.C. The time of the game will be determined later this weekend.

Samford was led at the plate by Mason Meredeth, going 1-for-4 with an RBI. Wayne Miller, Bo Smith, Gary Cramer and Brad Moss had one hit each for the Bulldogs. Josh Martin pitched 7.0 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and striking out four batters while walking just one to take the loss and drop his season record to 4-6.

For Elon at the plate, Harry Austin went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI. Mike Melillo had a home run and three RBI in a 1-for-4 performance. Niko Fraser went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in the game. Ferrer struck out four batters and allowed no walks in improving his season record to 9-5.

Each team plated a run in the first inning for an early 1-1 tie. In the top of the first, Miller led the game off with an infield single. After stealing second base and advancing to third on an Elon error, Miller scored when Meredeth singled to right field to give Samford the early lead.

In the bottom of the first inning, Austin doubled to lead off the inning for Elon. Fraser then doubled to drive in Austin to tie the score at 1-1.

Elon took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Melillo hit a home run with Austin and Fraser on base for a 4-1 Elon lead.

The Phoenix added one final run in the bottom of the seventh inning to push their lead to 5-1. Austin singled to drive in Alex Swim for Elon's fifth run of the game.

All of Samford's games in next week's SoCon Tournament can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.