Elon Nips State 5-4 In Clemson Regional Opener
June 02, 2006 | Baseball
* Official Statistics (PDF)
CLEMSON, S.C. - Pinch-hitter Patrick Irvine broke a 4-4 tie with a run-scoring single in the eighth inning Friday as the Elon Phoenix (45-16) registered a 5-4 win over Mississippi State (35-22) in the opening round of the 2006 NCAA Clemson Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. It was the first meeting on the diamond for the two schools.
The win advanced No. 2 seed Elon to a 7 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Friday night's Clemson-UNC Asheville game while MSU plays in a 2 p.m. (CDT) elimination game.
The Bulldogs took their only lead of the game in the second inning. Brian LaNinfa opened the frame with a fly-ball single that fell between Elon's shortstop and center fielder and Mitch Moreland doubled into the gap in right field. Joseph Hunter followed with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring LaNinfa and advancing Moreland to third. But Elon starter Matt Chastain retired Brad Jones and Michael Rutledge to avoid further damage.
The Phoenix, after stranding a pair of base-runners in the first inning, answered with four runs in the bottom of the second inning off MSU starter Brooks Dunn (8-6). Dunn walked Elon's hitting leader Chris Price to open the frame, then gave up back-to-back singles by Ryan Addison and Paul Bennett to load the bases. Nine-hole hitter Jordy Snyder then hit a slow roller to third base, but Michael Rutledge, threw wildly to the plate in an attempt to retire the lead base-runner, scoring two Elon runs. Donny Jobe sent another run home with a sacrifice fly and Chris Vasami delivered a two-out RBI single for a 4-1 Elon lead.
Dunn worked around a third-inning single and another Rutledge error in the fourth, shutting out the Phoenix from the third through the seventh innings.
The Bulldogs pulled even with a three-run burst in the fifth. Rutledge and Jeff Butts opened the inning with singles and Jeffrey Rea brought them home with his first triple of the game. Rea scored the game-tying run on Edward Easley's infield groundout. State had a chance to retake the lead in the sixth when Joseph Hunter singled and was bunted over the second base. But Chastain retired Rutledge with a fly ball to left and relief pitcher Jesse Lewter got Jeff Butts to line out to right, stranding Hunter at third base.
Lewter (5-1) retired all seven batters he faced and Chad Tilley worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his 11th save.
Dunn retired one batter in the eighth and left the game after Addison's third hit of the game. Freshman Chad Crosswhite followed Dunn to the hill with Addison at first base. But the Elon outfielder stole second base, advanced to third base on a fly ballot right, and plated the winning run when Irvine bounced a two-strike pitch through the infield into left field. Dunn took the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts. It marked Dunn's eighth time to pitch at least seven innings this season.
Matt Richardson blooped a pinch-hit single to left to open the ninth for MSU, but Tilley sandwiched strikeouts around a pop-up to first base to end the game.
Jeff Butts , who opened the third inning with a double, led MSU's nine-hit attack with two. Thomas Berkery, earlier in the day named by Collegiate Baseball newspaper to the Louisville Slugger All-America second-team, extended his SEC-longest active hitting streak to 15 games, while Brian LaNinfa's second-inning single ran his career-best hitting streak to 12 games.
