| PING!BASEBALL SPOTLIGHT TEAM
Elon Phoenix
Southern Conference |
 |
If the University of Elon hadn’t undergone
a mascot change back in 1999, more people outside of the Carolinas
would likely be familiar with the nearly 120 year old college
located in central North Carolina.  Up
until that date, Elon’s mascot had the unique Fightin'
Christians moniker, personified by a scrappy bearded Christian
ready to throw down at the drop of his derby hat. However,
the school’s administration changed the school’s
mascot to the inoffensive and nonexclusionary Phoenix name
at the turn of the century (perhaps the name wasn’t
Y2K safe?…). However no matter what the team’s
name is, the Maroon and Gold can play some serious baseball.
This season the Phoenix won the Southern
Conference regular season title, their second championship
in three seasons, with a 19-8 record mark. Elon took the title
on the final day of the regular season when SoCon nemesis
College of Charleston lost due to a ninth inning two out double
against Western Carolina. The Phoenix also made their first-ever
appearance in the conference championship, again battling
CofC for the SoCon title and winning it going away, 17-8.
In addition to their top SoCon standing, the Phoenix also
boast wins over highly ranked teams such as North Carolina,
UNC Wilmington and East Carolina.
The Phoenix have a balanced attack that can
shut opposition down on the mound as well as take care of
business at the plate. The pitching staff is led by SoCon
Pitcher of the Year Steven Hensley.  Hensley,
Elon’s all-time strikeouts leader, is 10-1 with a 3.38
ERA so far this season. In 85 innings he allowed only 70 hits
while striking out 96 batters to add credibility to being
the top North Carolina college prospect by Baseball America
prior to the season. The other star of the staff is bullpen
ace Thomas Girdwood who has recorded nine saves while posting
a 5-1 record in relief. His 2.74 ERA leads the team, which
is even more impressive considering this is his freshman season.
Girdwood has shown tremendous poise this year and even pitched
a perfect inning of relief against North Carolina to earn
a save against the highly ranked Heels. The rest of the staff
is deep and dependable, but not quite as imposing as Hensley
and Girdwood. Six other pitchers have started at least four
games for the Phoenix as head coach Mike Kennedy has looked
for a compliment to the ever able Hensley. The most notable
other arm is big freshman Ken Ferrer. At 6’2”,
220 pounds, Ferrer can bring the heat as he has fanned a batter
an inning (57 IP/ 57 Ks), but he can have trouble finding
the plate as he has walked 46 batters. Another freshman, Jared
Kernodle, also deserves a big shout out as he has a 3.44 ERA
in 28 games this season. He has 33 strikeouts in 34 innings
pitched, while only allowing 23 hits for a .197 opposition
batting average.
Offensively the ’08 Phoenix broke the
school record for runs in a season, thanks in large part to
the break out season of junior Cory Harrilchak. Harrilchak
hit for the Surry Community College Knights the last two years
before transferring to Elon.  This
season the All-SoCon outfielder has been batting out of his
gourd, hitting over .400 with 11 homeruns, 42 RBI and a team
leading 66 runs. He is also a perfect 22 for 22 in stolen
base attempts and has 11 doubles and five triples to amass
a .698 slugging percentage. Driving him home all year has
been another community college transfer, third baseman Bennett
Davis. Davis has slugged a team leading 17 homeruns and has
75 RBI while maintaining a .337 batting average. As if that
wasn’t enough he also has swiped 11 bases. Davis was
named to the All-SoCon Second Team, as was catcher Dallas
Tarleton. Tarleton transferred to Elon after two seasons at
Lenoir-Rhyne where he was named First Team All-South Atlantic
Conference and ABCA/Rawlings All-South Region Second Team
in 2007. He has kept it going this season, actually raising
his numbers despite moving from DII to DI baseball. He is
batting .365 with six homeruns and 46 RBI. However the most
dangerous Phoenix player on offense may be speedy centerfielder
Chris Dove. Dove was named to the pre-season 2008 Brooks Wallace
Player of the Year Award watch list, and shown why with his
38 stolen bases and top shelf defense. He is batting .308
with 11 doubles, five triples and six homeruns.
PREVIOUS SPOTLIGHT TEAMS
|
