For every positive moment on the diamond last week, there were many negatives for the Elon University baseball team.
There was the injury to center fielder Niko Fraser at North Carolina April 4, a probable concussion which kept him out for the Furman series and has his status unknown for the upcoming week.
There was disaster on the mound. After giving up 11 runs against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the second highest run total the Phoenix had allowed this season, Elon (19-14, 12-6 Southern Conference) followed it up by allowing a season-high 18 runners to cross the plate in an 18-2 drubbing against Furman University.
There was the comedy of errors performed by Elon’s defense. The Phoenix made nine miscues in four games this week.
And there was a general lack of hitting from the offense. Elon scored 14 runs (and gave up 35) in a miserable 1-3 end to a seven-game road trip that started out so well with a three-game sweep of Samford University. Even Alex Swim couldn’t do much outstanding with the bat. The junior catcher went 4-13 and ended a 25-game hit streak Saturday against the Paladins.
The perhaps lone positive to the weekend was junior pitcher Kyle Webb, whose complete game win in the final contest against Furman prevented a series sweep and an 0-4 week.
“(The win was) huge,” Webb said. “We needed that win to get back on track in the conference.”
This week, the Phoenix takes a brief hiatus from SoCon play to entertain East Carolina University for one game and Towson University for three at Latham Park, sandwiched around a one-game stop in Raleigh to battle North Carolina State University.
“We don’t want to make excuses,” said sophomore catcher Ryan Kinsella. “We still need to show up and play no matter what. But (playing on the road) has some sort of mental effect that we need to be able to overcome.”