WILMINGTON, N.C. – Down 3-0 early to No. 6 William & Mary, Elon University baseball scored seven unanswered runs for a 7-3 win in the opening round of the 2021 CAA Championship on Wednesday afternoon, May 26 at UNCW's Brooks Field. The Phoenix improves to 22-20 overall with the victory.

ON THE MOUND
Trevor Kirk was dominant out of the pen, striking out five while holding the Tribe (13-28) scoreless through 4.1 innings. He allowed one hit and didn't walk anyone to improve to 4-1 with the victory. Starter Brian Edgington went 2.2 innings and gave up three runs on five hits and two walks while recording three strikeouts. Kyle Greenler also threw 2.0 innings and added one hit with two punch outs to his totals.

AT THE PLATE
Three Elon batters collected multiple hits, led by Alex Iadisernia's 3-for-4 day at the plate. The Co-Rookie of the Year scored once, drove in one run and also earned one base on balls. Jarrett Pico was a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs, one RBI and one walk. Garrett Stonehouse turned in a 2-for-4 effort with one run. Justin Cassella hit 1-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs, while Tyler Cranston finished 1-for-3 with a double, one run, one RBI and two walks. Nick Cicci had Elon's other extra-base hit, a solo home run as the Charlotte, N.C. native also batted 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.

THE RUNDOWN
W&M opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the second. Tyler Solomon led off with a double to left center, Matt Thomas walked and Matthew Trehub singled through the right side for the first run of the game. Thomas then tagged up on a David Hogarth sacrifice fly to right for the 2-0 lead. Matt McDermott then hit a leadoff home run in the third to push the Tribe lead to 3-0. Elon finally answered in the bottom of the third as a Cranston double to the gap in left scored Pico from first. Iadisernia then trimmed the W&M lead to 3-2 with an RBI hit back up the middle.

Elon placed runners on first and second to start the bottom of the fourth, but W&M turned a 6-4-3 double play. Reynolds was able to move up to third though and tied the game on a Pico single to left field. Cassella followed with an RBI triple to the right corner as the Phoenix pulled ahead, 4-3. The maroon and gold added three insurance runs down the stretch. Cicci hit a two-out solo shot in the fifth. Cassella drove in another run with an RBI ground out to second in the sixth, and Reynolds rounded out the scoring with an RBI ground out to second in the seventh.

A hit and a pair of Elon errors helped the Tribe load the bases with one out in the top half of the seventh, but Kirk induced a pop up to short and struck out the next batter to end the threat.
 

NOTES
- Elon outhit the Tribe, 11-7.
- The Phoenix improves to 20-14 in the all-time series.
- The maroon and gold hit 11-for-32 (.344) in the game. The team was 6-for-13 (.462) with two outs, 7-for-19 (.368) with runners on and 2-for-2 (1.000) with runners on third and less than two outs.
- Elon's arms posted a 67.1 strike percentage with 94-of-140 pitches over the plate.
- Iadisernia pushed his hit streak to 14 games and his reached-base streak to 28 games.

UP NEXT
Elon will face the No. 2 UNCW Seahawks in a 7 p.m. game tomorrow night.