West Long Branch, N.J. - The Elon University baseball team (13-7, 5-1 CAA) finished off a sweep against the Monmouth Hawks (7-9, 1-5 CAA) Sunday afternoon, 18-5, to earn the team's sixth straight win overall. It marks the program's first road conference sweep since 2019 and is Elon's fifth consecutive CAA win.
 
The Phoenix offense continued its hot streak by scoring a season-high 18 runs, most in a game for the Phoenix since 2018 when Elon scored 21 against Rider. Elon batters were one hit shy of tying a season-high with 15 on the day.
 
Justin Cassella continued to swing a hot bat, finishing the day 2-for-4 with three RBI and the lone Phoenix extra-base hit. Connor Coolahan reached base five times in the Sunday win and collected four RBI to lead all players.
 
Elon's winning streak is the longest in the conference, at six games, and has the Phoenix positioned in a tie for first in the Colonial Athletic Association standings with UNCW at 5-1.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Monmouth, for the first time in the series, struck first with a James Harmstead sacrifice fly to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
• Elon answered almost immediately when Connor Coolahan claimed his first of two RBI hit-by-pitches to even the score.
• The Hawks would regain the lead in the bottom half of the frame with a Brady Mutz RBI single.
• Tanner Holliman continued to swing a hot bat, extending his hitting-streak to eight games on an RBI single to score Ryan Sprock to even the score. Justin Casella would draw a bases loaded walk later in the frame to give Elon a lead they would never relinquish.
• Connor Coolahan picked up his second and third RBI in as many innings with a single to right field that would score two runs. Charlie Granatell and Connor Offshack would both single home a run in the bottom of the third as well to give Elon a 6-2 lead.
• Following a five-run inning in the third, the Phoenix did two better in the sixth, scoring seven runs to blow the game open.
• Offshack would single home another run, and James Broderick would walk in another to start off the scoring.
• Justin Cassella answered that with the Phoenix's lone extra-base hit of the afternoon, doubling home two more runs to put the Phoenix into the double-digit run column.
• The Phoenix scored three more runs in the inning by taking advantage of a wild pitch and two fielding errors by Monmouth to increase Elon's lead to 13-2.
• Monmouth chipped away at the lead in the bottom of the sixth frame with the Hawks, taking advantage of an error by the Phoenix to gain two runs back.
• Elon would get those runs back, and then some, by capping off the sweep with another five-run inning.
• Coolahan claimed his fourth RBI and second RBI via the hit-by-pitch before Granatell would answer with his third RBI of the day on a single to center field.
• Three more Phoenix runs came across to score for Elon from a Sprock walk, a Parker Haskin single and a Bryce Jeske groundout.
• Monmouth plated one more run in the bottom of the eighth, but the Phoenix offense had done the damage with the final tally totaling 18-5 in favor of Elon.

 
NOTES AND STATS

• With the Sunday victory, the Phoenix has extended the winning streak to six games, the longest active streak in the CAA.
• The 18 runs scored by the Phoenix was the most in a game in the past five seasons and most since Elon scored 21 against Rider University in 2018.
• Elon has scored 56 runs over the last four games. This is the most in a four-game stretch since 2010 when the Phoenix scored 61 runs against another ACC school, Wake Forest, and a former conference opponent, UNCG.
• The Phoenix pitching staff continues to be ranked near the top of the CAA in ERA. The team ERA of 3.18 is second in the conference and its 61 walks given up are also second.
• Tanner Holliman continued his hot streak against CAA opponents. Holliman finished the day 2-for-4 and scored a team high three runs. Holliman is on a club-high eight-game hitting streak and is hitting over .400 during the hitting streak.
• Charlie Granatell continues to swing a hot bat this week. The sophomore is now batting 8-for-20 in his last three games and has bumped up his average to .321.
• Connor Coolahan continues to pace the Phoenix in on-base percentage. Coolahan reached base five times during Sunday's matchup with the Hawks. He leads the club with a .500 OBP clip, good enough for fourth in the CAA.
• The Phoenix walked 15 times during its Saturday matchup with the Hawks. That is the most base on balls collectively in the CAA era and the most since at least 2013.
• During the three-game series, Phoenix batters drew a walk a total of 37 times, an average of over 12 walks per game.
• The total game time was 3 hours and 42 minutes, the longest of the season for Elon.
• Elon is currently rated 36th in the nation in RPI, the second highest in the CAA. Elon also has been rated as having the 14th toughest strength of schedule in the nation.
• The Phoenix now have a road record of 5-1. The 2022 team achieved their fourth road win of the season on April 10th. The .833 winning percentage on the road is tops in the CAA.

 
UP NEXT

• The Phoenix will complete the five-game road trip at Wake Forest on Tuesday before returning to Latham Park next weekend to battle Delaware.