Elon Baseball Drops #22 UNCW 14-3 in CAA Series Opener

ELON, N.C. – Elon scored in each of the first five innings and Nick Beaulac had his second straight solid starting outing as the Phoenix baseball squad picked up a 14-3 victory over the 22nd-ranked UNCW Seahawks at Latham Park on Friday night.

Elon moved its record to 21-19 overall and 10-6 in CAA action. UNCW fell to 28-10, 11-2 on the year.

James Venuto homered and drove in two for the Phoenix as he set the program’s NCAA Division I record for homers in a season with seven. Casey Jones had a four-hit game and drove in three runs.

For UNCW, Terence Connelly collected two of the team’s season-low four hits. He also drove in two of the Seahawks’ three runs.

Beaulac (4-1), who earned CAA Rookie of the Week honors after his first career start last weekend, went seven innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits. He struck out eight.

The loss went to UNCW starter Nick Monroe (3-2) who was charged with six runs (five earned) on seven hits in 3.1 innings of work.

Up next: The Phoenix and Seahawks are scheduled to play game two of this series at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 25.

How it happened: After Andy Moore walked to lead off the last of the second in a 1-1 game, Venuto sent a 2-1 pitch down the right field line to give the Phoenix the lead for good. Elon also scored one in the third and two in both the fourth and fifth innings before sending 12 men to the plate and pushing across six runs in the last of the eighth.

Inside the box score: Elon’s 18 hits were the most allowed by UNCW this year, as were the Phoenix’s 14 runs … Six Elon players had multi-hit nights and all nine starters collected at least one hit … Moore, who was 3-for-4, has recorded three consecutive three-hit games and has raised his average 79 points in the last 11 games.

Notes: Elon has collected 44 hits in its last three games … UNCW lost for just the second time on a Friday this year; the other was at Florida State on Feb. 27 … Elon improved to 7-0 when the pitching staff strikes out 10 or more hitters … The win was the 25th for Elon over a top-25 program since the start of the 1999 season.