Steve Harrington’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning plated Anthony D’Onofrio with the winning run as third-seeded Hofstra pulled out a 5-4 victory over No. 6 Elon on Wednesday evening in Game 2 of the 2022 CAA Baseball Championship at Latham Park.

It was the seventh walk-off win of the season for the Pride (27-21), who advance to play #2 UNCW in a winner’s bracket game at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Elon (25-27) will return to action at 11 a.m. on Thursday against #4 William & Mary in an elimination contest. It was Hofstra’s first victory in the CAA Tournament since 2012. 

Reliever Aljo Sujak (3-1) got the win for Hofstra after working out of a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth. The Pride got an excellent performance from starter Brad Camarda, who limited Elon to one run on four hits over 7.0 innings and struck out seven.

Hofstra sprinted out to an early advantage with a four-run second inning. Jake Liberatore led off the second with a single and advanced to third on Ryan Morash’s one-out double to left-center. Michael Florides was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and D’Onoforio drew a walk to force in the game’s first run. Will Kennedy followed with a liner to right that drove in two, and D’Onofrio scored on a fielder’s choice to give the Pride a 4-0 advantage.

After being held to two hits over the first six innings, Elon was able to get to Camarda in the seventh. Designated hitter Luke Stephenson opened the frame with his team-leading 12^th homer to left center, pulling the Phoenix within 4-1.

Elon continued the momentum in the eighth, scoring three times with two outs. Connor Coolahan singled and Alex Iadisernia walked. Stephenson came up big again, ripping a two-run double down the left-field line. Charlie Granatell followed with a single up the middle, bringing home Stephenson and tying the game at 4-4.

D’Onofrio beat out an infield single to open the bottom of the ninth, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a groundout. Elon intentionally walked the next two batters to set up a force play, but Harrington delivered a line drive to left that was deep enough to score D’Onofrio with the winning run.