Sixth-seeded Elon scored in the top of the first and led wire-to-wire, defeating fourth-seeded William & Mary 6-3 in game three of the Colonial Athletic Association Baseball Championship. 

Elon improves to 26-27 this season and will await its opponent in an elimination game on Friday morning at 11 a.m. William & Mary falls to 26-23 on the year and has been eliminated from the CAA Baseball Championship. 

The Phoenix jumped out to an early lead, scoring in the top of the first and never trailed in the ball game. Justin Cassella led off the contest by swinging at the first pitch he saw and reached on a two-base error. Two pitches later, Charlie Granatell knocked him in with an RBI single to give Elon an early 1-0 lead.

The Phoenix added a pair of runs in the top of the third off a two-run homer from Luke Stephenson. After the first two Phoenix batters went down in order, Alex Iadisernia drew a two-out walk to extend the inning. During the ensuing at-bat Stephenson took a 2-0 pitch deep over the left-field wall, extending the Elon advantage to 3-0.

Elon increased its lead to 4-0 in the top of the sixth after another two-out homer. The inning began with William & Mary’s Jack Cone robbing Iadisernia of a lead-off home run. However, two batters later, Cole Reynolds hit a no-doubter over the right-center wall to add a run for the Phoenix.

Will Vergantino helped put Elon ahead 5-0, leading off the top of the seventh with a single before scoring on a wild pitch. Vergantino advanced to second on a sac bunt from Carlos Marte and tagged to third on a fly-out from Connor Coolahan before scoring on the wild pitch.

William & Mary broke through in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs on a Cole Ragone home run. Cone led off the inning with a double down the right-field line before Ragone sent a 1-1 pitch out of the park to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Elon got one run back in the top of the eighth as Reynolds hit his second big fly in as many at-bats. After back-to-back outs to begin the inning, Reynolds took the first pitch of his at-bat deep over the left-field wall to make the score 6-2. 

The Tribe struck again in the bottom half of the eighth. Joe Delossantos hit a two-out solo shot, recording his third hit of the game, pulling William & Mary within three once again, but the Tribe would not score in the ninth.

Shea Sprague (6-3) was impressive on the mound for the Phoenix. He scattered five hits over 6.0 innings and allowed two earned runs, while Kyle Greenler finished the final 3.0 innings, allowing just one hit and one earned run en route to his fourth save this season.