FINAL SCORE 
Monmouth 3 (20-20, 7-8 CAA)
Elon 0 (15-24, 6-9 CAA)
 
WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Ryan Mealy tossed six shutout innings to lead the Monmouth University baseball team to a 3-0 win over Elon University on Sunday afternoon in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play. 
 
The Hawks earned their second CAA series win of the season after taking two of three from the Phoenix. 
 
The Hawks broke through on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. Jay Bant's RBI single scored Brendan Buecker with the game's first run. Monmouth made it a 2-0 game as Andrew Schmid scored on Chris Andrews' base knock.
 
Elon looked like it might have figured out Mealy in the fourth as the Phoenix loaded the bases with one out. Mealy was able to get an out at the plate on a ground ball and a strikeout to strand the runners. 
 
Monmouth added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth as Simmi Whitehill's double scored Chris Walsh. 
 
Mealy retired eight of the final nine batters he faced before giving way to the bullpen in the seventh. 
 
Nick Tamburro, Brendan Kenneally and Derek Benzinger combined to allow just three base runners over the final three innings and closed out the 3-0 win.

NOTES 
- Monmouth earned it's first series win over the Phoenix. Elon leads the all-time series, 6-3. 
- The Hawks moved to 5-0 on Sundays during CAA play.
- Monmouth earned it's 20th win of the season on Sunday. It's the first time since 2022 that the Hawks have won at least 20 games in a season. It's the 27th time under head coach Dean Ehehalt that the Hawks have won at least 20 games in a season.
- Ryan Mealy became the first Hawks pitcher with at least five wins in a season since Trey Dombroski had six in 2022.  
- Mealy's six shutout innings stretched his scoreless streak to 16.1 innings of work.
- Derek Benzinger's save was his third of the season and eighth of his Monmouth career. He moved into sole possession of ninth place on the career saves list at Monmouth.
- Chris Walsh's stolen base was Monmouth's 88th of the season. The Hawks need one more steal to tie the 2001 squad for the second most steals in a single-season.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
- The Hawks picked up their second straight Sunday shutout. 
- Jay Bant picked up his team leading 46th RBI of the season. He also leads the CAA in that category.
- Andrew Schmid contributed his CAA leading 12th sac bunt of the season. Schmid needs two more sac bunts to crack the CAA top 10 for single-season bunts.
- Chris Walsh had his second straight multi-hit game and 14th of the season. 
- Ryan Mealy scattered six hits over six innings of work and struck out six to improve to 5-0 on the year. 
- Derek Benzinger picked up his team-leading third save of the season with a scoreless top of the ninth.
- Declan Lavelle took the loss for Elon after giving up three runs on seven hits in six innings of work. 

NEXT UP
Monmouth visits Seton Hall on Wednesday, Apr. 23 at 4 p.m.