ELON, N.C. – The Tribe had a noisy answer to Elon's Friday doubleheader victory, putting up an outstanding effort in every phase of the game as one run allowed by a trio of arms was backed by an explosive 20-run performance at the plate.

William & Mary baseball (27-21,10-11 CAA) earned a lopsided 20-1 victory over the Phoenix (19-27, 8-13 CAA) on Saturday.

In a career performance, outfielder Christian Rush became the first Tribe player to hit for the cycle since Greg Sexton did so on opening weekend in 2007 against Rutgers.

A feat so rare that it hadn't been accomplished in 17 years, Rush managed to tally one base hit of every kind in his first career four-hit game. In addition to his 4-5 performance, he stole home, reached on a walk and recorded three RBI.

Head Coach Mike McRae led his squad to a program record in walks for the second consecutive season. Last year, the Tribe shattered the program record 267 from 2010 with 299. With 10 drawn in Friday's contest, including three from Luca Trigiani, for a team total of 303, the Tribe reached the 300 mark for the first time in program history.

Carter Lovasz slammed the door on the victory with a milestone strikeout. His fourth of the game marked the Tribe's 471^st of the season – a mark which has only been achieved once in program history.

With nine strikeouts from Owen Pierce (2), Travis Garnett (3) and Lovasz (4), the team overtook the 470 mark which had been second all-time, first achieved in 2002 and then matched just a year ago with Pitching Coach Dan Sweeney's 2023 staff.

Joe Delossantos homered twice for the first time in his career, marking the 36^th two-home run game in program history. His second was a grand slam in the ninth inning, running up the score to an impressive 20, tying the season-high mark from Longwood in March.

Delossantos' pair of home runs and Rush's one brought the season total to 53, tying the 1999 Tribe for eighth-most all time. This mark was most recently achieved in 2014, when the team hit a total of 55.

Despite the rough stretch which has characterized the past few conference weekends, the Green & Gold continue to put up record numbers behind both the plate and on the mound.

Pierce, the sophomore righty, got his first start of the year and allowed only one run and a pair of hits to get the Tribe off on the right foot early.

Working out of a jam in the second, Pierce stranded three Phoenix players to hang his second zero. After a leadoff home run in the third produced the lone Elon run, Pierce retired the next six batters in order to end his outing.

Scoring early and often was the name of the game as the Tribe jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first two frames.

Back-to-back walks from Delossantos and Anthony Greco were followed by back-to-back singles from Rush and Nate Goranson to score two in the first and put runners on the corners. The pair perfectly executed the double steal as Rush crossed the plate for the first of his four runs.

Christman led off the second inning with a double and Kevin Francella was hit by a pitch. Moved on a sacrifice bunt from Henry Jackson, the pair came around to score on a passed ball and an RBI groundout by Ben Parker.

Hitting leadoff in the fourth, Jackson singled to the shortstop before Delossantos ripped his first home run of the day to give the Tribe a 7-1 lead.

Garnett and Lovasz combined to allow just two hits over the final five scoreless frames. Garnett notched a pair of strikeouts before seeing his first baserunner in the fifth and faced the minimum in the sixth, ending his second scoreless inning with his third strikeout. He was credited with the win, improving to 2-0 on the year.

Putting up increasingly crooked numbers throughout the remainder of the contest, W&M scored three in the sixth, three in the eighth and capped the game with a seven-run ninth inning.

Three hits produced a trio of runs in the sixth as Jackson singled, Parker drove him in with a double and Rush cleared the bases with his home run, reaching the halfway mark of the cycle.

High traffic on the basepaths was the story of the final two innings as Greco, Rush, Christman and Parker each tallied hits in the eighth inning and Trigiani and Jackson drew walks. Three runs scored to the tune of a Goranson sacrifice fly and Christman and Parker drove in a pair with their singles.

Heading into the ninth with a lopsided 13-1 lead, W&M stretched the lead to 20-1 for its largest margin of victory of the year. 

Rush completed his cycle to get on base first in the ninth, before Goranson wore a pitch and pinch hitter Josiah Seguin drew a walk to load the bases. Jakob Cohn and Derek Holmes each notched RBI as pinch hitters and Corey Adams scored one on a sacrifice fly. 

The bases were loaded with Cohn, Jackson and Holmes as Delossantos stepped up to the plate. Bringing the total to 20, Delossantos blasted a grand slam to left field.  

Lovasz worked the last three innings, seeing only one Phoenix batter reach base on a seventh-inning single. The junior earned his fifth save of the season and the 17^th of his career by sitting the next seven Elon hitters down in order, drawing one closer to Joseph Gaouette's program-record 18.
 
Follow the Tribe
Follow William & Mary baseball on Twitter/X (@WMTribeBaseball), Instagram (@WMTribeBaseball) and Facebook (/WMTribeBaseball) for more information, gameday updates and Tribe baseball content.