Elon, NC - Santino Rosso went 2-5 with three RBIs and Frankie DiMartino drove in a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth to back starter Mark Faello in a 6-2 Hofstra victory over Elon in the Colonial Athletic Association opener at Latham Park Friday night.

Hofstra improved to 9-7 on the season and 1-0 in CAA play with the win. The Phoenix dipped to 11-10 overall and 0-1 in league action.

Faello (2-1) went 6 2/3 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Aljo Sujak followed with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball before Michael O'Hanlon recorded the final three outs.

Elon took a 1-0 lead in the second before Hofstra went ahead, 2-1, in the fifth following Rosso's two-run single. The lead was short-lived as the Phoenix tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly from Alex Iadisernia.

The Pride would go ahead to stay in the sixth inning as Jake Liberatore led off with a double and would come in to score on a single from Kevin Bruggeman. Rosso would drive in his third run of the game later in the inning with an opposite field single to make it a 4-2 game.

Elon threatened in the eighth, putting runners on second and third with one out. But Sujak got a strikeout and a ground out to escape the jam unscathed.

Hofstra tacked on two insurance runs in the ninth, putting runners on second and third for DiMartino, who had entered as a defensive replacement. The junior took the first pitch he saw into right field, driving in both runs. O'Hanlon then worked around a two-out single to secure the Hofstra win in the bottom of the inning.

In addition to Rosso, the Pride received multi-hit games from Liberatore, Bruggeman, and Anthony D'Onofrio.

Charlie Granatell had three hits to pace Elon with Iadisernia and Luke Stephenson had two hits each. Elon starter Joe Savino (1-2) took the loss after allowing four runs on 10 hits in five innings of work.

The teams will play game two of the series Saturday at 2 p.m.

Notes:
- Hofstra had 14 hits in the game, the third time in the last five games that the Pride have had 10+ hits.
- D'Onofrio extended his hitting streak to five games.
- Hofstra moved to 6-10 all-time versus Elon and won for the first time at Latham Park (1-6).
- Hofstra is 9-11 all-time in CAA openers.