Mt. Pleasant, S.C. – Madi Brown tied a College of Charleston record with five hits and drove in four runs to power the Cougars to a 12-5 win over Elon in the opening game of a Colonial Athletic Association doubleheader at Patriots Point.

Charleston (18-20, 3-6 CAA) threatened to sweep the twinbill after scoring a run and loading the bases with nobody out in the seventh inning of the nightcap before the Phoenix (21-15-1, 5-4 CAA) held on for a 6-3 victory to take the series, 2-1.

Brown had singles her first four times up and became the fifth Cougar to record five hits when she launched a two-run homer in the sixth to cap an offensive explosion that saw Charleston score all of its runs over its final three at bats. The 12 runs were the most this season while the 15 hits matched the season high.

Brown is the first Cougar with a five-hit game since Katie Forbes did so against Western Carolina on March 29, 2009. The other three instances – by Katie Ballard, Amanda Cone and Brittany Shepperd – occurred in 2004.

Charleston trailed 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth before the bats came alive. Brittany Vicary had a two-run single, and Brown added an RBI hit to make it 4-3. The Cougars then put together six hits and scored six times in the fifth, highlighted by a two-run triple by Kelly Sinclair, to take a 9-4 lead.

Brown capped the uprising with her second home run of the season in the sixth to give her a career-high four RBI. Dexlie Inman added three hits and joined Yari Felix with three runs scored, and Vicary had two hits and knocked in three.

A Morgan Reich leadoff home run jumpstarted a four-run Elon first in the second game. The Cougars cut their deficit in half with single runs in the second and third but still trailed 6-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Felix, Vicary and Brown led off the inning with singles, the latter producing Brown's fifth RBI of the day, and Noel Dominguez had her second hit of the game to load the bases with nobody out. But Abby Barker was able to get three fly outs to finally secure the Elon win.

Felix had three hits and scored two runs, and Gracyn Thrasher also had two hits for the Cougars.

Charleston plays a non-conference game on Wednesday at Georgia Southern and resumes CAA play at Towson next weekend.