Baseball Weekly Report - April 11
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - APRIL 11 (PDF format)
CAA BASEBALL VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS/INTERVIEWS
CAA BASEBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Jordan Glover, Delaware
Jr., OF, Marlton, N.J./Cherokee
Glover batted .450 (9-20) with three doubles, a triple, three runs scored and five RBI’s in Delaware’s 4-0 week. The junior outfielder was 8-for-16 in the Blue Hens’ three-game sweep at Hofstra with a couple of three-hit outings while twice driving in two runs. Glover, who is batting .344 with a team-high 36 RBI’s for the season, is currently on a seven-game hitting streak.
CAA BASEBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Steven Linkous, UNCW
Sr., OF, Leland, N.C./North Brunswick
Linkous batted .526 (10-19) with a double, four runs scored and three RBI’s in UNCW’s 4-0 week on the road. The senior outfielder had multiple hits in all four games, highlighted by a 4-for-5 effort with two runs in Sunday’s 6-1 victory at William & Mary that completed a series sweep. He also drove in the game-winning run in Friday’s 2-1 triumph over the Tribe.
CAA BASEBALL PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
Michael Elefante, Elon
Sr., RHP, Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill
Elefante allowed just two hits over 8.0 shutout innings and struck out a career-high 11 batters in Elon’s 2-0 victory at Northeastern on Saturday. The senior right-hander retired 19 of the final 20 hitters he faced, including a stretch of 13 straight at one point. It was the first shutout win for the Phoenix since March 14, 2014 and Elefante’s first victory of the season.
CAA BASEBALL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK:
Dupree Hart, College of Charleston
Fr., IF, Rock Hill, S.C./Northwestern
Hart batted .412 (7-17) with two doubles, three runs scored and five RBI’s over four games last week. The freshman had multiple hits in three of the four contests. In Sunday’s 6-6 tie with #12 UC Santa Barbara, Hart was 2-for-3 with three RBI’s, including a two-run double in the eighth that broke a 4-4 tie. He ranks second on the team with a .311 batting average for the season.
DIAMOND NOTES:
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON (21-10-1, 5-1 in CAA)
The Cougars rebounded from a 13-10 loss to Georgia Southern by going 1-1-1 in a weekend series with 12th-ranked UCSB. Freshman Dupree Hart batted .412 (7-17) for the week with three runs scored and five RBI’s. He went 2-for-3 with three RBI’s in Sunday’s 6-6 tie with UCSB, including a two-run double in the 8th that gave CofC the lead. Bradley Jones batted .400 (6-15) for the week with three multi-hit outings. He smacked his seventh homer and drove in four in Saturday’s 10-3 victory over UCSB. Tommy Richter hit a 3-run homer and finished with four RBI’s in Friday’s 7-4 setback. Pitcher Eric Bauer gave up just one earned run on five hits and struck out six over 6.0 innings on Sunday. Bailey Ober (3-1) got the win on Saturday after allowing three runs in 6.1 frames.
DELAWARE (21-11, 4-5 in CAA)
The Blue Hens put together a perfect 4-0 week, capped by a three-game CAA sweep at Hofstra. Junior Jordan Glover batted .450 (9-20) with three doubles, a triple and five RBI’s for the week and hit .500 (8-16) in the Hofstra series. He’s on a 7-game hittting streak and has a team-high 36 RBI’s this season. Freshman Nick Patten hit .400 (6-15) with two homers and six runs scored last week. His team-high eight home runs for the season are the most by a UD freshman since 2006. Diaz Nardo was 7-for-12 (.583) with five runs scored and three RBI’s in the Hofstra series. Pitcher Burk FitzPatrick earned saves in both appearances last week after giving up just one run on one hit over 6.2 innings of work while striking out seven. Ron Marinaccio picked up his 6th win on Friday.
ELON (12-20, 4-7 in CAA)
The Phoenix went 2-3 last week, but closed with a pair of victories at Northeastern for their first CAA series win. Senior pitcher Michael Elefante (1-1) limited the Huskies to two hits over 8.0 shutout innings in Saturday’s 2-0 victory and struck out a career-high 11. He retired 19 of the final 20 batters he faced. In Sunday’s 3-2 win in 10 innings, starter Jordan Barrett gave up one earned run over 6.0 innings and fanned eight and reliever Chris Hall (2-1) followed with four shutout frames. Kory Shumate was 2-for-4 with two RBI’s on Sunday and drove in the winning run with a single in the 10th. Tyler McVicar homered and scored twice on Sunday. Freshman Ryan Ogren was 5-for-8 in the first two games of the NU series and batted .364 for the week with two RBI’s.
HOFSTRA (8-24, 1-7 in CAA)
The Pride rolled past Saint Peter’s (11-4) last Wednesday, but lost all three games of their home CAA series with Delaware. Brad Witkowski homered twice at Saint Peter’s, becoming the first Hofstra player to accomplish that feat since 2013. Outfielder Steven Foster batted .400 for the week, including going 5-for-10 with two doubles and a triple in the Delaware series. Max Dolente hit a pinch-hit solo homer in the second game of the UD series. The Pride already has 27 home runs as a team, which matches their total from all of last year. Pitcher Teddy Cillis picked up his first career win at Saint Peter’s. The Pride has five home games this week, including a CAA series with CofC.
JAMES MADISON (13-19, 4-5 in CAA)
The Dukes dropped four road games last week, including three at CAA foe Towson. Junior outfielder Ky Parrott batted .385 (5-13) for the week and also drew five walks. He had a pair of two-hit games at Towson and raised his average to .304. Brett Johnson hit his sixth homer of the season in Sunday’s finale as JMU jumped out to a 4-0 lead before falling 8-4. Zach Tondi smacked his third homer of the season in a 5-2 setback at Maryland. Pitcher Colton Harlow gave up just two runs on six hits over 5.0 innings and struck out six in the first game of Sunday’s twinbill at TU, while Daniel Pinson limited Maryland to two runs on four hits over 5.0 innings and fanned four. JMU has a four-game homestand against VMI and William & Mary this week.
UNCW (19-9, 5-2 in CAA)
The Seahawks went 4-0 on the road last week, highlighted by a three-game sweep at William & Mary. Outfielder Steven Linkous batted .529 (10-19) for the week and had multiple hits in all four contests. He drove in the game-winning run in Friday’s 2-1 victory over the Tribe and was 4-for-5 in Sunday’s 6-1 win. Catcher Nick Feight was 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBI’s in an 11-4 victory at Campbell and also went deep at W&M. He leads the CAA in homers (10) and RBI’s (46) for the season. Casey Golden also homered twice in the W&M series. On the mound, Corey Gantz allowed just one run on seven hits over a career-long 7.0 innings on Sunday. Ryan Foster improved to 6-1 after holding W&M to one run on five hits over 7.0 frames on Friday.
NORTHEASTERN (15-14, 4-4 in CAA)
The Huskies split four games last week, beating Harvard (3-2) in the Beanpot semifinals before losing 2-of-3 to Elon in CAA play. Outfielder Cam Walsh was 2-for-4 and drove in the game-winning run against Harvard and also had two RBI’s as NU topped Elon 6-3 in Friday’s opener. NU’s four pitchers didn’t allow an earned run vs. Harvard. Aaron Civale upped his record to 5-1 after giving up three runs over 8.0 innings and striking out six vs. Elon on Friday. James Mulry didn’t surrender an earned run and struck out seven in Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Phoenix, while Dustin Hunt posted a career-high 10 strikeouts and gave up only four hits in 7.0 innings in Sunday’s 3-2 setback. Hunt fanned at least one batter in every inning and went over 200 strikeouts for his career.
TOWSON (14-18, 5-1 in CAA)
The Tigers moved into a tie for first place in the CAA at 5-1 after a three-game sweep of JMU over the weekend. It was Towson’s first CAA series sweep since 2013. Shortstop Brady Policelli had another strong week, batting .429 (6-14) with a homer, five runs scored and three RBI’s. He was 4-for-4 with a game-winning 2-run homer in Friday’s 6-4 victory over the Dukes, while A.J. Gallo added a three-run shot. Colin Dyer was 2-for-3 with a game-winning homer as Towson won Sunday’s opener 3-2, while Tristan Howerton was 3-for-3 with a pair of homers and a career-high six RBI’s as the Tigers rallied for an 8-4 win in the finale. Reliever Matt Golczewski gave up just four hits over 7.0 shutout innings and struck out four to get the win in the nightcap.
WILLIAM & MARY (15-16, 4-4 in CAA)
The Tribe opened last week with a 12-8 victory at Virginia Tech before scoring just seven total runs in four straight setbacks. Charley Gould and Kyle Wrighte each had two hits and three RBI’s in the win over the Hokies, while pitcher Kinston Carson gave up one earned run over the first 5.2 innings. Wrighte added two hits against UNCW on Saturday, while Gould hit his second homer of the week on Sunday. Pitcher Nick Brown tied his career-high with 11 strikeouts over 6.0 innings in Friday’s 2-1 loss to UNCW and reliever Robert White followed with three hitless frames. On Saturday, freshman Bodie Sheehan limited the Seahawks to two runs over 7.0 frames and struck out eight.