Baseball Weekly Honors - May 1
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - MAY 1 (PDF format)
CAA Baseball YouTube Playlists
CAA BASEBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Xavier Freeman, College of Charleston
Jr., OF, New Lima, Okla./Seminole
Freeman batted .462 (6-13) with two homers, five runs scored and four RBI’s in CofC’s four games last week. The junior outfielder went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a go-ahead solo homer in the Cougars’ 11-2 victory over Elon last Friday and followed with a two-run homer in Saturday’s 5-3 win against the Phoenix. Freeman has recorded at least one hit in seven straight games to raise his batting average from .111 to .250 over the past 10 days and has gone deep four times during that stretch.
CAA BASEBALL PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
Chris Weiss, Hofstra
Jr., RHP, Ridge, N.Y./Longwood
Weiss allowed just one hit over 8.1 shutout innings and struck out 13 with no walks in three relief appearances last week. The junior right-hander (4-2) picked up the win in Hofstra’s 5-2 triumph over first-place Northeastern on Sunday after giving up one hit and no runs over the final 5.1 frames and matching a career-high with seven K’s. He also threw two perfect innings vs. Manhattan and one inning in the opener against NU.
CAA BASEBALL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK:
Zarion Sharpe, UNCW
Fr., LHP, Greenville, N.C./Oakwood School
Sharpe limited Delaware to three hits over 6.0 shutout innings in UNCW’s 5-0 triumph over the Blue Hens on Sunday that clinched the series. The freshman left-hander needed just 68 pitches to win his fourth consecutive start and up his record to 4-1 on the season. Sharpe struck out three and didn’t issue a walk.
DIAMOND NOTES:
COL. OF CHARLESTON (22-22, 12-6 in CAA)
The Cougars remain a half-game out of the lead in the CAA standings after winning two-of-three from Elon. Xavier Freeman batted .462 with two homers and four RBI’s last week. He’s had a hit in seven straight games and has gone deep in four of them. Joey Mundy doubled twice and drove in three in Friday’s 11-2 win over Elon. Ari Sechopoulos had at least one RBI in all three games against the Phoenix. Logan McRae leads the CAA in homers (13) and RBI’s (51). Tommy Richter had three hits on Sunday to raise his average to .371. Reliever Nathan Ocker allowed just one hit and struck out five over the final 4.1 innings on Friday, while Carter Love threw 5.0 shutout innings and fanned nine in two appearances out of the pen vs. Elon.
DELAWARE (24-17, 10-8 in CAA)
The Blue Hens went 1-2 at UNCW over the weekend. Delaware got a strong pitching performance in Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Seahawks as starter Ron Marinaccio struck out seven and gave up just four hits over 5.0 shutout innings and Burk FitzPatrick didn’t allow an earned run over the final four frames to record his fourth save. Nick Patten was 2-for-2 and scored twice in the victory and leads the Hens with 39 runs for the year. Calvin Scott extended his hitting streak to 11 games and is batting .328 for the season. Doug Trimble continues to top the CAA with a .385 batting average. Brian Mayer contributed an RBI double on Saturday and went 2-for-3 on Sunday. Delaware closes out an 11-game road swing with a weekend series at NC State.
ELON (20-24, 10-8 in CAA)
The Phoenix had a 1-3 week, but ended a four-game slide by rallying past Charleston, 6-4, on Sunday. Elon scored three in the ninth, with Shawn Blake delivering a two-run single that snapped a 4-4 tie. Kyle Jackson, who ranks second in the CAA with 41 RBI’s, also drove in two in the victory. Cam Devanney tied his career-high with three hits on Sunday and hit a home run in Saturday’s 5-3 setback. Ryne Ogren had four hits in the series and is batting a team-best .362 for the year. Robbie Welhaf threw 3.0 shutout innings in two relief appearances and got the win on Sunday to even his record at 4-4. Starter Jordan Barrett gave up one earned run over 5.0 innings on Sunday and struck out six. Elon is back on the road this weekend at Hofstra.
HOFSTRA (11-30, 4-11 in CAA)
The Pride dropped three-of-four, but closed the week with a 5-2 victory over first-place Northeastern. Pitcher Matt Weissheier, who was making his first career start, combined with Chris Weiss to limit the Huskies to two hits in Sunday’s win. It was Hofstra’s first two-hitter since May 17, 2013. Weiss allowed only one hit over 8.1 innings in three appearances last week and struck out 13, including seven over the final 5.1 frames at NU on Sunday. Rob Weissheier’s three-run homer in the sixth snapped a 2-2 tie in the victory over the Huskies. Vito Friscia batted .375 with a homer and four RBI’s last week. David Leiderman also hit .375 for the week and Tom Archer batted .357 with his a homer. John Rooney posted his second straight 10-strikout effort vs. NU on Saturday.
JAMES MADISON (19-21, 3-9 in CAA)
The Dukes rolled past Longwood, 16-0, in their only game of the week last Wednesday. Catcher Zach Tondi went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored to lead a 17-hit performance by JMU. Fox Semones was 3-for-4 with two RBI’s, which raised his team-best batting average to .351. Kyle McPherson and Adam Sisk smacked back-to-back homers in an 11-run third inning that broke the game open. Sisk is batting .324 and tops the CAA in runs (47) and steals (14), while McPherson is hitting .320. Five JMU pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout against Longwood, with Christian Bourne picking up his first win of the year. JMU hosts Towson in a three-game series this weekend.
UNCW (21-22, 9-6 in CAA)
The Seahawks were 3-2 last week, including a CAA series win over Delaware. Nick Feight went 4-for-5, including his 11th homer of the season, in Friday’s 16-5 win over the Hens. He’s now tied for third in career homers at UNCW with 33. Casey Golden drove in five runs vs. UD and hit his 11th homer of the year and 30th of his career. Pitcher Alex Royalty improved to 7-2 after winning his fourth straight start on Friday. He struck out nine and has fanned 37 over his last 28.2 innings with only three walks. Zarion Sharpe (4-1) also won his fourth straight start on Sunday after tossing 6.0 shutout innings in the Seahawks’ 5-0 victory. UNCW only committed one error (.991 fielding%) in the UD series. Terence Connelly moved into a tie for 2nd on UNCW’s career games list (227).
NORTHEASTERN (22-18, 11-4 in CAA)
The Huskies remained atop the CAA standings after taking two-of-three from Hofstra over the weekend. NU broke a school record by extending its Friedman Diamond winning streak to 11 games before having it end on Sunday. Ryan Solomon drove in three runs in Friday’s 8-4 victory over the Pride, including a two-run homer in the third that broke a 1-1 tie. In Saturday’s 5-4 win, Nick Fanneron belted a game-tying, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth and Cam Hanley delivered a walk-off RBI single in the 10th. Pitcher Nate Borges allowed two runs on five hits over 6.0 innings to get the win on Friday. Tyler Brown didn’t give up a hit over the final 2.1 frames to earn his first save. Andrew Misiaszek threw 4.0 scorless innings out of the pen and fanned six over two appearances.
TOWSON (16-25, 4-11 in CAA)
The Tigers lost two-of-three to league foe William & Mary last weekend. Towson picked up a 7-1 victory on Saturday as starting pitcher Michael Adams held the Tribe to one run on four hits over the first 6.0 innings before Dean Stramara (3-4) followed with 3.0 shutout frames to earn the win. Billy Lennox went 3-for-5 with three RBI’s on Saturday, while Richard Miller added a two-run triple. Miller tops the Tigers with 27 RBI’s. Richie Palacios was 3-for-3 in Sunday’s game with W&M and batted .500 (5-10) in the series with a double, triple, homer and four runs scored. The effort raised Palacios’ team-leading batting average to .340 for the year. Towson caps a busy five-game week at JMU this weekend.
WILLIAM & MARY (25-21, 9-6 in CAA)
The Tribe went 3-1 on the road last week, including a pair of victories at Towson that moved W&M into a tie for third place in the CAA. Hunter Smith batted .462 (6-13) in the TU series with a double, two homers and five RBI’s. He was 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBI’s in Sunday’s 8-1 victory and also homered and drove in two in Friday’s 12-3 win. Brandon Raquet hit .417 (5-12), drew five walks and scored three times from the leadoff spot. He ranks 4th in the CAA with a .359 average. Ryder Miconi went 3-for-4 with a homer, three runs scored and four RBI’s on Friday. Pitcher Bodie Sheehan held the Tigers to one run over 6.0 innings, but didn’t get a decision. Daniel Powers evened his record at 4-4 after limiting TU to one run on seven hits over 8.0 innings on Sunday.