CAA Baseball Weekly Awards - March 25
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - MARCH 25 (PDF format)
CAA Baseball Player of the Week
Ian Fair | DH | Northeastern
So., 6-3, 215, Walpole, Mass./Walpole
Fair batted .429 (8-19) with two doubles, two homers, four runs scored and six RBI’s in NU’s 3-1 week. He batted .500 with multiple hits in all three games as the Huskies took 2-of-3 at William & Mary. He delivered a go-ahead, 3-run inside-the-park homer in the 9th on Friday. The sophomore was also 2-for-4 and drove in two in Saturday’s victory and went 3-for-5 with a solo homer on Sunday. Fair is hitting .355 for the season.
CAA Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Nick Stewart | RHP | James Madison
So., 6-5, 220, Ashburn, Va./Rock Ridge
Stewart allowed two runs on only two hits and struck out a season-high eight to get the win in JMU’s 11-2 victory over Delaware on Saturday. The right-hander gave up a single in the first and a single in the third before retiring 15 of the next 16 batters he faced and not giving up a hit over his final four frames. Stewart improved to 3-2 with a 2.40 ERA for the season.
CAA Baseball Rookie of the Week
Brody Lawson | RHP | UNCW
Fr., 6-4, 215, Kernersville, N.C./High Point Christian
Lawson gave up only two hits and two earned runs over a career-best 7.1 innings to get the win in UNCW’s 8-4 series-clinching triumph at Towson on Saturday. The freshman struck out seven and retired 18 consecutive batters at one point. Lawson upped his record to 3-0 with a 4.03 ERA for the season.
Conference notes:
UNCW TAKES EARLY LEAD IN CAA STANDINGS: UNCW took the early lead atop the CAA standings after sweeping a three-game series at Towson last weekend. Road teams won three of the four conference series with
Elon taking two-of-three at Charleston and
Northeastern winning two-of-three at William & Mary.
James Madison was the only home team to win a series after capturing the final two contests against Delaware.
HOFSTRA’S FRISCIA NAMED SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE: Hofstra senior
Vito Friscia is one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, which honors student-athletes with notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Friscia, who earned first-team All-CAA accolades in 2018, is batting .273 with two homers and eight RBI’s this season. The senior accounting major has been a frequent participant in the Pride’s community service endeavors.
CHARLESTON (14-10, 1-2 CAA): The Cougars had 1-4 week, losing twice to nationally ranked Clemson and dropping two-of-three to CAA foe Elon. CofC defeated Elon, 3-1, in Friday’s opener as
Griffin McLarty limited the Phoenix to one run on four hits over 7.0 innings while fanning nine.
Nathan Ocker earned the win with 2.0 scoreless frames. McLarty lowered his ERA to 1.88, while Ocker is 3-1 with five saves.
Steven Cook held Elon to one run in 6.0 innings of relief on Sunday.
Danny Wondrack drove in at least one run in all three games of the Elon series. He’s batting a team-best .344 with five homers and 24 RBI’s.
Dupree Hart stole three bases in Friday’s win and is 19-of-21 for the season.
Clay Hunt, Harrison Hawkins and Wondrack all homered against Elon on Sunday.
DELAWARE (5-17, 1-2 CAA): The Blue Hens went 1-3 last week, but picked up a 5-3 victory at James Madison in their CAA opener on Friday.
Brandon Walter held the Dukes to one earned run on six hits over 6.1 innings and struck out 10. Walter, who improved to 2-3, has allowed just two earned runs over his last 21.1 innings.
Kevin Mohollen and
Jordan Hutchins each had three hits in the win, while
Vinny Vaccone drove in two. Hutchins added two hits on Sunday for his seventh multi-hit game of the season. Freshman
Joseph Carpenter has reached base in 14 consecutive games.
Derek Wakeley threw 5.2 innings of scoreless relief and struck out eight at JMU on Sunday.
ELON (13-11, 2-1 CAA): The Phoenix rebounded from a pair of non-conference setbacks to Maryland by winning two-of-three at Charleston to open CAA play.
Cam Devanney had a hit in all three games of the CofC series, including 3-run homers on Saturday and Sunday. He leads the Phoenix with 22 RBI’s for the year.
Ty Adcock was 2-for-5 with an RBI triple on Sunday and then earned the win on the mound by not allowing a hit over 3.0 scoreless innings to clinch the series.
George Kirby improved to 4-0 after limiting the Cougars to one run on five hits over 6.1 innings in Saturday’s 7-2 win at CofC. He dropped his ERA to 2.95 and has 45 strikeouts in 36.2 innings.
Joe Satterfield extended his hitting streak to 10 games last week and tops the conference with a .386 batting average.
HOFSTRA (3-14, 0-0 CAA): The Pride dropped three road games last week, falling 9-5 at Army West Point before being swept in a Sunday doubleheader at St. John’s.
Vito Friscia led Hofstra offensively, batting .364 (4-11) with a double and an RBI. He extended his hitting streak to eight games. Pitcher
Kyle Skidmore didn’t allow a run over 2.2 innings in a pair of relief appearances last week.
Ryan Rue saw his string of 15 consecutive scoreless innings come to an end at St. John’s on Sunday. Hofstra, which has yet to play a home game this season, has four more on the road this week including its opening CAA series at Charleston.
JAMES MADISON (17-8, 2-1 CAA): The Dukes went 3-2 last week, including winning two-of-three over Delaware to open CAA play.
Trevon Dabney batted .412 (7-17) for the week, which included leadoff homers in the first two games of the UD series. He also walked five times and was hit by a pitch twice, raising his on-base pecentage for the season to .491.
Fox Semones was 4-for-9 with three runs scored and three RBI’s in the final two games against the Hens and is on an 11-game hit streak.
Matt Dipasupil went 4-for-4 and drove in three in Saturday’s 11-2 victory.
Nick Stewart (3-2) limited to UD to two hits over 7.0 innings on Saturday and struck out a season-high eight.
Brett Ayer threw 4.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen on Sunday and improved his record to 3-1 with a 0.50 ERA.
UNCW (14-10, 3-0 CAA): The Seahawks moved atop the CAA standings after sweeping a three-game series at Towson for the first time since 2003. UNCW’s pitching staff held Towson to a .202 batting average.
Luke Gesell evened his record at 2-2 after giving up just one run over 6.0 innings as UNCW won Friday’s opener, 3-1. Freshman
Brody Lawson (3-0) limited the Tigers to two hits over 7.1 frames on Saturday while fanning eight. He retired 18 straight batters at one point.
Noah Bridges batted .500 in the series and accounted for four of UNCW’s eight stolen bases.
Greg Jones hit .455 and scored five times in the series, increasing his CAA-best runs total to 28. He’s currently riding a nine-game hitting streak. UNCW faces nationally ranked Coastal Carolina twice this week.
NORTHEASTERN (12-11, 2-1 CAA): It was a strong 3-1 week for the Huskies, who beat ACC foe Boston College, 4-2, before taking two-of-three at William & Mary.
Ian Fair batted .421 for the week and was 7-for-14 with two homers and six RBI’s in the W&M series. His 3-run, inside-the-park homer in the 9th on Friday lifted NU to a 7-6 victory. Freshman
Corey DiLoreto hit .429 last week with a double, triple and three RBI’s.
Jake Farrell and
Michael Geaslen both had three hits and two RBI’s in Saturday’s 9-4 win at W&M.
Sean Mellen (3-0) turned in another strong start on Saturday, holding W&M to three hits and two runs over 6.0 innings while striking out nine. Mellen, who has given up three or fewer hits in six straight starts, had his scoreless streak end at 20.1 innings.
TOWSON (3-18, 0-3 CAA): The Tigers were swept by UNCW in their opening CAA series and also fell on the road to No. 1 NC State and VCU last week.
Richard Miller went 2-for-5 with a double, triple and four RBI’s in Sunday’s 11-6 loss to UNCW.
Javon Fields has reached base in 12 consecutive games and is batting a team-best .315 with 11 runs scored for the season.
Josh Seils turned in another strong start vs. UNCW on Friday, giving up just five hits and one earned run over 6.0 innings. He has thrown at least six innings in his last four starts and lowered his ERA to 3.94. Starting pitchers
Gavin Weyman and
Oluwasayo Kintunde both threw four scoreless frames against UNCW before running into trouble in the fifth.
WILLIAM & MARY (15-6, 1-2 CAA): The Tribe split four games last week, knocking off VCU (7-3), but dropping two-of-three to Northeastern to start CAA play.
Hunter Smith continued to swing a hot bat, hitting .471 (8-17) with four doubles, two homers, eight runs scored and six RBI’s last week. He was 3-for-5 and drove in three at VCU and was 2-for-4 with a pair of solo homers and four runs scored in Sunday’s 15-4 victory over NU. Smith ranks among the top five in the CAA in batting, homers, doubles, runs, RBI’s and slugging percentage.
Matthew Trehub was 3-for-4 with four RBI’s and
Hunter Hart was 3-for-4 with three RBI’s on Sunday.
Nick Butts tossed 4.0 shutout innings out of the bullpen to earn his first win on Sunday.
Zach Pearson went 7-for-14 with six RBI’s in the NU series.