CAA Baseball Weekly Awards - April 13
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - APRIL 13
RICHMOND, Va. (April 13, 2021) – Northeastern sophomore outfielder
Jared Dupere and Elon freshman outfielder
Alex Iadisernia shared CAA baseball Player of the Week honors after combining for seven homers and 20 RBI’s last week. Elon sophomore right-hander
Brian Edgington earned CAA Pitcher of the Week accolades and Elon freshman outfielder
Justin Cassella was named the CAA Rookie of the Week.
CAA Baseball Co-Player of the Week
Jared Dupere, Northeastern– So., OF – Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury
Dupere batted .400 (8-20) with four homers, two doubles, eight runs scored and eight RBI’s in Northeastern’s 4-1 week that included a three-game CAA sweep of Hofstra. The sophomore had multiple hits, runs and RBI’s in three games and went deep in four of the five contests to raise his season homer total to seven. Dupere is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak.
CAA Baseball Co-Player of the Week
Alex Iadisernia, Elon– Fr., OF – Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial
Iadisernia batted .389 (7-18) with three homers, a double, five runs scored and 12 RBI’s in Elon’s 4-0 week that was capped by a series sweep of William & Mary. He recorded at least two hits and three RBI’s in three of the four contests, including a two-run double in the 8
th that gave Elon a 7-6 victory over W&M on Saturday night. Iadisernia has a 10-game hitting streak and is batting .385.
CAA Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Brian Edgington, Elon – So., RHP – Hatboro, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham
Edgington threw a complete-game, 3-hit shutout with a career-high 12 strikeouts and no walks to lead Elon past William & Mary, 8-0, on Sunday to complete a series sweep. The sophomore had at least one strikeout in eight of the nine frames and retired 18 of the last 20 batters he faced in his first complete game. It was the first win of the season for Edgington, who lowered his ERA to 2.77.
CAA Baseball Rookie of the Week
Justin Cassella, Elon – Fr., OF – Bernardsville, N.J./Seton Hall Prep
Cassella batted .632 (12-19) with three doubles, two homers, nine runs scored and six RBI’s in Elon’s 4-0 week. The freshman outfielder had multiple hits and scored at least twice in all four contests. He went 3-for-5 with a homer and five RBI’s in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader with William & Mary on Saturday and was 4-for-5 with a homer and three runs scored in the nightcap.
Conference notes:
FOUR CONFERENCE SERIES THIS WEEKEND: It will be a busy weekend of conference play with two series in the North Division and two in the South. Northeastern visits Towson in a clash of the top two teams in the North, while Delaware hosts Hofstra. In the South, Charleston entertains James Madison and Elon and William & Mary face off for the second consecutive weekend. UNCW hosts UNC Asheville in a three-game series.
CHARLESTON (12-14, 5-4 CAA): The Cougars went 3-1 last week, edging local rival The Citadel (5-4) before taking two-of-three from Tennessee Tech over the weekend. Tanner Steffy delivered a walk-off RBI infield single vs. The Citadel. Joseph Mershon went 6-for-10 with three homers, five runs scored and six RBI’s in Saturday’s doubleheader with Tennessee Tech. He was a triple shy of the cycle in Game 1. Charleston won Sunday’s finale with TTU, 8-0, as freshman Connor Campbell scattered seven hits over 8.0 shutout innings and struck out seven. The lefty is now 4-1 and has given up just one run in his last 14.0 frames. Tanner McCallister belted a grand slam to back Campbell’s strong pitching.
DELAWARE (5-9, 1-3 CAA): The Blue Hens split a doubleheader at Penn last Saturday, winning the opener 4-0 before dropping a 9-1 decision in the second game. Chris Ludman (3-3) turned in another sensational outing with a complete-game, 6-hit shutout that included eight strikeouts and no walks. He hasn’t allowed a run over his last 17.0 innings to drop his ERA to 2.91 and has fanned 17 during that stretch. Dom Velazquez didn’t give up an earned run in 4.0 innings of work and struck out five in Game 2. Jordan Hutchins went 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI in the victory, while Kyle Baker was 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Joseph Carpenter also drove in two.
ELON (11-13, 4-2 CAA): The Phoenix had a 4-0 week capped by a sweep of William & Mary that moved them atop the South Division. Elon scored at least seven runs in all four games. Alex Iadisernia homered three times and drove in 12 last week, and now ranks 2nd in the CAA in batting (.385), homers (8) and RBI’s (23). Freshman Justin Cassella also had a huge week, batting .632 (12-19) with three doubles, two homers and nine runs scored. He raised his season average to .433. On the mound, Brian Edgington fired a complete-game 3-hitter with a career-high 12 strikeouts in Sunday’s 8-0 win over the Tribe. The right-hander has only given up three runs over his last 21.0 innings.
HOFSTRA (9-9, 0-3 CAA): The Pride was swept in its opening CAA series with Northeastern last weekend. Freshman Will Kennedy batted .600 (6-10), including his first career homer and a RBI double in the opener. Ryan Morash continued to swing a hot bat, extending his hitting streak to 10 games and on base streak to 25 games. Jimmy Joyce turned in another strong effort on the mound, holding NU to three hits and two runs over 7.0 innings while striking out a career-high 13. Michael O’Hanlon made his mound debut on Friday and tossed 3.0 scoreless frames.
JAMES MADISON (5-7, 2-1 CAA): The Dukes had their conference series with UNCW postponed last weekend due to CoVID protocols within the JMU program. JMU hopes to return to action on Friday with a three-game series at Charleston. Fox Semones continues to top the conference with a .433 batting average. He’s 10-for-16 over his past four games. Chase DeLauter leads the CAA in both on base percentage (.551) and slugging percentage (.788), while Travis Reifsnider ranks 2nd in slugging (.724) and 3rd in OBP (.500). Donovan Burke is 2nd in the CAA with a 1.04 ERA and is holding foes to a .094 batting average.
UNCW (15-12, 4-5 CAA): The Seahawks were swept in a three-game series at #13 Oklahoma State last weekend. UNCW rallied for five runs in the ninth in the opener, but fell 7-6. Taber Mongero had a hit in all three games at OSU, including his first career homer, and batted .444 (4-for-9 ) in the series. Matt Suggs belted his league-leading 9th homer on Sunday and Ron Evans also went deep. Noah Bridges drove in three runs in the series. Carter Holjes gave up just two hits in 3.0 shutout innings of relief in the opener. Cole Benton retired all five batters he faced in Game 2 and struck out three.
NORTHEASTERN (14-6, 3-0 CAA): The Huskies went 4-1 last week, including a three-game sweep of Hofstra to open CAA play. Jared Dupere homered in four of the five games and batted .400 (8-20) with eight runs scored and eight RBI’s. He’s riding an 8-game hit streak. Scott Holzwasser has reached base in 38 straight games after going 3-for-5 in the finale vs. Hofstra. Ben Malgeri was 4-for-9 with four runs and four RBI’s in the first two games of the Hofstra series. Cam Schlittler (2-0) limited the Pride to two runs over 7.0 innings and fanned a career-high 11 in Friday’s opener. Kyle Murphy (2-0) followed on Saturday with a career-best 12 strikeouts over 6.1 innings.
TOWSON (10-21, 3-1 CAA): The Tigers lost to Navy last Wednesday and dropped all three games of a home-and-home series with Richmond over the weekend. Javon Fields had a hit in three of the four games last week and drove in four. Noah Cabrera, who was 2-for-3 vs. Navy, extended his hitting streak to seven games last week. Danny Becerra went 4-for-9 in the final two games of the Richmond series and leads the team with a .274 batting average. Bryce Frederick was 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI’s in a 10-9 setback to the Spiders on Saturday.
WILLIAM & MARY (6-17, 3-6 CAA): The Tribe fell 7-6 in 12 innings at Virginia last Tuesday before being swept in a three-game CAA series at Elon. Matt McDermott batted .368 (7-19) with two doubles, a triple, a homer and eight RBI’s last week and extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Ben Williamson saw his hitting streak snapped at 16 games. Matt Thomas had two doubles, a homer and drove in three in the Elon series. David Hogarth’s first homer of the season gave the Tribe a 6-5 lead in Saturday’s second game at EU. Matt Howat tossed 4.0 shutout innings of relief on Sunday.