CAA Baseball Weekly Awards - April 27
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - APRIL 27
RICHMOND, Va. (April 27, 2021) – Northeastern sophomore outfielder
Jared Dupere and James Madison junior outfielder
Conor Hartigan shared CAA baseball Player of the Week honors, while William & Mary junior left-hander
Zach Tsakounis earned CAA Pitcher of the Week accolades. Northeastern freshman pitcher
Eric Yost was chosen as the CAA Rookie of the Week.
CAA Baseball Co-Player of the Week
Jared Dupere, Northeastern – So., OF – Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury
Dupere batted .412 (7-17) with three homers, a double, six runs scored and six RBI’s to help Northeastern to a 5-0 week. The sophomore also walked five times and was 4-for-4 on stolen bases. He was 2-for-4 and drove in the game’s only run in the series opener vs. UD, reached base all four times in game two, and homered twice and drove in all three runs in a 3-1 victory in Saturday’s first game.
CAA Baseball Co-Player of the Week
Conor Hartigan, James Madison – Jr., OF – Winchester, Va./Millbrook
Hartigan batted .727 (8-11) with two doubles, two RBI’s and three runs scored in JMU’s three-game series at William & Mary. The junior was 4-for-4, drove in a run and scored three times in a 9-5 victory on Saturday. For the series, he reached base in 10-of-13 plate appearances and took over the top spot in the CAA in batting for the season with a .380 average.
CAA Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Zach Tsakounis, William & Mary – Jr., LHP – Arlington, Va./St. John’s College
Tsakounis scattered five hits over 7.0 shutout innings to earn the win in William & Mary’s 1-0 victory over James Madison last Sunday that clinched the series. Four of the five hits the junior allowed were singles and only one runner reached third base. He finished with five strikeouts and didn’t issue a walk. Tsakounis evened his record at 2-2 and lowered his ERA to 4.25.
CAA Baseball Rookie of the Week
Eric Yost, Northeastern – Fr., RHP – Ossining, N.Y./Fordham Preparatory
Yost recorded his first three saves of the season to help secure Northeastern’s 5-0 week. The freshman worked a scoreless ninth inning in three of the Huskies’ four conference wins over Delaware last weekend and also had a perfect frame in a victory over Merrimack. For the week, Yost gave up just two hits over 4.0 shutout innings and struck out four. He’s 1-0 with a 0.68 ERA for the year.
Conference notes:
SOUTH DIVISION REMAINS CLOSE: The CAA’s South Division remains up for grabs as all five teams are separated by just two games in the standings. First-place Charleston (7-5) faces Elon (6-6) this weekend, while William & Mary (8-7) travels to UNCW (5-7). In the North, Northeastern remained unbeaten at 7-0 and is currently riding a nine-game winning streak, which is 3rd-longest active streak in Division I behind Fairfield (26) and Tulane (10). The Huskies host second-place Towson (5-3) in a four-game series this weekend.
CAA MOVES TO DIVISIONS IN 2021: The CAA has split into divisions for the first time since 2003 with the goal of reducing travel and limiting exposure associated with the CoVID-19 pandemic. Each team will play a 24-game divisional conference schedule in the regular season. The top two teams in each division plus two at-large teams will make up the field for the 2021 CAA Baseball Championship, which will be held May 26-30 at Brooks Field on the campus of UNCW.
CHARLESTON (17-16, 7-5 CAA): The Cougars had a 2-1 week in non-conference play, beating The Citadel (11-2) and Emmanuel College (6-3), but losing at Wofford (12-5). Harrison Hawkins belted a grand slam in the 2nd inning to push CofC past The Citadel and went 3-for-5 with two RBI’s against Emmanuel. Donald Hansis also drove in two at The Citadel. William Privette (1-1) earned his first win of the season after holding The Citadel to one run on three hits over the first 6.0 innings. Tanner Steffy smacked a three-run homer in the loss at Wofford and was 2-for-4 in the game. Ty Good fanned eight over 6.0 frames vs. Emmanuel and picked up his fourth victory of the year.
DELAWARE (8-14, 4-8 CAA): The Blue Hens were swept in a competitive four-game series at Northeastern, dropping the first three games by a total of four runs. Chris Ludman turned in another strong performance in the opener, holding NU to one run on five hits over 8.0 innings and fanning seven, but took the loss in a 1-0 setback. In Saturday’s first game, Wyatt Nelson limited the Huskies to one earned run on five hits over 6.0 frames. Joseph Carpenter led UD offensively in the series, going 7-for-14 (.500) with a double and two runs scored. He has a six-game hitting streak. Aidan Kane hit his first career homer in Saturday’s opener.
ELON (13-17, 6-6 CAA): The Phoenix rallied for a pair of extra-inning wins in its three-game series with UNCW. Elon got a game-tying RBI single by Garrett Stonehouse with two outs in the 9th and scored an unearned run off a Jack Roberts bunt in the 10th to take Friday’s opener, 2-1. On Saturday, Elon got a game-tying homer from Nick Cicci in the 9th, a game-tying RBI single from Willie Havens in the 10th and a game-winning SAC fly in the 12th from J.P. Sponseller for a 7-6 triumph. Alex Iadisernia batted. 400 with two doubles and a homer in the series, raising his average to .376. Brian Edgington kept UNCW to one run on four hits over 8.0 innings and struck out eight on Friday.
HOFSTRA (12-14, 3-8 CAA): The Pride split their four-game series with Towson, winning two on Saturday after dropping a pair of one-run games on Friday. Rob Weissheier went 6-for-6 with three doubles, a homer and a game-winning RBI single in the 11th to claim the series finale, 8-7. It was the first six-hit effort by a Hofstra player since 2012 and capped a weekend in which he batted .529 with five RBI’s. Austin Gauthier batted .439 vs. Towson with three doubles, a homer and six RBI’s. The Pride got solid efforts from its starting pitchers as Ryan Rue allowed one run on three hits over 5.0 innings and Jimmy Joyce gave up two runs on hits over 7.0 frames while fanning 10.
JAMES MADISON (6-11, 4-5 CAA): The Dukes topped William & Mary 9-5 on Saturday before getting swept in a doubleheader on Sunday. Conor Hartigan had a huge weekend, batting .727 (8-11) and reaching base 10 times in 13 plate appearances. He went 4-for-4 and scored three times in the win and is now batting a CAA-best .380 for the season. Kyle Novak was 3-for-4 with a double, homer and three RBI’s in the victory and went 2-for-4 in Sunday’s finale. Lliam Grubbs didn’t surrender a hit over 4.2 innings in a pair of relief appearanes. Donovan Burke made his first career start and improved to 3-0 after not allowing an earned run over 4.0 innings.
UNCW (19-15, 5-7 CAA): The Seahawks suffered a pair of extra-inning losses at Elon before winning the finale, 6-5. Brooks Baldwin homered three times in the series to increase his season total to 10 and drove in six. Baldwin is riding a nine-game hitting streak and is batting a team-best .314. Cole Weiss also went deep in both games of Sunday’s twinbill. Landen Roupp delivered another dominant effort on Friday, giving up one run on four hits over 8.2 innings and striking out a career-high 12. He hasn’t allowed more than one run in four of his past five starts and has fanned 22 over the last 17.2 frames. Luke Gesell (4-3) got the win in the finale, holding Elon to two runs over 7.0 innings.
NORTHEASTERN (19-6, 7-0 CAA): The Huskies extended their winning streak to nine following a 5-0 week that included a four-game CAA sweep of Delaware. Jared Dupere continued to swing a hot bat, hitting .412 with three homers and six RBI’s. He drove in the lone run in a 1-0 victory over UD in the opener and knocked in all three runs in Saturday’s 3-1 win. Danny Crossen went 2-for-5 with two RBI’s in the series finale and delivered a two-run single in the 8th of Game 2 to give NU a 6-5 triumph. Kyle Murphy tossed 6.0 shutout innings with seven strikeouts on Friday to move to 3-0, while Cam Schlittler is also 3-0 after holding the Hens to one run over 7.0 innings with 7 K’s. Freshman Eric Yost saved three of the four games vs. UD.
TOWSON (15-24, 5-3 CAA): The Tigers swept a doubleheader from Hofstra on Friday but lost a pair to the Pride on Saturday as part of a 2-3 week. Noah Cabrera had a great week, batting .429 (9-21) with a double, triple and three runs scored. He had multiple hits in all four games vs. Hofstra. Jake Lysaght’s two-run single in the 9th gave Towson a 9-8 win in the opener. Nolan Young was 3-for-5 and scored twice as the Tigers took Friday’s nightcap 4-3 in 10 innings. Nick Janowicz gave TU a great start in that game, giving up one run on four hits and striking out seven while matching a career-high of 7.0 innings.
WILLIAM & MARY (11-19, 8-7 CAA): The Tribe moved into 2nd place in the South Division after taking two-of-three from JMU over the weekend. W&M got strong starting pitching on Sunday as Zach Tsakounis (2-2) threw 7.0 shutout innings and fanned five in a 1-0 win in the finale and Justin Pearson (3-4) gave up just one run over 6.0 frames in Sunday’s first game. Matt McDermott was 2-for-5 with a double, homer and four RBI’s in Saturday series opener. Matt Thomas drove in a run in all three games, including an RBI double in the fifth that provided the only run in Sunday’s second game. Thomas has an RBI in six straight contests. Ben Williamson had three hits in Game 2 and is batting a team-best .342.