2021 CAA Baseball Review
Rob Washburn
2021 CAA BASEBALL FINAL REPORT
Conference notes:
HUSKIES EDGED TWICE IN FAYETTEVILLE REGIONAL: CAA champion Northeastern suffered a pair of narrow losses in the Fayetteville Regional of the NCAA Baseball Championship. The Huskies led Big Ten champ Nebraska, 4-0, before falling 8-6, and then dropped a 3-2 decision to NJIT. Jared Dupere and Ian Fair each drove in two runs vs. Nebraska, while Max Viera homered against NJIT.
NU’S DUPERE EARNS ALL-AMERICA HONORS: Northeastern outfielder Jared Dupere was chosen as a third-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball. The CAA Player of the Year batted .343 with a program-record 21 homers, 50 RBI’s and 60 runs scored.
THREE CAA PLAYERS NAMED FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICA: Northeastern pitcher Cam Schlittler, NU designated hitter Max Viera and Elon outfielder Alex Iadisernia received Freshman All-America accolades from Collegiate Baseball. Schlittler went 8-1 with a CAA-best 1.88 ERA and struck out 85 in 76.2 innings. Viera batted .348 with 12 doubes, six homers and 26 RBI’s. Iadisernia hit .368 with 13 doubles, 10 homers and 39 runs scored.
RUSSO RETIRES AS HEAD COACH AT HOFSTRA: John Russo, the all-time winningest coach in Hofstra baseball history, announced his retirement. In 10 seasons as head coach of the Pride, he recorded 190 victories, including a school-record 34 wins in 2012.
NORTHEASTERN CAPTURES FIRST CAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: Top-seeded Northeastern captured its first-ever CAA Baseball Championship with an 11-10 victory over #2 UNCW in 10 innings. Max Viera hit a walk-off homer in the 10th after Ben Malgeri had delivered a game-tying solo shot in the 9th for the Huskies. UNCW trailed 6-2 after three innings, but battled back to take a 10-9 lead in the 8th on a two-run single by Noah Bridges. Brian Rodriguez, NU’s eighth pitcher of the day, got the win after 2.0 scoreless innings of relief.
NU’S MALGERI HEADLINES ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Northeastern sophomore outfielder Ben Malgeri was chosen as the Most Outstanding Player at the CAA Baseball Championship after batting .435 (10-23) with five homers, seven runs scored and nine RBI’s in five games. He was joined on the all-tournament team by NU’s Jared Dupere, Ian Fair, Cam Schlittler and Max Viera, UNCW’s Brooks Baldwin, Landen Roupp, Matt Suggs and Cole Weiss, and Charleston’s Ty Good and Tanner Steffy.
MAKING HISTORY: Northeastern became the ninth different school to win the CAA Baseball Championship since 2009. Over that 12-year period, UNCW (2012, 2015 2018, 2019) is the only school to have earned the title more than once. The Huskies are also the first #1 seed to claim the championship since 2012.
NU’S DUPERE, UNCW’S ROUPP LEAD ALL-CAA TEAM: Northeastern outfielder Jared Dupere was chosen as the CAA baseball Player of the Year, while UNCW right-hander Landen Roupp was selected as the CAA Pitcher of the Year by the league’s head coaches. Dupere, who is just the second NU player to win the award, batted .343 and led the CAA in homers (21) and runs (60) and was second with 50 RBI’s. Roupp went 8-5 with a 2.58 ERA. He led the league with 118 strikeouts over 101.0 innings and tossed two shutouts. Elon outfielder Alex Iadisernia (.368, 10 HR, 30 RBI’s) and Northeastern pitcher Cam Schlittler (8-1, 1.88 ERA, 85 K’s) shared CAA Rookie of the Year honors, while William & Mary shortstop Matt McDermott (.983 fielding pct.) was named Defensive Player of the Year. Northeastern’s Mike Glavine earned Coach of the Year for the third time in the past four seasons.
CHARLESTON (27-25, 12-12 CAA): The Cougars went 3-2 in the CAA Tournament, defeating Towson, William & Mary and Elon but losing twice to eventual champion Northeastern. Tanner Steffy made the All-Tournament team after batting .450 with a team-high six RBI’s. Pitcher Ty Good also earned All-Tournament honors after going 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA. He allowed six hits and one run over 8.1 innings and fanned five. Harrison Hawkins drove in four runs in the tournament to increase his CAA-leading RBI total to 54 for the season.
DELAWARE (12-22, 8-16 CAA): The Blue Hens finished 12-22 and tied for 3rd in the North at 8-16. Outfielder Kyle Baker ranked 2nd in the CAA in batting (.370) with nine doubles and a team-high 31 runs scored. Jack Goan hit five homers and led UD with 27 RBI’s, while Joseph Carpenter also homered five times and drove in 25. Pitcher Chris Ludman went 3-4 with a 4.62 ERA and tossing three complete games. He recorded 64 strikeouts.
ELON (22-22, 10-8 CAA): The Phoenix beat William & Mary 7-3 in their first tournament game, but fell to UNCW (2-0) and Charleston (6-2). Cole Reynolds batted .444 in the three games, while Alex Iadisernia hit .385. Elon’s pitching staff struck out 25 in 25 innings and posted a 3.60 ERA. Trevor Kirk earned the win vs. W&M after tossing 4.1 innings of shutout relief. He gave up just one hit and fanned five. Joe Savino turned in a strong start in the loss to UNCW, holding the Seahawks to five hits and one earned run with 8 K’s over 7.1 innings.
HOFSTRA (17-22, 8-16 CAA): The Pride finished tied for 3rd in the North at 8-16 and went 17-22 overall. Shortstop Austin Gauthier had a big year offensively, batting .338 with 14 doubles, seven homers and a team-high 36 runs scored. Rob Weissheier hit .295 and topped Hofstra in homers (8) and RBI’s (34). On the mound, Jimmy Joyce went 3-4 with a 3.70 ERA and struck out 89 in 73 innings, while Jack Jett was 3-4 with a 4.68 ERA and 72 K’s.
JAMES MADISON (11-17, 6-9 CAA): The Dukes closed the year with an 11-17 mark. Chase DeLauter led the CAA with a .386 batting average and finished the season on a 16-game hitting streak and 24-game on-base streak. Conor Hartigan batted .364 for the season with a team-high 31 RBI’s, while Carson Bell hit .346. Lefty Donovan Burke was JMU’s top performer on the mound, going 4-1 with a 3.00 ERA and striking out 38 in 33.0 innings.
UNCW (32-22, 13-8 CAA): The Seahawks reached the CAA championship game for the sixth year in a row before suffering a pair of 10-inning losses to Northeastern. Cole Weiss batted a team-best .429 and drove in five in a winner’s bracket victory over NU. Brooks Baldwin homered twice in the title game and had five runs scored in the tournament, while Matt Suggs reached base 10 times, including two doubles. Landen Roupp set a new tournament record for strikeouts with 21 in 12.2 innings of work. He fired a complete-game, 3-hit shutout with a career-high 12 K’s in a 2-0 triumph over Elon.
NORTHEASTERN (36-12, 20-3 CAA): The Huskies captured their first CAA championship with back-to-back 10-inning wins over defending champ UNCW and earned their second NCAA Tournament berth in three years. NU also tied a program record with 36 overall wins. Tournament MOP Ben Malgeri batted .435 with five homers and nine RBI’s in five tourney games. Jared Dupere went deep four times, setting a program-record with 21 HR’s, which is tied for the 6th-most in CAA history. Max Viera, who hit a walk-off homer in the finale, scored eight runs in the tournament. NU scored 37 runs and hit 12 homers in five games. Cam Schlittler allowed just nine hits and fanned nine over 10.1 innings. For the season, he’s 8-1 with a CAA-best 1.88 ERA. The Huskies’ pitching staff struck out 38 and walked only eight over 47 innings in the tournament. For the season, they had a season-best 3.23 ERA.
TOWSON (21-36, 11-12 CAA): The Tigers earned their first CAA Tournament berth since 2013, but were beaten by Charleston (6-5) and William & Mary (7-3). Danny Becerra hit .571 with a double, triple and two runs scored in the tournament, while Nolan Young batted .375. Billy Godrick, who finished the season with a team-best .263 average, homered vs. W&M. Reliever Kody Reeser had a team-best 2.02 ERA with 53 K’s in 49.0 innings.
WILLIAM & MARY (14-29, 10-14 CAA): The Tribe went 1-2 in the tournament, getting a 7-3 victory over Towson. Matt Thomas batted a team-best .545 over the three games with three doubles and four runs scored, while Matt Trehub hit .500 and drove in three. Matt McDermott homered twice and made several key plays defensively. Zach Tsakounis picked up the victory vs. Towson, limiting the Tigers to one run on three hits over 7.1 innings with five strikeouts. He was 3-3 with a 3.63 ERA for the season.