CAA Baseball Weekly Awards - April 15
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - APRIL 15
RICHMOND, Va. (April 15, 2024) – Delaware senior designated hitter Eric Ludman was chosen as the CAA baseball Player of the Week after batting .500 with five homers, 11 RBI’s and 12 runs scored in Delaware’s 3-2 week. William & Mary junior Nate Knowles was selected as the Pitcher of the Week after giving up just two hits and a run while striking out 10 over 8.0 innings in a pair of starts. Stony Brook’s Erik Paulsen was named Rookie of the Week after batting .412 and recording a save on the mound in a 3-1 week.
CAA Baseball Player of the Week
Eric Ludman, Delaware – Sr., DH/IF – Newark, Del.
Ludman batted .500 (8-16) with five homers, a double, 11 RBI’s and 12 runs scored in Delaware’s 3-2 week. The senior tied a UD single-game record with three HR’s in Sunday’s 14-11 win over Northeastern and was 6-for-13 with 4 HR’s, 6 runs and 8 RBI’s in the series vs. the Huskies. Ludman slugged 1.500 for the week and drew six walks for a .667 OB%.
CAA Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Nate Knowles, William & Mary – Jr., RHP – Arlington, Va.
Knowles went 2-0 last week, allowing just two hits and one run over 8.0 innings while striking out 10 in a pair of starts. The junior held #7 Duke to two hits and a run while fanning four in 4.0 frames as the Tribe earned a 4-2 victory. He followed by not allowing a hit and striking out six over 4.0 innings in a win over North Carolina A&T. Knowles moved to 6-0 with a CAA-best 1.52 ERA.
CAA Baseball Rookie of the Week
Erik Paulsen, Stony Brook – Fr., DH/LHP – Massapequa, N.Y.
Paulsen contributed at the plate and on the mound in Stony Brook’s 3-1 week, that included a series win at Campbell. The freshman batted .412 (7-17) with a homer, two runs scored and two RBI’s, which included a pair of multi-hit games vs. the Camels. He also recorded his fourth save of the year after throwing the final 3.0 innings in Friday’s 7-3 victory.
Conference notes:
UNCW TAKES ONE-GAME LEAD IN CAA RACE: UNCW tallied its third CAA series sweep of the season to regain sole possession of first place in the CAA at 10-2. Northeastern, which has captured all four of its league series, and Charleston, which is 8-1 in its past nine CAA games, are just a game back at 9-3. William & Mary also claimed its fourth straight series and is fourth at 8-4. Campbell, Delaware and Stony Brook are tied at 6-6 as teams battle for a berth in the six-team CAA Baseball Championship.
TERRIFIC TUESDAY VS. THE ACC: CAA teams continued their non-conference success last Tuesday with a 3-0 night against the ACC. William & Mary knocked off No. 7 Duke, 4-2, for the highest ranked win in program history. UNCW defeated in-state foe NC State, 5-4, and Northeastren blanked Boston College, 7-0, to win the Baseball Beanpot.
TOURNAMENT TITLES: Northeastern’s 7-0 victory over Boston College gave the Huskies their first Baseball Beanpot title since 2013. Delaware earned its first Liberty Bell Classic title since 2013 after rolling over Lafayette (22-2) and Rider (18-2) on back-to-back nights.
SIX TEAMS IN TOP 106 OF RPI: Six CAA teams are ranked in the top 106 of the NCAA RPI, including four in the top 82. Northeastern tops the list at #35, followed by Campbell at #80, Charleston at #81 and UNCW at #82. William & Mary moved up to #101 and Stony Brook jumped to #106. Only eight other conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac 12, SEC, Southern and Sun Belt) have four teams in the top 82 of the RPI.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: CAA teams have fared well against non-conference competition this season. William & Mary’s 4-2 victory at #7 Duke last Tuesday was the CAA’s sixth win over a nationally ranked foe (UCSB (2), LSU, East Carolina, Coastal Carolina). The CAA also owns 13 victories against Power 5 teams (Arizona, Boston College (2), Duke, Georgia Tech, Minnesota (4), NC State, Penn State, Purdue, Virginia Tech).
LOOKING AHEAD: This week’s non-conference slate features more big matchups. On Tuesday, William & Mary hosts #9 East Carolina, UNCW faces #12 Wake Forest in Durham, N.C., Delaware welcomes Maryland, Monmouth travels to Rutgers and Campbell visits NC State. On Wednesday, Northeastern is home against Kansas State.
THREE TEAMS RECEIVE TOP 25 VOTES: Campbell, Northeastern and William & Mary received votes in this week’s NCBWA Top 25 poll.
CAMPBELL (23-11, 6-6 CAA): The Camels dropped two-of-three to Stony Brook last weekend. Campbell picked up a 9-2 victory on Saturday behind a strong pitching performance from freshman Cooper Clark (4-0), who held SBU to one run on six hits over 5.0 innings. The Camels got a 2-run homer from Braeden O’Shaughnessy and solo shots from Dalen Thompson and Reed Stallman in the win, while Max Weller doubled twice and drove in two. Stallman also contributed a 3-run homer on Friday night. Cole Peschl fanned nine over 6.0 innings on Friday and has a team-high 55 K’s in 39.2 innings this season.
CHARLESTON (24-10, 9-3 CAA): The Cougars stayed hot with a 4-0 week that included a sweep of Monmouth. Charleston has won 10 of its last 11 overall and is 8-1 in its last three CAA series. Kevin Madden batted .500 (8-16) and drove in eight last week, including three homers in the Monmouth series. He’s riding a 7-game hitting streak and is batting .481 (13-27) during that span. Connor Campbell (5-2) held MU to two hits over 7.0 shutout innings on Sunday as CofC cruised to an 18-0 victory. In Friday’s opener, Jake Brink (6-1) limited the Hawks to four hits and an unearned run in 7.0 innings while fanning six.
DELAWARE (18-16, 6-6 CAA): The Blue Hens plated 40 runs against Lafayette and Rider to claim the Liberty Bell Classic title last week before outscoring Northeastern (14-11) in their CAA series finale. Eric Ludman batted .500 with five homers and 11 RBI’s, with a school-record tying 3 HR’s coming in the win over NU. Joey Loynd drove in a career-high 10 runs vs. Rider and finished the week with 17 RBI’s. Brett Lesher contributed nine hits and eight RBI’s over the five games. As a team, Delaware tallied 69 hits and 71 runs while batting .369 for the week.
ELON (14-21, 4-8 CAA): The Phoenix made a jump up the CAA standings after a three-game sweep of Hofstra. Kenny Mallory, Jr. batted .500 (6-12) with two doubles, a homer and 8 RBI’s against the Pride. He was 4-for-5 and drove in six in Friday’s 16-7 win and raised his team-best batting average to .381. Alex Duffey had multiple hits in all three games and batted .667 (8-12) vs. the Pride with five RBI’s. Charlie Granatell was 8-for-13 against Hofstra. On the mound, Justin Mitrovich (3-4) took a no-hitter into the 5th and held HU to a run on three hits over 7.0 inning while striking out six as Elon won 2-1 on Saturday.
HOFSTRA (11-23, 3-9 CAA): The Pride dropped four games last week, including three in a CAA series at Elon. Freshman Michael Brown batted .333 for the week and also drew a pair of walks. Steve Harrington was 2-for-3 and scored the 100th run of his career on Friday at Elon. Alex McCoy homered in the first two games of the Elon series and leads the Pride with eight for the year. Dylan Palmer recorded a pair of multi-hit games at EU and is batting .403 for the season. Carlos Martinez limited Elon to one earned run over 5.2 innings and fanned six but took the loss in a 2-1 setback.
MONMOUTH (9-20, 4-8 CAA): The Hawks defeated Princeton, 10-3, to open a four-game road swing last week but was swept in their CAA series at Charleston. Casey Caufield went 5-for-6 from the leadoff spot at Princeton and Chris Andrews put Monmouth ahead to stay with a 3-run homer. Harry Padden had back-to-back three-hit efforts in the first two games at CofC. Joey Ventresca had a hit in all three games against the Cougars. Alec Couture turned in another strong start on Saturday, allowing just three runs over 7.0 innings while striking out eight. Nick Tamburro limited Princeton to one run in 6.0 innings.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T (19-16, 4-8 CAA): The Aggies had 1-3 week, opening their CAA series at William & Mary with an 8-4 victory on Friday. TJ Ash was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and four RBI’s in the win. Ash added a triple on Saturday and a solo homer on Sunday against the Tribe. Tatsunori Negishi had a hit in all three games at W&M and continues to top the team with a .397 batting average. Coley Kilpatrick improved to 5-1 despite giving up four runs in 5.1 innings on Friday. Avery Cain and Angel Ortiz followed him with 3.2 shutout frames from the bullpen. Ortiz returned to the hill on Sunday and held W&M to three hits and two runs in 5.0 innings of relief.
UNCW (23-13, 10-2 CAA): The Seahawks are on a season-best five-game winning streak after knocking off NC State (5-4) and sweeping its third CAA series vs. Towson. Alec DeMartino pushed his hitting streak to six last week after batting .533 (8-15) with three doubles, five RBI’s and seven runs scored. Tanner Thach homered in all three games vs. Towson and has 19 for the season, which ranks 3rd in the nation and is two shy of the UNCW season record. Jac Croom is on a 10-game hitting streak and has reached base in 21 straight games. Zane Taylor moved to 4-0 after holding the Tigers to four hits over 7.0 shutout innings. He’s 11-1 in CAA play for his career.
NORTHEASTERN (27-8, 9-3 CAA): The Huskies blanked Boston College (7-0) to claim their first Beanpot title since 2013 and then took 2-of-3 at Delaware for their fourth straight CAA series win. Tyler MacGregor stayed hot, batting .412 (7-17) with three doubles, a triple and a homer last week. He drove in at least one run in all four games. Jack Goodman was 5-for-12 and drove in eight in the UD series. Michael Gemma, Charlie Walker, Dennis Colleran and James Quinlivan combined on the 1-hit shutout against BC with 13 strikeouts. Jack Bowery (3-0) didn’t allow an earned run and fanned five in 4.2 innings of relief at UD on Saturday. Alex Lane is tied for fourth nationally with 55 RBI’s.
STONY BROOK (17-17, 6-6 CAA): The Seawolves split four road games last week, including a pair of wins at Campbell. SBU is now 5-1 in its last six CAA games. The top four batters in the SBU lineup each drove in two runs and Robert Taylor was 3-for-3 with two RBI’s in Sunday’s 11-2 win over the Camels. Brett Paulsen was 2-for-4 with four RBI’s in Friday’s 7-3 victory at CU. Erik Paulsen batted .412 (7-17) with a homer last week and recorded his fourth save on the mound. Eddie Smink (4-4) threw 6.0 shutout innings vs. Campbell on Friday. He has given up just four hits and no runs over his last 12.0 frames. Ty Saunders held CU to one hit over the final 3.2 innings on Sunday.
TOWSON (8-26, 3-9 CAA): The Tigers fell in 11 innings to Georgetown (8-4) before being swept in their CAA series at first-place UNCW last week. Freshman Taye Robinson batted .533 (8-15) with a pair of RBI’s over the four-game stretch. He has had a hit in 10 of his last 11 games to raise his batting average to .299. Elijah Dickerson also recorded a hit in all four games and drove in two runs in the finale at UNCW. He tops the Tigers with a .350 batting average. Matt Lynch and Ryder Jeske didn’t allow a hit and combined for five strikeouts over the first five innings against Georgetown.
WILLIAM & MARY (25-11, 8-4 CAA): The Tribe defeated No. 7 Duke (4-2) for its highest ranked win in program history and then took 2-of-3 from North Carolina A&T for its fourth straight CAA series win. Henry Jackson batted .385 (5-13) and homered in all three victories, highlighted by a first-inning grand slam vs. A&T on Saturday. Joe Delossantos had a hit in all four games, including his 9th homer, and is batting a team-best .359. Trey Christman smacked a 3-run homer at Duke that put W&M ahead to stay. Nate Knowles allowed just two hits and a run over 8.0 innings and struck out 10 in two starts last week, dropping his ERA to 1.52.