CAA Baseball Weekly Awards - April 22
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - APRIL 22
RICHMOND, Va. (April 22, 2024) – UNCW senior outfielder Trevor Marsh was selected as the CAA baseball Player of the Week after batting .500 with three homers and seven RBI’s in the Seahawks’ impressive 3-1 week. Charleston junior Aidan Hunter was chosen as the Pitcher of the Week after giving up just three hits and striking out seven over 8.0 scoreless innings. Hofstra designated hitter Joseph Mennella, who homered in three straight games, and Charleston reliever Hayden Thomas, who earned a win and a save while throwing 4.1 shutout innings, shared Rookie of the Week accolades.
CAA Baseball Player of the Week
Trevor Marsh, UNCW – Sr., OF – Asheboro, N.C.
Marsh batted .500 (9-18) with a double, three homers, six runs scored and seven RBI’s in UNCW’s 3-1 week that included a victory over #12 Wake Forest and a series win at Northeastern. The senior was 7-for-13 at NU, including a pair of homers and three RBI’s in Friday’s 11-5 victory and a grand slam on Saturday. Marsh, who is on a 10-game hitting streak, was also 2-for-5 and scored twice vs. WFU.
CAA Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Aidan Hunter, Charleston – Jr., RHP – Hanahan, S.C.
Hunter allowed just three hits over 8.0 shutout innings and struck out seven in Charleston’s 4-0 victory over William & Mary last Saturday. The junior fanned the side in the first and induced double plays after the leadoff batter reached in the third and the sixth. Hunter (5-1) held the Tribe to three singles, didn’t allow a runner to get past second base and retired the final eight batters he faced.
CAA Baseball Co-Rookie of the Week
Joseph Mennella, Hofstra – Fr., DH – Staten Island, N.Y.
Mennella became the first Hofstra player to homer in three straight games since 2016 during Hofstra’s 3-2 week. In the starting lineup for the first time, the freshman went 2-for-4 with a double, homer and two RBI’s in back-to-back games vs. Fairfield and Marist. He followed with a 2-run shot as the Pride topped Campbell, 11-7, in Friday’s series opener.
CAA Baseball Co-Rookie of the Week
Hayden Thomas, Charleston – Fr., LHP – Lexington, S.C.
Thomas recorded the first win and save of his collegiate career, limiting William & Mary to two hits over 4.1 shutout innings while striking out nine. The freshman held the Tribe to a single and fanned four over 2.0 innings in Friday’s 7-6 triumph. On Sunday, he got CofC out of a 2-out, 2-on jam in the 7
th and threw 2.1 scoreless frames with 5 K’s to preserve a 3-0 shutout.
Conference notes:
CHARLESTON, UNCW TIED ATOP CAA STANDINGS: Charleston and UNCW are tied atop the CAA standings at 12-3 after both posted impressive performances last weekend. The Cougars swept a three-game series from William & Mary and are now 11-1 in their last 12 league contests. The Seahawks took two-of-three at Northeastern, handing the Huskies their first series setback of the year. NU remains in third at 10-5, followed by Stony Brook, which jumped to fourth at 9-6 after a sweep of Towson to improve to 8-1 in its last nine CAA contests. Delaware and William & Mary are tied for fifth at 8-7 with four weekends remaining in the battle to earn a spot in the six-team CAA Baseball Championship.
FIVE WINS IN TWO WEEKS VS. THE ACC: The CAA continued its recent run of mid-week success against the ACC as UNCW beat #12 Wake Forest, 8-5, and Campbell edged #22 NC State, 11-7 in 12 innings, last week. Those results upped the CAA’s record to 5-0 against the ACC over the past two Tuesdays after William & Mary (#7 Duke), UNCW (NC State) and Northeastern (Boston College) posted victories on April 9. The league gets two more opportunities this Tuesday as Campbell hosts #6 Duke and Elon entertains #8 Wake Forest.
SIX TEAMS IN TOP 105 OF RPI: Six CAA teams are ranked in the top 105 of the NCAA RPI, including five in the top 95. Northeastern tops the list at #40, followed by UNCW at #42, Charleston at #64 and Campbell at #80. William & Mary moved up to #95 and Stony Brook is at #105. Only seven other conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac 12, SEC and Sun Belt) have five teams in the top 95 of the RPI.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: CAA teams have fared well against non-conference competition this season. The league owns eight wins against nationally ranked foes (UCSB (2), LSU, East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Wake Forest and NC State) and has 15 victories against Power 5 teams (Arizona, Boston College (2), Duke, Georgia Tech, Minnesota (4), NC State (2), Penn State, Purdue, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest).
FOUR TEAMS RECEIVE TOP 25 VOTES: Campbell, Charleston, UNCW and Northeastern received votes in this week’s NCBWA Top 25 poll.
CAMPBELL (25-13, 7-8 CAA): The Camels split four road games last week, knocking off #22 NC State (11-7) but losing their CAA series at Hofstra. Reed Stallman and Charlie Meglio each hit a pair of homers last week. Meglio batted .389 over the four games while Stallman drove in seven runs. Drew Siegner earned the win at NCSU after throwing 3.0 shutout innings and fanning three. Braeden O’Shaughnessy’s two-run double in the 12th snapped a 7-7 tie vs. the Pack. Grant Knipp returned to the lineup at Hofstra on Friday and went 2-for-5 with a homer. Packy Bradley-Cooney struck out four over 2.0 scoreless innings to get his 4th save at Hofstra on Saturday.
CHARLESTON (28-10, 12-3 CAA): The Cougars own the nation’s 2nd-longest winning streak at eight games following a 10-2 victory over Charleston Southern and a CAA sweep of William & Mary. After rallying for a 7-6 win over the Tribe on Friday, CofC posted back-to-back shutouts to lower its team ERA to 3.48, which ranks 3rd nationally. Aidan Hunter allowed three hits over 8.0 scoreless innings and struck out four in Saturday’s 4-0 victory and Connor Campbell held W&M to three hits over 6.0 frames and fanned six in a 3-0 win. Avery Neaves homered twice in the W&M series and Kevin Madden drove in four. Dylan Johnson was 5-for-11 at the plate against the Tribe.
DELAWARE (20-18, 8-7 CAA): The Blue Hens were edged 11-10 by Maryland but took 2-of-3 in their CAA series at North Carolina A&T. Aaron Graeber batted .388 (7-18) with three homers and nine RBI’s for the week, highlighted by a 4-for-5 outing with 2 HR’s and 6 RBI’s in Friday’s 13-6 win at A&T. Josearmando Diaz belted a pair of 2-run homers vs. Maryland and followed with a 3-run shot in the opener at A&T. Andrew Amato added five hits against the Aggies and scored six runs, while Tyler Leach homered three times. Eli Atiya limited A&T to one run over 4.2 innings and picked up a win over two relief appearances.
ELON (16-23, 6-9 CAA): The Phoenix won two-of-three from Monmouth last weekend and is now 5-1 in its last six CAA games. Charlie Granatell went 5-for-11 with a pair of homers and five RBI’s over the final two games vs. the Hawks. Kenny Mallory, Jr. was 5-for-12 from the leadoff spot against MU and scored three times. James Broderick smacked a 3-run homer on Sunday to help EU overcome an early 4-0 deficit. Ben Sieracki recorded a win and a save in the MU series after holding the Hawks to one hit over 2.1 scoreless innings. Nolan Straniero limited MU to one hit and no earned runs over 5.0 innings on Friday and struck out six.
HOFSTRA (14-25, 5-10 CAA): The Pride had a 3-2 week, which included their first CAA series win over Campbell. Steve Harrington batted .538 (7-13) with two doubles, two homers and five RBI’s against the Camels and tallied multiple hits in all thee games. Hofstra rallied for a 12-11 victory in 10 innings on Sunday as Dylan Palmer delivered a game-tying RBI double in the 10th and then scored the winning run on a Santino Rosso sac fly. Palmer batted .500 (7-14) in the series with four runs scored and four RBI’s. Freshman Joseph Mennella became the first HU player since David Leiderman in 2016 to homer in three straight games vs. Fairfield, Marist and Campbell. Michael Florides hit .500 with 4 RBI’s last week.
MONMOUTH (11-23, 5-10 CAA): The Hawks split four games last week, beating Villanova (8-4) but dropping 2-of-3 at Elon. James Harmstead and Austin Denlinger each smacked 2-run homers in the Villanova win and Denlinger added a solo shot at Elon. Monmouth rallied for a 6-5 victory at EU on Saturday as pinch hitter Jay Bant had a game-tying RBI double and Mason Wolf bunted in the winning run in the 12th. Phil Stahl went 4-for-5 and with an RBI on Sunday. Drew Helmstetter limited Elon to one earned run over 6.0 innings in Friday’s opener. Tommy Kent picked up the win on Saturday with 3.1 innings of scoreless relief.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T (21-18, 5-10 CAA): The Aggies went 2-2 last week, defeating High Point (5-4) and winning the finale of their CAA series with Delaware. Canyon Brown had a big week at the plate, batting .529 (9-17) with three doubles, a homer and eight RBI’s. He drove in a run in all four games, including a 3-for-5 effort with four RBI’s in Saturday’s 11-6 win. Tatsunori Negishi had a hit in each game and was 3-for-5 with two runs scored from the leadoff spot in the finale vs. UD. Freshman Ellis Reid was 2-for-4 with two RBI’s in the win against the Hens. Carter Daniels held HPU to one run on two hits over 4.0 innings of relief to earn his first win of the season and added 2.0 scoreless innings vs. UD.
UNCW (26-14, 12-3 CAA): The Seahawks had a big week, beating #12 Wake Forest (8-5) in Durham before taking 2-of-3 at Northeastern. Trevor Marsh batted .500 (9-18) for the week, which included three homers and seven RBI’s in the first two games at NU. Tanner Thach belted his league-leading 21st homer and drove in three in Friday’s 11-5 win over the Huskies. Jac Croom is hitting .347 over the last 30 days to raise his average to .303. RJ Sales improved to 7-2 after giving up just three hits over 6.0 shutout innings and struck out a career-high 10 in the opener at NU. Zane Taylor is now 5-0 after holding NU to one run on four hits over 7.0 innings on Sunday. He needed just 36 pitches over the final four innings.
NORTHEASTERN (28-11, 10-5 CAA): The Huskies lost 9-8 in 11 innings to Kansas State and then dropped their first CAA series of the year to UNCW. Alex Lane stayed hot, batting .500 (9-18) and driving in seven last week, including a 5-for-5 effort with 3 HRs and 5 RBI’s in Saturday’s 10-7 win over the Seahawks. He ranks 3rd nationally with 62 RBI’s for the season. Mike Sirota hit .400 vs. UNCW with a homer and five RBI’s. Carmelo Musacchia had a hit in all four games and drove in three vs. KSU. Dennis Colleran didn’t allow a run in 2.2 innings of work in three appearances last week and picked up the win against UNCW on Saturday.
STONY BROOK (20-17, 9-6 CAA): The Seawolves vaulted to fourth place in the CAA standings following a three-game sweep of Towson. SBU is 8-1 in its last nine league games. Ryan Micheli was 4-for-7 in the TU series and added four walks for a .692 on base percentage. JT Raab improved to 4-1 after throwing his first career complete game in Sunday’s 4-3 victory over the Tigers. He allowed two earned runs on six hits and fanned seven. Colin Rhein limited TU to one earned run over the final 8.0 innings and struck out six on Saturday. Erik Paulsen recorded his 5th save with 3.0 shutout frames on Friday. He also had an RBI double in Sunday’s victory.
TOWSON (10-29, 3-12 CAA): The Tigers opened the week with non-conference victories over Mount St. Mary’s (8-5) and Coppin State (7-6), but lost three CAA games by a total of four runs at Stony Brook. Bryce Frederick went 3-for-4 vs. Coppin, including an RBI triple that plated the winning run. Chris Akers smacked a 2-run homer at Mount. Jordan Peyton contributed five hits and scored four times last week. Brett Seils held SBU to one run over 4.0 innings in his start on Sunday. Ryder Jeske threw 3.1 scoreless innings out of the pen in three appearances last week.
WILLIAM & MARY (25-15, 8-7 CAA): The Tribe was edged 14-13 in 13 innings by #9 East Carolina before getting swept in their CAA series at Charleston. W&M tallied 18 hits vs. ECU and got a homer and three RBI’s from Nate Goranson. Nine W&M players had a hit in the game and eight scored at least one run. Luca Trigiani contributed six hits over the four games. Zack Potts held Charleston to two runs on six hits over 7.0 innings and struck out six on Saturday. Travis Garnett fanned six during 3.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen on Sunday.