CAA Baseball Weekly Awards - April 8
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - APRIL 8 (PDF)
RICHMOND, Va. (April 8, 2024) – Northeastern grad first baseman Tyler MacGregor was selected as the CAA baseball Player of the Week after batting .625 and driving in eight in the Huskies’ 3-1 week. Monmouth junior Alec Couture and Stony Brook sophomore Eddie Smink shared Pitcher of the Week accolades following dominant scoreless conference starts. Campbell freshman right-handed pitcher Nate Brittain was named Rookie of the Week after throwing 5.0 scoreless frames in his first start.
CAA Baseball Player of the Week
Tyler MacGregor, Northeastern – Gr., 1B – Peabody, Mass.
MacGregor batted.625 (10-16) with a double, homer, seven runs scored and eight RBI’s in Northeastern’s 3-1 week. The first baseman had multiple hits in all four games, starting with a 2-for-3 outing with two runs in a Baseball Beanpot victory over UMass. In a series win at Towson, he was 8-for-13 (.615) and drove in eight.
CAA Baseball Co-Pitcher of the Week
Alec Couture, Monmouth – Jr., RHP – Plainville, Conn.
Couture gave up just four hits over a season-best 7.0 scoreless innings in Monmouth’s 2-0 victory over William & Mary last Saturday. The junior, who recorded a career-high nine strikeouts, surrendered two hits to the first three batters before retiring 11 in a row. He allowed just two runners to reach second base as the Hawks handed W&M its first shutout of the year.
CAA Baseball Co-Pitcher of the Week
Eddie Smink, Stony Brook – So., RHP – West Chester, Pa.
Smink allowed only one hit over 6.0 shutout innings and fanned three in Stony Brook’s 18-2 win over Elon last Friday. The right-hander retired 17 of the first 18 batters he faced and carried a no-hitter into the sixth before giving up a two-out single. Smink improved to 3-4 with a 3.67 ERA.
CAA Baseball Rookie of the Week
Nate Brittain, Campbell – Fr., RHP – Mount Holly, N.C.
Making his first collegiate start, Brittain held North Carolina A&T to one hit over 5.0 scoreless innings in the Camels’ 7-5 victory on Sunday. The right-hander recorded six strikeouts and retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced before allowing a leadoff single in the fifth. Brittain dropped his season ERA to 4.02.
Conference notes:
TIGHT RACE ATOP CAA STANDINGS: With a third of the conference schedule complete, the CAA baseball race remains tight. Northeastern and UNCW are tied for the top spot at 7-2, but Charleston and William & Mary are close behind at 6-3 after the Cougars won 2-of-3 over the Seahawks and the Tribe captured its third straight series. Campbell and Delaware sit two games back of the lead at 5-4.
MORE TOUGH TESTS: It’s another week of challenging non-conference games in the CAA. On Tuesday, William & Mary visits #7 Duke and Elon travels to #9 East Carolina. UNCW hosts an NC State squad that has been ranked much of the season, Northeastern faces Boston College in the Baseball Beanpot championship game and Delaware takes on Lafayette in the semifinals of the Liberty Bell Classic.
FOUR TEAMS IN TOP 75 OF RPI: Four CAA teams are ranked in the top 75 of the NCAA RPI through games of April 7. Northeastern tops the list at #51, followed by Campbell at #58, Charleston at #70 and UNCW at #74. Only seven other conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac 12, SEC and Sun Belt) have four teams in the top 75 of the RPI.
KNIPP ADDED TO GOLDEN SPIKES WATCH LIST: Campbell catcher Grant Knipp was added to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List. Knipp, who has missed the past nine games due to injury, is batting .455 with 15 homers and 40 RBI’s.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: CAA teams have fared well against non-conference competition this season. UNCW beat #20 Coastal Carolina last Tuesday, which was the CAA’s fifth win over has a nationally ranked foe (UCSB - 2, LSU, East Carolina). The CAA also owns 10 victories against Power 5 teams (Arizona, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota - 4, Virginia Tech).
THREE TEAMS RECEIVE TOP 25 VOTES: CampbelL, Northeastern and William & Mary received votes in this week’s NCBWA Top 25 poll.
CAMPBELL (22-9, 5-4 CAA): The Camels had a 3-1 week, beating Charlotte (13-9) before taking 2-of-3 from North Carolina A&T. Campbell exploded for 12 first-inning runs vs. Charlotte as Peyton Bonds, Lawson Harrill and Dalen Thompson all homered in the opening frame. Thompson, who batted .400 with 8 RBI’s, closed the week with a walk-off 2-run homer in the 10th vs. A&T that gave the Camels a 7-5 victory. Andrew Schuldt drove in three runs and four other Camels went deep in Saturday’s 13-6 triumph over A&T. Harrill has homered in four of his past five games. Freshman Nate Brittain got his first career start vs. A&T on Sunday and held the Aggies to one hit over 5.0 scoreless innings.
CHARLESTON (20-10, 6-3 CAA): The Cougars pushed their winning streak to six with a victory over Georgia Southern (13-3) and two more at UNCW before falling on Sunday. Cole Mathis belted a grand slam vs. GSU and went 5-for-11 at UNCW. Kevin Madden was also 5-for-11 with a homer vs. the Seahawks and Cole Singsank hit his team-leading 9th homer on Saturday. Jake Brink moved to 5-1 on Friday after limiting UNCW to four runs over 6.1 innings and Davis Aiken threw a scoreless ninth for his sixth save. Alex Lyon allowed just one run over 5.2 innings out of the bullpen last week and Hayden Thomas tossed 4.1 shutout innings of relief in three appearances.
DELAWARE (15-14, 5-4 CAA): The Blue Hens took 2-of-3 at Hofstra last weekend for their second CAA series victory. Tyler Strechay threw 6.2 innings of scoreless relief with five strikeouts as Delaware picked up an 8-1 win on Sunday. In Friday’s 8-4 triumph over the Pride, Tyler August provided 5.0 shutout frames from the pen. Doug Marose limited the Pride to a run on three hits over 5.0 innings in a start on Saturday. Offensively, Andrew Amato batted .429 (6-14) in the series with five RBI’s. Aaron Graeber contributed five hits, while Joey Loynd homered and drove in four. UD meets Lafayette in the semifinals of the Liberty Bell Classic before a big weekend series against Northeastern.
ELON (11-20, 1-8 CAA): The Phoenix suffered four losses last week, including three at CAA foe Stony Brook. Charlie Granatell was 4-for-8 in the final two games at SBU, while Connor Offshack was 2-for-4 with a solo homer on Sunday. Offshack was also 3-for-5 with a triple and four RBI’s in a 13-9 setback to Wofford. Kenny Mallory, Jr. had five hits over the first three games last week and is batting a team-best .378. Ryan Sprock held SBU to one earned run over 4.1 innings in his Sunday start and Ben Sieracki gave up three runs over 5.0 innings on Saturday. Elon is at #9 East Carolina on Tuesday before hosting Hofstra.
HOFSTRA (11-19, 3-6 CAA): The Pride dropped 2-of-3 to Delaware last weekend, earning a 5-4 victory in 11 innings on Saturday courtesy of Santino Rosso’s walk-off RBI single. Steve Harrington had a big weekend at the plate, batting .643 (9-14) with a double, triple and three runs scored. He had multiple hits in all thee contests. Penn Sealey was 5-for-11 in the series and Will Kenndy also contributed five hits. Hofstra got a great start from Michael O’Hanlon on Friday as he allowed only one run on three hits over 7.0 innings while striking out a career-high 11. Carlos Martinez limited UD to four hits over 5.1 scoreless innings on Saturday and fanned eight.
MONMOUTH (8-17, 4-5 CAA): The Hawks suffered a pair of losses in their CAA series with William & Mary. Monmouth posted a 2-0 victory on Saturday as Alec Couture held the Tribe to four hits and fanned nine over the first 7.0 innings before Dante Ciaramella and Derek Benzinger followed with a scoreless inning apiece to complete the shutout. MU also got a strong start from Drew Helmstetter on Friday as he limited W&M to one run on two hits over 7.0 innings and struck out eight. Phil Stahl drove in a run in all three games of the series. Chris Andrews was 5-for-8 (.625) against the Tribe. James Harmstread contributed four hits. The final two games of the W&M series were Monmouth’s first on its home field.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T (18-13, 3-6 CAA): The Aggies had a 1-3 week, but picked up a 13-6 victory over Campbell last Friday. Chet Sikes was 3-for-5 with a double, homer and five RBI’s in the win, while Shemar Dalton homered and drove in three. Tatsunori Negishi was 6-for-9 and scored four times in the first two games at CU and also went 2-for-3 with three RBI’s in a setback to Gardner-Webb. He raised his batting average to .398 for the season. The Aggies erased a 5-0 deficit on Sunday and forced extra innings on an Enrique Wood sac fly in the 8th before losing 7-5 in 10. Jake Delisi struck out 10 in 6.0 innings of relief against Campbell on Sunday. Coley Kilpatrick earned his fourth win of the year on Friday.
UNCW (19-13, 7-2 CAA): The Seahawks opened a 2-2 week by knocking off #20 Coastal Carolina, 6-4. Jac Croom was 2-for-4, including an RBI triple in the 8th, and Luke Craig sealed the victory by retiring the final 10 batters he faced with six by strikeout. Croom was 7-for-16 (.438) for the week with four runs scored and four RBI’s. After dropping the first two games of its series with Charleston, UNCW tallied a 6-3 win on Sunday as Zane Taylor (3-0) held the Cougars to two runs over 6.1 innings and struck out five. Bromley Thornton was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI’s in the victory. Tanner Thach smacked his 16th homer, a 3-run shot, in Friday’s setback to Charleston. He upped his RBI total to 42.
NORTHEASTERN (24-7, 7-2 CAA): The Huskies, who have won 10 of their last 11, cruised past UMass (12-1) in the Beanpot semifinals before winning 2-of-3 at Towson to move into a tie for first place. NU plated 40 runs in the four games and was led by Tyler MacGregor, who batted .625 with a double, homer and 8 RBI’s. Alex Lane also had a big week, hitting .474 with his team-leading 10th homer and six RBI’s to raise his nation’s best season total to 52. Jack Doyle drove in at least one run in all four games and had 7 RBI’s for the week. On the mound, Wyatt Scotti threw 6.0 shutout innings with six strikeouts against Towson on Sunday and Jake Gigliotti allowed one run over 5.0 frames on Friday.
STONY BROOK (15-15, 4-5 CAA): The Seawolves made a big jump in the CAA standings after a three-game sweep of Elon. SBU’s pitching staff ceded just five earned runs in the series. Eddie Smink gave up only one hit over 6.0 shutout innings on Friday, Nicholas Rizzo allowed one run over 5.2 frames on Saturday and JT Raab held EU to one run over 6.0 innings and fanned eight on Sunday. Offensively, Matt Miceli had multiple hits in all three games and batted .636 (7-11) in the series with four RBI’s. Joseph Delanzo belted a grand slam and Chris Carson hit a 3-run shot in Friday’s 18-2 victory. Matt Brown-Eiring was 4-for-5 with a double, homer and five RBI’s in Saturday’s 9-1 triumph.
TOWSON (8-22, 3-6 CAA): The Tigers went 1-2 vs. Northeastern, posting a 10-8 victory on Saturday that snapped the Huskies’ 9-game winning streak. Elijah Dickerson went 3-for-5 with a 5th-inning grand slam that broke the game open in the win. He batted .417 (5-12) for the series. Brady Nathison added a 4-for-5 effort in the victory. Jake Michel held NU to four hits and no earned runs over 5.0 innings to move to 2-0 on the year. Brett Seils gave up one earned run in 5.0 innings and fanned six on Sunday and Andrew Luczak allowed one earned run in 4.2 frames on Friday. Brian Heckelman had at least one hit in all three games and batted .333 for the series.
WILLIAM & MARY (22-10, 6-3 CAA): The Tribe captured their third straight CAA series, winning 2-of-3 at Monmouth. Joe Delossantos had a hit in all four games last week, including a crucial 3-run homer in the 8th that was the difference in Friday’s 4-2 win over the Hawks. He has reached base in 31 consecutive games. Anthony Greco was 2-for-4 with a 3-run homer in Sunday’s 9-5 triumph at MU. Alex Markus didn’t give up an earned run over 5.0 innings in two starts last week. Nate Knowles and Mark Hindy combined to limit MU to five hits and two runs while fanning nine on Friday. Knowles is 4-0 with a 1.60 ERA and 58 K’s, while Hindy is 5-2 with a 2.38 ERA and 43 K’s for the year.