CAA Baseball Weekly Awards - April 7
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - APRIL 7 (pdf)
RICHMOND, Va. (April 7, 2025) – Stony Brook junior outfielder
Chanz Doughty and William & Mary senior outfielder
Christian Rush shared CAA baseball Player of the Week honors, while Elon graduate right-hander
Declan Lavelle was chosen as the CAA Pitcher of the Week. Towson freshman infielder
AJ Kolb was selected as the CAA Rookie of the Week.
CAA Baseball Co-Player of the Week
Chanz Doughty, Stony Brook – Jr., OF – Lacey, Wash.
Doughty batted .500 (8-16) with three doubles, a homer, five RBI’s and six runs scored in Stony Brook’s 3-1 week. The junior recorded a pair of three-hit games in the Seawolves’ series win at North Carolina A&T and added a solo homer on Sunday to put SBU on top in a 12-6 victory. Doughty also had three stolen bases.
CAA Baseball Co-Player of the Week
Christian Rush, William & Mary – Sr., OF – Perkasie, Pa.
Rush batted .500 (8-16) with four runs scored and six RBI’s in William & Mary’s 2-2 week. The senior outfielder had multiple hits in all three games of the Tribe’s series win over Elon, batting .583 (7-12). He was 2-for-4 and scored twice in Friday’s 8-4 win and was a single shy of the cycle and drove in four in Saturday’s 13-12 triumph.
CAA Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Declan Lavelle, Elon – Gr., RHP – Rye, N.Y.
Lavelle fired a complete game shutout against the CAA’s top-ranked offense on Sunday as Elon blanked William & Mary, 10-0. The grad student scattered seven singles and a double over 7.0 innings, allowing just two runners to reach second base. He fanned six and didn’t issue a walk in recording Elon’s first complete game shutout since 2021.
CAA Baseball Rookie of the Week
AJ Kolb, Towson – Fr., IF – Berlin, Md.
Kolb batted .545 (6-11) with a double, triple and three RBI’s in Towson’s 3-1 week. The freshman was 3-for-3 and drove in three in a 19-3 rout of Coppin State and then went 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored in a 9-5 victory over Delaware on Saturday that clinched Towson’s first CAA road series win since 2021.
Conference notes:
NORTHEASTERN MAINTAINS LEAD IN CAA STANDINGS: Northeastern maintained its spot atop the CAA standings after winning two-of-three at Campbell last weekend to improve to 7-2. The Huskies are the only team to have captured all three of their conference series.
William & Mary sits alone in second at 6-3 after a series victory over Elon. The Tribe is 5-1 in its last six CAA contests. Amazingly, only two games separate the remaining 10 teams in the standings, with
Campbell, Charleston, Delaware and
North Carolina A&T locked in a four-way tie for third place at 5-4. Delaware visits Charleston this weekend.
DOWN TO THE WIRE: Conference play has provided plenty of exciting finishes. Thus far. 15 of the 48 (31.3%) contests in conference play have been decided by only one run and five games have gone to extra innings.
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO WIN: Northeastern and William & Mary own the top two spots in the CAA standings, but they’ve had different paths to success. The Huskies lead the CAA and rank 14th nationally with a 3.77 ERA and they are first in Division I with seven shutouts. The Tribe tops the CAA and ranks 6th nationally with a .330 team batting average and their 7.9 runs per game are the most in the league and ranks 64th in Division I.
DELAWARE, NORTHEASTERN ADVANCE TO TOURNEY TITLE GAMES: Delaware advanced to the championship game of the Liberty Bell Classic after a 12-7 victory over Saint Joseph’s last Tuesday, while Northeastern blanked ACC foe Boston College, 3-0, to reach the finals of the Baseball Beanpot Tournament. The Blue Hens, who are in the finals for the third straight year, will face Rider at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Huskies, who are the defending Beanpot champions, will meet Harvard on April 29 at approximately 7 p.m. at Fenway Park in Boston.
CAMPBELL (14-17, 5-4 CAA): The Camels broke loose for an 18-8 win over Northeastern on Sunday to cap a 1-3 week. The 18 runs were a season high. Campbell scored nine in the fourth vs. NU to erase an early five-run deficit. An
Andy Schuldt grand slam was the big blow in the frame as he finished 4-for-5 with five RBI’s.
Charlie Meglio went deep twice in the game and drove in four.
Dalen Thompson had a hit in all four games last week, including a 3-run home in the opener against the Huskies.
Seth Farni turned in his best game of the season on Sunday, doubling twice and bringing in three.
CHARLESTON (18-12, 5-4 CAA): The Cogars had a 3-1 week, beating rival Charleston Southern (14-8) before taking 2-of-3 at Monmouth. Outfielder
Dariyan Pendergrass stayed hot, batting .389 (7-18) with seven runs scored. He’s hitting .381 for the year with a CAA-best 25 SB’s.
Avery Neaves hit .500 (6-12) with six RBI’s in the Monmouth series.
Jake Brink (4-2) threw his first career complete game in Friday’s 5-1 win over the Hawks. He scattered eight hits over 9.0 innings and fanned six for the first 9-inning CG for a CofC hurler since 2021.
Daniel Brooks (3-1) held MU to two runs over a career- best 7.0 frames on Saturday.
DELAWARE (17-13, 5-4 CAA): The Blue Hens split four games last week, beating St. Joseph’s (12-7) in the Liberty Bell Classic semifinals and then topping Towson (4-2) in their series finale.
Aaron Graeber belted a grand slam and drove in six at SJU while
Andrew Amato set a UD record by drawing five walks. Graeber, who added a go-ahead 2-run single in the win over Towson, tops the Hens in batting (.348), HR’s (9) and RBI’s (31), while Amato’s 30 walks are tied for the CAA lead. Four UD pitchers combined for a 3-hitter in the win over the Tigers, with
Elias Conway and
Andrew Callaway not allowing a hit in the final 4.2 innings.
ELON (11-20, 3-6 CAA): The Phoenix stopped a five-game slide with a 10-0 victory at William & Mary on Sunday. Elon plated six runs on seven hits in the first inning of the series finale. That was more than enough for
Declan Lavelle (3-3), who threw Elon’s first complete game shutout since 2021 while striking out six.
Jackson Alford went 4-for-7 with five runs scored and five RBI’s in the final two games at W&M and
Charlie Granatell was 4-for-8 and drove in three.
Tank Yaghoubi is on a seven-game hitting streak that has raised his average to .286. Elon smacked three homers in a 7-5 setback at East Carolina last Tuesday.
HOFSTRA (12-20, 3-6 CAA): The Pride topped Columbia (4-3) and won the series finale vs. UNCW (6-4) as part of a 2-3 week.
Dylan Palmer batted .478 (11-23) and extended his hitting streak to 15 games. He had multiple hits in 4 of the 5 contests and is now 7th on HU’s all-time hits list with 212. Freshman
CJ Griggs had a hit in all four of his games and batted .400 with two doubles and a triple. The Pride had 51 hits over the five games, but no homers.
Tristan Nemjo went a career-best 7.0 innings and picked up his first win of the year vs. UNCW on Saturday and
Tanner Sanderoff added his first save with 2.0 scoreless frames.
MONMOUTH (15-17, 4-5 CAA): The Hawks posted a 2-3 week, getting a walk-off win over Saint Peter’s (10-9) and edging Charleston (5-4) in Sunday’s series finale.
Jay Bant went 4-for-5 with three RBI’s vs. SPU, highlighted by his game-winning homer to lead off the 9th. Bant, who was also 5-for-12 in the CofC series, ranks 3rd in the CAA with 35 RBI’s.
Nick Lovarco was 2-for-4 and drove in four vs. SPU.
Ryan Mealy improved to 3-0 after limiting CofC to two earned runs over 6.0 innings on Sunday.
JD Greeley held the Cougars scoreless over the final 3.0 frames to pick up his first save of the year.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T (9-20, 5-4 CAA): The Aggies had a 1-3 week, defeating Stony Brook (11-9) in the opener of their CAA series.
JT Taylor was 2-for-5 with three RBI’s in the win, including a 2-run single in the 8th that snapped a 9-9 tie.
Tyler Smith was 3-for-5 and drove in two in the victory and
Jason Campo added a game-tying RBI double in the 7th. Taylor was also 3-for-5 with three RBI’s in Sunday’s setback to SBU and is batting .321 with a team-best 26 RBI’s.
Taili Thompson threw 4.0 scoreless innings out of the pen vs. SBU on Saturday, giving up just three hits while striking out three.
UNCW (16-16, 4-5 CAA): The Seahawks swept a doubleheader at Hofstra on Friday to earn their first CAA series win of the season.
Cole Nelson went 3-for-5 with a pair of homers and five RBI’s as UNCW won the opener, 12-4. In the nightcap,
Trevor Lucas belted a 3-run homer and
Tanner Thach drove in three in a 9-2 victory. Thach added a 2-run homer on Saturday against the Pride.
Trace Baker fanned five over the final 4.0 innings to earn his fourth save in the first game at HU and
Aubrey Smith followed with 3.0 scoreless frames in Game 2 to get his first save.
Zane Taylor (6-10 picked up his CAA-best sixth win on Friday
NORTHEASTERN (21-9, 7-2 CAA): The Huskies blanked Boston College (3-0) in the Beanpot semifinals and captured their third straight CAA series with a pair of victories at Campbell before having their 9-game win streak stopped on Sunday.
Max Gitlin (3-1) held BC to four hits over 7.0 scoreless innings and hasn’t allowed a run over his past 16.0 frames.
Aiven Cabral (4-2) gave up just one run over 6.2 innings and struck out five in Saturday’s 8-1 win over the Camels.
Cam Maldonado stayed hot, batting .533 (8-15) for the week with a double, homer and five RBI’s. He had multiple hits in three of the four games.
Harrison Feinberg belted a grand slam at CU on Sunday and had 9 RBI’s for the week.
STONY BROOK (14-15, 3-6 CAA): The Seawolves scored 48 runs in a 3-1 week, which included their first CAA series win at North Carolina A&T.
Chanz Doughty batted .500 (8-16) and drove in five. He doubled three times in Saturday’s 17-4 win at A&T and homered in Sunday’s 12-6 victory.
Luke Szepek was 6-for-11 with four RBI’s at A&T.
Nico Azpilcueta pushed his hitting streak to eight after batting .412 with six RBI’s last week.
John Rizzo held A&T to three hits and one run over a career-best 7.0 innings and struck out seven in Sunday’s series clincher. He improved to 3-1 on the season.
TOWSON (12-20, 4-5 CAA): The Tigers claimed their first CAA road series since 2021, winning 2-of-3 at Delaware to cap a 3-1 week.
Brian Heckelman drove in three runs in both victories over the Blue Hens, going 4-for-9 with two doubles and a homer in those games. Heckelman is batting a team-best .356 with 26 RBI’s.
Jordan Peyton tallied four RBI’s from the leadoff spot against the Hens. Towson pitchers struck out 15 in Friday’s game vs. UD, including 8 K’s from
Andrew Luczak.
Dutch DeProspero limited UD to two hits over 5.1 frames and fanned five in Sunday’s setback.
WILLIAM & MARY (12-19, 6-3 CAA): The Tribe took over sole possession of 2nd place in the CAA after winning 2-of-3 over Elon.
Christian Rush batted .583 (7-12) and drove in six against the Phoenix.
Ben Parker, who leads the CAA with a .415 batting average, and
Lucas Carmichael are both riding 17-game hitting streaks, which matches the 9th-longest streak in school history. Freshman
Jamie Laskofski batted .353 with three RBI’s last week to boost his average to .339 for the year. Freshman
Tyler Kelly picked up his first two career saves in the victories over Elon.