CAA Baseball Weekly Awards - May 12
Rob Washburn
CAA BASEBALL WEEKLY REPORT - MAY 12 (pdf)
RICHMOND, Va. (May 12, 2025) – Northeastern junior second baseman
Carmelo Musacchia was chosen as the CAA baseball Player of the Week, while Campbell graduate left-hander
Jake Murray and UNCW senior right-hander
Zane Taylor shared CAA Pitcher of the Week accolades. Charleston freshman first baseman
Alex LaCoste received Rookie of the Week honors.
CAA Baseball Player of the Week
Carmelo Musacchia, Northeastern – Jr., 2B – New York, N.Y.
Musacchia batted .474 (9-19) with a pair of doubles and six RBI’s as Northeastern went 4-0 and extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 20 games. The junior hit .467 and drove in six as the Huskies swept a 3-game series at William & Mary to clinch the CAA regular-season title. He had multiple hits in three games and pushed his hitting streak to six games.
CAA Baseball Co-Pitcher of the Week
Jake Murray, Campbell – Gr., LHP – Wendell, N.C.
Murray surrendered three singles over 7.0 scoreless innings and fanned nine in Campbell’s 6-0 win over Elon. The grad student allowed just one runner to reach second base in the game and struck out at least one batter in all seven frames, including six strikeouts looking. Murray (4-2) didn’t face more than four batters in any inning.
CAA Baseball Co-Pitcher of the Week
Zane Taylor, UNCW – Sr., RHP – Franklinton, N.C.
Taylor fired a complete-game 3-hit shutout and struck out 10 in UNCW’s 10-0 victory over Stony Brook last Friday. After stranding runners on second and third with none out in the second, he allowed just one runner to reach second base over the final five frames. Taylor’s 10 K’s were one shy of his career high as he threw at least 7.0 innings for the fourth straight start.
CAA Baseball Rookie of the Week
Alex LaCoste, Charleston – Fr., 1B – Simpsonville, S.C.
LaCoste batted .467 (7-15) with three doubles, his first two career homers, six runs scored and three RBI’s in Charleston’s 4-0 week. The freshman recorded multiple hits and multiple runs in three games and doubled in each of his first three contests. LaCoste capped the week by becoming the first CofC true freshman with two homers in a game since 2015 with a pair of solo shots at North Carolina A&T.
Conference notes:
NORTHEASTERN EXTENDS NATION’S LONGEST WIN STREAK: Northeastern extended the nation’s longest active winning streak to 20 games with a 4-0 week that included a victory over UMass Lowell and a CAA sweep of William & Mary. The Huskies’ win streak, which is tied for the longest in program history, is eight games longer than any other Div. I team (Southern Miss - 12). NU has gone 29-1 since March 22 and its .820 win percentage is the best in the nation. The Huskies are No. 28 in the latest NCAA RPI and
are ranked No. 25 this week by D1Baseball.com.
HUSKIES CLINCH CAA REGULAR-SEASON TITLE: Northeastern clinched its fourth CAA regular-season title since 2017 after pushing its conference win streak to 15 with a sweep of William & Mary. The Huskies are the only team to capture all eight of their conference series, including six sweeps. Northeastern’s 22 conference wins are already its most ever in a season with one series still left to play.
UNCW MAKES IT 39 IN A ROW: UNCW became the second team to secure a berth in the CAA Baseball Championship after completing a series sweep of Stony Brook on Saturday night. It will be the 39th consecutive tournament appearance for the Seahawks, a streak unmatched by any conference school. UNCW is the two-time defending champion and has won a CAA-record eight tournament titles in its history. The Seahawks have won five straight CAA games and can secure the #2 seed and a first-round bye with a victory at Elon.
COMPETITIVE CONFERENCE RACE: While Northeastern and UNCW have clinched tournament berths, six teams remain alive for the final four spots with one series remaining.
Campbell, Charleston, Elon and
William & Mary are 13-11 in CAA play and have the inside track to make the field.
Delaware is in seventh at 11-13 and hosts Campbell this week, while
Monmouth is 10-14 as it heads to Stony Brook.
PUTTING UP MORE ZEROS: Impressive pitching performances in CAA play continued with four more shutouts thrown last week, upping the number of shutouts to 21 over the past five conference weekends.
Northeastern increased its nation’s-best shutout total to 15, which is six more than any other Division I team. The Huskies also top the nation in ERA (2.99) and WHIP (1.07).
UNCW is 12th in ERA (3.81) and 3rd in WHIP (1.19).
STONY BROOK’S SENK ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: Stony Brook head coach
Matt Senk announced he will retire at the end of the season after 35 years at the helm. Senk has compiled 967 career wins, seven regular-season conference titles and six tournament titles in his career. He guided Stony Brook to the College World Series in 2012.
W&M’S PARKER TIES CAA HIT STREAK RECORD: William & Mary outfielder
Ben Parker tied the CAA hit streak record of 34 games against George Mason last Wednesday before having end on Friday against Northeastern. The 34-game streak matched the CAA record held by Old Dominion’s Chris Baker and JMU’s Matt Townsend and Mark Brockell. Parker is batting a CAA-best .416, which ranks 9th nationally.
CAMPBELL (22-28, 13-11 CAA): The Camels swept a doubleheader from Elon on Saturday to move into a tie for third place in the CAA.
Joe Simpson was 6-for-7 with two doubles from the leadoff spot in the twinbill. Campbell blasted five homers in taking the opener, 11-6, including a 3-run shot from
Jonah Oster and 2-run bombs from
Andrew Keller and
Charlie Meglio. The Camels won the nightcap, 6-0, as
Jake Murray held the Phoenix to three hits over 7.0 scoreless innings. He fanned nine to increase his season strikeout total to 81, which ranks 2nd in the CAA.
David Rossow threw 4.1 shutout innings in Game 1.
CHARLESTON (31-19, 13-11 CAA): The Cougars are on a season-best six-game winning streak after a 4-0 week that included a CAA sweep at North Carolina A&T.
Will Baumhofer batted .538 (7-13) for the week with two doubles and seven RBI’s. He recorded a pair of 3-hit games and raised his average to a season-best .317.
Alex LaCoste batted .467 with three doubles and his first two career homers in Sunday’s 12-2 win over the Aggies.
Avery Neaves drove in seven runs and
Dylan Johnson knocked in six, with both hitting a homer.
Jake Brink struck out 10 batters on Friday and
Daniel Brooks added 9 K’s on Saturday.
DELAWARE (27-23, 11-13 CAA): The Blue Hens split four games last week, edging Georgetown (8-7) and earning a 5-0 win over Monmouth in the CAA series opener.
Elias Conway (3.0 IP, 1 H),
Ryan Mclaughlin (3.2 IP, 3 H) and
Carter Welch (2.1 IP, 4 H) combined on the shutout of the Hawks.
Jackson Tyer tied a program record by drawing five walks vs. GU and came around to score three times.
LT Cockrill homered twice at Monmouth on Sunday, including a game-tying solo shot in the 9th, but UD fell 5-4 in 11 innings. Cockrill was 5-for-12 with 4 RBI’s in the series.
Dom Velazquez gave up just one run in 9.0 innings last week.
ELON (24-27, 13-11 CAA): The Phoenix pushed their win streak to five by beating Campbell, 10-8, on Friday, before being swept in a doubleheader by the Camels on Saturday. Freshman
Jake Hajdu went 5-for-6 over the first two games and drove in four in Friday’s victory.
Ryan Sprock was 2-for-5 with a double, homer and three RBI’s in the win and then fanned two of the three batters he faced in the 9th to record his fourth save.
Charlie Granatell had four hits with a pair of RBI’s in the series.
Tank Yaghoubi has a hit in 12 of his last 13 games and is batting .327.
Justin Mitrovich fanned seven to up his strikeout total to 75.
HOFSTRA (17-34, 7-17 CAA): The Pride swept their second series of the season, taking three from Towson.
Dylan Palmer continued his impressive year, batting .538 (7-13) with a homer and six runs scored. He also stole six bases to up his season total to 29.
Michael Brown batted .455 in the series and drove in the winning runs in Sunday’s 4-3 triumph.
Jackson Bauer held TU to four hits and two earned runs in a career-long 8.1 innings on Sunday.
Tristan Nemjo tied his career-high with eight strikeouts and went over 100 K’s for his career.
Trent Jenks doubled in all three games vs. TU and batted .444 with three RBI’s.
MONMOUTH (24-27, 10-14 CAA): The Hawks had a 3-1 week, including a pair of victories over CAA foe Delaware.
Jay Bant’s walk-off homer in the 11th gave Monmouth a 5-4 triumph over the Hens on Sunday. He was also 2-for-4 and knocked in four in Saturday’s 9-6 win and ranks second in the CAA with 55 RBI’s.
Casey Caufield batted .368 for the week and drove in five. He had three multi-hit games and has 21 for the year.
Joey Ciancimino gave up only one run in 5.0 innings of work over two appearances last week. Freshman
Ryan Mealy held UD to three runs over 7.0 innings on Sunday. His 2.98 ERA is 7th in the CAA.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T (15-34, 9-15 CAA): The Aggies were swept in their CAA series with Charleston.
Bruce Wyche was 2-for-4 with a 2-run homer and
JT Taylor added a solo shot but A&T fell 5-4 in 10 innings on Friday. Wyche, who also went deep on Saturday, has eight homers and a team-high 45 runs scored while Taylor leads the Aggies with 11 homers and 40 RBI’s.
Tyler Smith was 3-for-4 with an RBI on Sunday, raising his team-best batting average to .326.
Diego Barrett held CofC to a run on two hits over 4.0 innings on Friday and struck out four. He has 47 K’s in 44.0 innings of work this season.
UNCW (29-22, 16-8 CAA): The Seahawks swept their series with Stony Brook to clinch their 39th consecutive CAA Tournament berth. UNCW is 14-4 over its last six CAA series.
Zane Taylor moved to 9-2 after throwing a complete-game, 3-hit shutout with 10 K’s in Friday’s 10-0 win.
Connor Marshburn followed with no earned runs and nine strikeouts in 5.0 innings as the Seahawks won 7-3 in Saturday’s opener.
Aiden Evans drove in six runs in the series, including three RBI’s that broke open up a one-run game and gave UNCW a 7-3 win in the finale.
Kevin Jones homered in both games on Saturday, doubling his season total.
NORTHEASTERN (41-9, 22-2 CAA): The Huskies extended their overall win streak to 20 and CAA win streak to 15 following a 4-0 week that included a victory over UMass Lowell and a series sweep at William & Mary.
Will Jones (6.2 IP, 2 H) and
Charlie Walker (2.1 IP, 2 H) combined on NU’s 15th shutout of the year with a 1-0 win over W&M on Friday.
Alex Lane’s RBI single in the 9th was the game-winner.
Chris Walsh was 3-for-4 with three RBI’s in Saturday’s 15-1 victory, while
Carmelo Musacchia was 4-for-5 with five RBI’s in Sunday’s 15-5 triumph.
Aiven Cabral (6.0 IP, 1 R) moved to 9-2 on Saturday.
STONY BROOK (22-27, 8-16 CAA): The Seawolves dropped four road games last week, including three at CAA foe UNCW.
Erik Paulsen batted .500 (7-14) with three multi-hit games last week. He raised his season batting average to a team-best .352.
Nico Azpilcueta drove in three more runs and continues to top the CAA in homers (18) and RBI’s (56).
Matthew Jackson was 4-for-8 with a homer and two RBI’s in Saturday’s doubleheader at UNCW.
George Adams didn’t allow a run over 2.0 innings in a pair of relief appearances against UNCW.
TOWSON (19-34, 9-15 CAA): The Tigers had a 1-4 week, picking up a 7-6 victory over Richmond before road losses at Virginia and a series sweep at Hofstra.
Brian Heckelman and
Josh Janove homered in the win over UR, while
Jordan Peyton was 2-for-4 with two RBI’s. Heckelman added a grand slam in the opener at Hofstra and tops the team with 40 RBI’s.
Brett Ahalt drove in four runs in the Hofstra series and stole three bases in the finale to up his season total to 16.
Nate Nabholz threw 3.1 scoreless innings vs. the Pride, lowering his season ERA to 2.55 in 17 appearances.
WILLIAM & MARY (20-31, 13-11 CAA): The Tribe went 0-4 last week, losing to George Mason (8-7) before getting swept at Northeastern.
Ben Parker tied the CAA hit streak record at 34 games with a 3-for-4 outing vs. Mason before having it end vs. NU on Friday. He had three hits over the final two games and leads the league with a .416 average.
Christian Rush had a hit in all four games, including a solo homer on Sunday.
Nick Lottchea threw 5.0 shutout innings and fanned five in the opener vs. NU.
Jamie Laskofski contributed five hits and four RBI’s last week and is hitting .344 for the year.