Henrico Times

CAA Baseball Weekly Awards - March 20

UNCW junior third baseman Jac Croom and Elon junior second baseman Tanner Holliman shared CAA baseball Player of the Week honors after leading their teams to 4-0 weeks that included a win over a nationally ranked foe. Northeastern junior right-hander Wyatt Scotti was selected as the CAA Pitcher of the Week and Elon freshman pitcher/infielder Ryan Sprock received his third CAA Rookie of the Week award.

CAA Baseball Co-Player of the Week
Jac Croom, UNCW – Jr., 3B – Wilmington, N.C./New Hanover

Croom batted .533 (8-15) with two doubles, nine runs scored and four RBI’s in UNCW’s 4-0 week that included a victory over #10 East Carolina and a CAA sweep at Towson. The junior, who is hitting .529 over his current 13-game hitting streak, was 2-for-2 and scored twice vs. ECU and went 4-for-5 with four runs in a 12-2 win at Towson on Sunday. Croom tops the CAA and is 15th nationally with a .450 batting average.

CAA Baseball Co-Player of the Week
Tanner Holliman, Elon – Jr., 2B – Edmond, Okla./Oklahoma Christian School

Holliman batted .438 (7-16) with a double, two homers, nine runs scored and seven RBI’s in Elon’s 4-0 week that included a win at #23 NC State and a CAA sweep at Monmouth. The junior tallied multiple hits in three games, scored at least two runs in all four and went deep twice at Monmouth as the Phoenix piled up 56 runs last week. Holliman is on an 8-game hitting streak that has raised his average to .288.

CAA Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Wyatt Scotti, Northeastern – Jr., RHP – Barnstable, Mass./St. Mark’s

Scotti improved to 5-0 after holding North Carolina A&T to two hits over 7.0 scoreless innings and striking out five in Northeastern’s 14-0 victory on Friday. The right-hander didn’t allow a runner past second base, giving up a second-inning single and a two-out double in the seventh. Scotti is one of only seven pitchers in Division I off to a 5-0 start this season.

CAA Baseball Rookie of the Week
Ryan Sprock, Elon – Fr., P/IF – Morristown, N.J./Seton Hall Prep

Sprock repeats as Rookie of the Week after another big week at the plate and on the mound. The freshman batted .500 (4-8) with three homers, five runs scored and eight RBI’s in Elon’s 4-0 week, including a 3-run shot in Elon’s 14-6 win at #23 NC State. He homered twice in Friday’s 12-5 victory at Monmouth and then threw 6.0 shutout innings with seven strikeouts in a 12-1 win over the Hawks on Saturday.

Conference notes:

BIG WEEK AGAINST RANKED FOES: The CAA posted a pair of wins over nationally ranked opponents last Tuesday as UNCW beat #10 East Carolina and Elon knocked off #23 NC State. The league gets six more chances this week. Five of those are on Tuesday as Elon visits #2 Wake Forest, North Carolina A&T is at #15 North Carolina, Northeastern hosts #16 Boston College, Hofstra travels to #24 West Virginia and UNCW welcomes #25 NC State. The Pride and Mountaineers continue their series on Wednesday.

CHARLESTON (13-6, 4-2 CAA): The Cougars rebounded from a tough 4-3 loss at Clemson by winning two-of-three over CAA foe Stony Brook. Jared Kirven was 5-for-13 with a homer and five RBI’s in the SBU series. Will Baumhofer had back-to-back three-hit games vs. Clemson and SBU and finished 8-for-18 for the week. JT Marr tallied seven hits in the four games last week. Tyler Sorrentino came through with a walk-off RBI single in the 11th to beat SBU, 3-2 on Saturday. All-America closer William Privette worked 4.0 scoreless innings with five strikeouts to earn the win on Saturday. Trey Pooser held SBU to two runs over 7.0 frames and has a 1.99 ERA for the season. Ty Good fanned eight vs. SBU on Friday.

DELAWARE (8-11, 1-2 CAA): The Blue Hens split four games, falling 13-11 in 10 innings to Maryland before taking two-of-three from UMass Lowell over the weekend. Joey Loynd had another big week at the plate, batting .588 (10-17) with three doubles, two homers and 10 RBI’s. He went deep twice and drove in seven in Friday’s 20-2 win over UML. Loynd leads the CAA in homers (6), doubles (11), runs (28) and RBI’s (32) and recorded his 100th career RBI. Bryce Greenly didn’t allow an earned run over 5.0 innings in Saturday’s 3-2 win over UML, while Eli Atiya (3-2) threw 5.0 shutout innings and struck out four on Friday. Greenly also went 2-for-4 with five RBI’s on Friday and hit .500 (9-18) for the week. 

ELON (13-7, 5-1 CAA): The Phoenix extended its winning streak to six with a 4-0 week on the road that featured a 14-6 victory at #23 NC State and a CAA sweep at Monmouth. Elon’s offense exploded for 56 runs in the four games. Tanner Holliman hit .438 (7-16) with two homers, nine runs scored and seven RBI’s, while Charlie Granatell batted .400 (8-20) and drove in 10. Ryan Sprock belted three homers and knocked in eight and also threw 6.0 shutout innings in Saturday’s 12-1 win at MU. Justin Cassella smacked a grand slam at NC State and added three RBI’s in the finale at Monmouth. Shea Sprague moved to 3-1 after limiting the Hawks to two earned run over 7.2 innings and fanning six on Friday.

HOFSTRA (6-12, 2-4 CAA): The Pride went 2-2 at home last week, defeating Manhattan (11-4) and winning the CAA series finale against William & Mary (4-3). Danny Kelleher tossed 4.0 scoreless innings of relief vs. Manhattan to earn his first career win and Santino Rosso led Hofstra offensively with four hits and three RBI’s. Hofstra rallied for three runs in the 7th vs. W&M on Sunday as Anthony D’Onofrio delivered a pinch-hit two-run double that tied the game and Dylan Palmer followed with a RBI single. Mike McKenna worked a scoreless inning to get his first win and Michael O’Hanlon recorded the final five outs for his second save. John Mikolaicyk held W&M to one run over 5.2 innings in Saturday’s 2-1 loss.

MONMOUTH (7-9, 1-5 CAA): The Hawks edged Seton Hall (2-1), but suffered setbacks in all three CAA games with Elon. Relievers Nick Tamburro, Mason Miller and Jake Fraher combined for 6.0 scoreless innings at SHU and Ben Winstead drove in the winning run with a RBI single in the 6th. Austin Denlinger went 4-for-5 with a double, homer and two RBI’s in the opener vs. Elon, and followed with a 3-for-4 effort with three runs scored in Sunday’s finale. He is batting a team-best .429 for the season. Phil Stahl was 2-for-4 and knocked in a run on Sunday and is hitting .417 for the year. Tamburro added 2.2 scoreless innings on Sunday and hasn’t given up a run in three appearances.

NORTH CAROLINA A&T (10-9, 3-3 CAA): The Aggies split four road games last week, beating UNCG (9-4) and taking the finale of their CAA series at Northeastern (5-3). Camden Jackson was 8-for-15 with four runs scored and five RBI’s last week, including a 4-for-5 effort in the UNCG win. Anthony Hennings was 2-for-4 and drove in two in both victories. Canyon Brown had at least one hit in all four games and was 7-for-16 for the week. The Aggies recorded 13 hits as a team in the two wins. Jaheim Brown and Jake Delisi combined to limit NU to two runs over the first 7.1 innings on Saturday before Xavier Meacham came on to post his CAA-best fifth save. 

UNCW (13-7, 5-1 CAA): The Seahawks had a 4-0 week, knocking off #10 East Carolina (8-5) before sweeping a 3-game CAA series at Towson. UNCW plated 42 runs in the four games and raised its team batting average to .311. Jac Croom batted .533 (8-15) for the week to raise his CAA-best batting average to .450 and extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Trevor Marsh had multiple hits in three games, including going 2-for-4 with two RBI’s against ECU. Sophomore Zane Taylor (2-1) fired 7.0 shutout innings at Towson in the finale, allowing four hits and striking out four. He dropped his ERA to 1.38 in CAA play. Connor Kane earned his first career save at Towson on Friday after giving one hit over the final 4.0 frames.

NORTHEASTERN (12-4, 3-3 CAA): The Huskies took two-of-three from North Carolina A&T in their Friedman Diamond debut last weekend. Northeastern got a doubleheader sweep (14-0, 9-4) on Friday as Tyler MacGregor went 5-for-6 with a double, two homers, three RBI’s and four runs scored in the twinbill. NU had six different players launch homers in 
Game 1. Harrison Feinberg came up big in the nightcap, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI’s from the leadoff spot. Wyatt Scotti became of just seven pitchers nationally to start the year 5-0 after holding the Aggies to two hits over 7.0 shutout innings and fanning five in the opener. Griffin Young recorded his third save in Game 2 with 1.1 scoreless innings. 

STONY BROOK (6-11, 1-2 CAA): The Seawolves dropped two-of-three at preseason CAA favorite Charleston in its opening league series. All nine starters had at least one hit as Stony Brook earned a 15-11 victory in Sunday’s finale. Evan Giordano was 3-for-5 with three RBI’s in the victory and Brett Paulsen went 3-for-6 and drove in four. Evan Fox batted .384 in the series from the leadoff spot and stole his 13th base of the year. Freshman Eddie Smink picked his first collegiate save on Sunday with 1.1 shutout innings and two strikeouts. In Saturday’s 3-2, 11-inning setback to the Cougars, Ben Fero limited CofC to two runs over 6.1 innings and reliever Josh O’Neill didn’t allowed an earned run in 4.0 frames.

TOWSON (6-15, 1-5 CAA): The Tigers picked up a pair of mid-week victories over Marist (9-8, 12-4), but were swept in their CAA series against UNCW. Jordan Peyton was 2-for-5  and drove in two in the opener vs. Marist, including the game-winning RBI in the 9th. Reyce Curnane was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBI’s in the second Marist win, which featured 4.0 shutout innings and seven strikeouts on the mound from Brett Seils. Curnane was 8-for-19 for the week with three doubles and a triple. Bryce Frederick belted a 2-run homer in Sunday’s setback to UNCW. Casey Bishop had a 9-game hit streak end on Sunday, but is batting a team-best .354.

WILLIAM & MARY (11-10, 3-3 CAA): The Tribe got strong performances offensively and on the mound in a 3-2 week. W&M allowed just one run in each of its three wins, lowering its team ERA to a CAA-best 2.96. Zach Tsakounis (4.0 IP, 2 H), Mike Weidinger (3.0 IP, 1 H) and Rojo Prarie (2.0 IP, 1 R) didn’t allow an earned run in Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Hofstra, while Carter Lovasz limited the Pride to two hits in 4.2 shutout innings in Friday’s 15-1 triumph over the Pride. At the plate, Ben Williamson batted .500 (10-20) with six runs scored and six RBI’s last week and raised his season average to .443. W&M tallied its second-highest run total in school history in a 34-1 win over Norfolk State. Luca Danos drove in five runs. 

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