CAA Baseball Weekly Report | March 28
CAA Baseball Weekly Report | March 28
Catch up on the CAA Baseball weekly news, notes, and awards.
CAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Cole Ragone | IF | William & Mary
Fr. - Richmond, Va./Maggie Walker
Ragone batted .389 (7-18) with two doubles, three homers, four runs scored and five RBI’s in William & Mary’s 3-1 week, which included a road victory at Duke and a series win over UNCW. The senior third baseman had two hits and went deep in each of the three wins and finished the week with a 1.000 slugging percentage. Ragone leads the Tribe with a .364 batting average for the season.
CAA PITCHER OF THE WEEK
RJ Sales | RHP | UNCW
Fr. - Pinehurst, N.C./Pinecrest
Sales posted his second strong performance, scattering six hits over 6.0 shutout innings and striking out a career-best six in UNCW’s 10-0 triumph at William & Mary on Saturday. The freshman right-hander gave up six singles and allowed just two runners past second base. Sales improved to 2-1 and hasn’t given up a run over the past 13.2 innings.
CAA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Preston Hall | 1B | Charleston
Fr. - Gastonia, N.C./Myers Park
Hall batted .357 (5-14) with two homers, four runs scored and three RBI’s in Charleston’s 3-1 week that included a series sweep of Northeastern. He went 2-for-5 with an RBI single in the series opener, launched a go-ahead homer in the 7th on Saturday and was 2-for-4 with his team-leading sixth long ball of the year in Sunday’s finale.
CONFERENCE NOTES:
CHARLESTON TAKES EARLY LEAD IN CAA STANDINGS: Charleston grabbed the early lead in the CAA standings at 3-0 after sweeping preseason favorite Northeastern for the first time in school history. William & Mary won its series over UNCW on a walk-off homer by Jack Cone to cap a seven-run rally on Sunday. James Madison and Hofstra both picked up series victories on the road as the Dukes went 2-1 vs. Delaware and the Pride took two-of-three at Elon.
CONFERENCE ACTION RESUMES ON FRIDAY: Conference play resumes on Friday as first-place Charleston visits Hofstra and Northeastern hosts William & Mary. Towson opens league action at home against Delaware and Elon travels to James Madison. UNCW meets VMI in a three-game non-conference series.
CHARLESTON (15-9, 3-0 CAA): The Cougars swept their CAA series against defending league champion Northeastern and have won seven of their last nine. Trotter Harlan batted .462 (6-13) last week with two doubles, a homer, five runs and four RBI’s. He has reached base safely in 34 of his past 36 games. JT Marr homered and drove in four in Saturday’s 14-9 win over NU and is batting a team-best .380 with 20 RBI’s. Tyler Sorrentino was 6-for-13 with five runs in the NU series. Ty Good (3-2) struck out seven over 6.1 innings on Friday and has 41 K’s on the year. William Privette threw four shutout frames with seven strikeouts against NU. He has a 0.70 ERA in 10 appearances and has fanned 35 over 25.2 innings.
DELAWARE (11-10, 1-2 CAA): The Blue Hens split four games last week, beating Georgetown (9-8) before going 1-2 vs. James Madison in CAA play. JJ Freeman smacked a walk-off 2-run homer as part of a 3-for-5 day against Georgetown and also homered against JMU. Dominic Ragazzo batted .467 (7-15) for the week with five runs scored. In Sunday’s 11-5 win over JMU, he was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI’s while also stealing a school-record six bases. Ragazzo is batting a team-best .342. Joey Loynd went 5-for-11 in the JMU series and has a six-game hitting streak. Mike Biasiello recorded his fourth save on Sunday after throwing 3.2 shutout innings and striking out seven.
ELON (12-11, 1-2 CAA): The Phoenix fell 7-6 at East Carolina and lost two-of-three to CAA foe Hofstra last week. Elon beat the Pride, 6-5, on Saturday as Justin Cassella went 2-for-3 and Parker Haskin drove in a pair. Brian Edgington improved to 4-0 after giving up three runs over 5.1 innings. Alex Iadisernia was 5-for-9 in the Hofstra series, raising his average to .326. Iadisernia and Luke Stephenson have both reached base in 11 straight games. Stephenson belted a three-run homer that put Elon up 3-2 at ECU. Shea Sprague didn’t allow a run in 5.0 innings of relief work last week, lowering his ERA to 1.72 for the year.
HOFSTRA (10-8, 2-1 CAA): The Pride won their opening CAA series for the first time since 2010, taking two-of-three from Elon. Anthony D’Onofrio batted .500 (8-16) with two doubles, six runs and six RBI’s for the week, including a 4-for-5 effort at St. John’s. He’s on a seven-game hitting streak. Matt Pelcher hit .444, drove in three and stole bases in a pair of starts. Hofstra set season-highs for runs (15) and hits (16) at Elon on Sunday. Mark Faello moved to 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA after holding Elon to one earned run over 6.2 innings on Friday. Brad Camarda became the first Pride pitcher to start 4-0 since 2018 after fanning six in 5.2 innings on Sunday. Aljo Sujak didn’t allow an earned run over 5.0 innings last week.
JAMES MADISON (13-10, 2-1 CAA): The Dukes opened CAA action by taking two-of-three at Delaware. Nick Zona batted .412 (5-12) in the series and scored four times, while extending his hitting streak to six. Kyle Novak has reached base in 20 straight games and has a hit in his past nine. Trevon Dabney scored seven runs in the three games. Chase DeLauter leads the CAA in batting (.417), on base perentage (.561) and slugging (.750). Justin Showalter picked up his second win of the year after limiting UD to one earned run on five hits over 6.0 innings and striking out five on Friday. Liam McDonnell improved to 4-0 after giving up two runs over 6.0 frames on Saturday.
UNCW (13-10, 1-2 CAA): The Seahawks fell 3-1 to East Carolina and lost two-of-three at William & Mary to start CAA play. UNCW blanked the Tribe, 10-0, on Saturday as RJ Sales tossed 6.0 shutout innings and fanned six. He hasn’t allowed a run over his last 13.2 frames. Jac Croom and Matt Suggs both smacked two-run homers in the win. Taber Mongero led off Friday and Saturday’s games at W&M with homers, which were his first of the season. Brooks Baldwin was 5-for-14 with a double, triple and homer vs. the Tribe and is batting a team-best .361 for the year. Cyle Phelan turned in another solid start on Sunday, giving up a run on three hits over 5.0 innings and striking out seven.
NORTHEASTERN (12-11-1, 0-3 CAA): The Huskies were edged 1-0 by Boston College and then were swept in their CAA series at Charleston. Jeff Costello went 2-for-5 with four RBI’s and Teddy Beaudet was 2-for-4 and drove in three as NU overcame a 7-0 deficit to grab a 9-7 lead in the 5th at Charleston on Saturday. JP Olson was 3-for-7 and scored a pair of runs in the Charleston series. Eric Yost gave up just one run over 4.0 innings and fanned seven in a start vs. BC and didn’t give up a hit in 1.2 innings of relief at Charleston on Sunday. He’s 1-1 with a 1.46 ERA for the year.
TOWSON (8-16, 0-0 CAA): The Tigers dropped two-of-three in a tight series with UMass over the weekend. Bryce Frederick and Jack McLaughlin each homered to power Towson to a 9-7 victory on Friday. McLaughlin was also 2-for-3 on Sunday, raising his batting average to .409. James Moses was 3-for-5 with a triple, two doubles and two RBI’s in the win and is currently riding a 20-game on-base streak. Chandler Castleberry was 2-for-5 on Sunday and has reached base in 23 of 24 contests. Jake Pecilunas recorded his 10th career save on Friday, which ranks 4th all-time at Towson. Nick Ramanjulu limited UMass to a pair of runs and struck out six over 5.2 innings on Sunday.
WILLIAM & MARY (11-10, 2-1 CAA): The Tribe had a 3-1 week, rolling over Duke (14-3) last Tuesday before winning their CAA series with UNCW. Jack Cone had a hit in all four games, drove in six and homered twice, including a walk-off solo shot as W&M rallied for an 8-7 victory over UNCW on Sunday. He also held the Seahawks to two hits and no earned runs over 4.0 innings on the mound. Cole Ragone batted .389 (7-18) with three homers, four runs scored and five RBI’s last week. He tops the Tribe with a .364 batting average. W&M’s bullpen delivered 7.1 scoreless innings on Friday as the team overcame an early 5-0 hole to win 13-5 over UNCW. Matt Howat tossed 3.1 shutout frames to get the victory.