ELON, N.C. – Elon University baseball rounds out the regular season this weekend, May 10-12, as the Pheonix (29-20, 18-3 CAA) hosts UNCW for three games at Latham Park.
Elon has won eight consecutive series, to include seven in league play, and has yet to drop a conference game at home. With a series win this weekend, the Phoenix would become the first CAA team to win 20 conference games since College of Charleston went 21-3 during the 2015 season.
ALUMNI WEEKEND AND SENIOR DAY
The series marks Alumni Weekend for the maroon and gold. The Phoenix will have an alumni post-game gathering at MaGerks Pub & Grille following Friday’s series opener. On Saturday, there will be a pregame tailgate beginning at 4:30 p.m. down the right-field line and members of the 2013 Southern Conference Championship team will be recognized and throw out the ceremonial first pitch. There will also be a post-game gathering at Magerks.
Elon will then recognize its senior class before Sunday’s series finale. Suiting up for their last game wearing the maroon and gold will be Mason Daniels, Ty Adcock, Brandon Justice, Cam Devanney, Liam O’Regan, Kellan Elsbury, Naushon Galbraith, and Peter Perkins.
COVERAGE
Fans can listen to the games on the Elon Sports Network from Learfield/IMG College as Taylor Durham will provide play-by-play action. The pregame show begins 15 minutes prior to first pitch. The radio broadcasts can be heard at elonphoenix.com/live and on the TuneIn app. Additionally, the series will be streamed live on Phoenix All-Access through elonphoenix.com/live. Live stats will also be available.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Elon UNCW Jr. RH Kyle Brnovich (6-3, 3.58) TBD Jr. RH George Kirby (8-1, 2.20) TBD So. LH Jared Wetherbee (6-4, 2.86) TBD
THE SERIES
UNCW is ahead in the all-time series, 38-29. Elon took 2-of-3 from the Seahawks (24-26, 8-10 CAA) last season on April 27-29 in Wilmington, N.C. The teams then met again on May 25 at the CAA Championship as fourth-seeded UNCW defeated the second-seeded Phoenix 11-3. George Kirby received the loss after allowing five runs on 11 hits in 3.2 innings of work. Adcock went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and one RBI.
ABOUT UNCW
The Seahawks dropped 2-of-3 to Delaware last weekend. After the Blue Hens took the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday to win the series, UNCW posted a season-high 16 hits to avoid the sweep with a 10-2 decision in Game Two.
Greg Jones is batting .341 and Cole Weiss .300 to lead the teal, gold, and navy at the plate. Both have a team-high 61 hits, while Jones is also the team leader in runs (57), walks (42), and stolen bases (34-41). Kep Brown (.297) has knocked seven home runs and driven in 50 runs this season. As a team, UNCW is batting .267.
UNCW has yet to release its rotation for the weekend. The Seahawk arsenal owns a collective 4.49 ERA with opposing batters hitting .232. Luke Gesell (4-4) owns a 2.74 ERA with 45 strikeouts across 12 starts and 69.0 innings pitched. Landen Roupp (3-2) has a 3.91 ERA with 57 Ks in 53.0 innings, eight starts, and 17 appearances. He also has a pair of saves. Gage Herring (0-5) has made 10 starts in 13 appearances and has a 5.05 ERA to go along with 41 punch outs.
PHOENIX WINS REGULAR SEASON TITLE
With two wins at Hofstra over the weekend, Elon captured its first-ever CAA regular season title as well as the top seed in the conference tournament. After coming back to defeat the Pride 6-3 in the series opener, the maroon and gold shut out the hosts 7-0 in Game One of Saturday’s doubleheader to clinch at least a share of the title. A William & Mary walkoff win over CofC in 13 innings then gave the Phoenix the title outright.
This was the program’s first regular season title since Elon won the SoCon in 2011.
BRNOVICH SECOND ON CAA CAREER STRIKEOUTS LIST
With eight strikeouts in the series opener last Friday, Kyle Brnovich now has 347 strikeouts in his time as a Phoenix. The Milton, Ga. native is now second on the CAA’s career strikeouts leader list.
CRANTSON NAMED CO-ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Tyler Cranston was picked as the CAA Co-Rookie of the Week on Monday afternoon after leading Elon at Hofstra with a 6-for-11 (.545) effort at the plate. He added two runs, an RBI, and a stolen base to his totals and collected a hit in all three games against the Pride. In Friday’s series opener, the freshman from Scottsdale, Ariz. went 1-for-2, came around twice, drove in a run, and swiped a bag to help secure a 6-3 come-from-behind victory. He followed with a 3-for-5 effort and two runs scored in Game One of Saturday’s doubleheader, with his three hits marking a season high. Cranston then added another multi-hit performance in Game Two as he batted 2-for-4.
Defensively, he turned in a 1.000 fielding percentage with five putouts. In the first game of the Saturday doubleheader, Cranston made a diving catch in the bottom of the second to rob the Pride of a extra-base hit and keep them off the scoreboard.
CURRENT ELON STREAKS
Devanney collected a hit in all three games at Hofstra to push his hit streak to 17 games. The redshirt-junior has also reached safely in 22 straight games.
ELON IN THE RANKINGS
As of May 6, Elon is ranked 16th in the nation with five shutouts and is 24th with 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings. The Phoenix also leads the conference standings in runs (297), sacrifice flies (23), and scoring (6.1).
Kirby remains the national leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio (16.00) and is also third in walks allowed per nine innings (0.70), eighth in both complete games (3) and WHIP (0.85), ninth in victories (8), 17th in strikeouts (96), and tied for 24th in starts (12). Devanney ranks sixth in the country with seven sacrifice flies, while Tyler Stanley is 12th in hit by pitch (17) and 18th in hit by pitch per game (0.37). Brnovich is 14th with 97 punch outs and is also tied for 24th with 12 starts. Joe Satterfield is the CAA leader in batting average (.350) and hits (64).
UP NEXT
The 2019 CAA Championship is scheduled for May 22-25 and will be played at James Madison’s Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park. Elon will open the tournament on Thursday, May 23 against the lowest seeded team remaining in the winners bracket following Games One and Two.