Mt. Pleasant, S.C.- The two-seeded Elon Phoenix (32-20, 19-9 CAA) will open CAA tournament play against the number three seed Northeastern Huskies (42-12, 20-10 CAA) on Thursday night at 7 p.m. This will be the opening matchup for Elon at the CAA Tournament having secured a first-round bye and the number two overall seed.
 
The Huskies dominated the sixth-seed William & Mary Tribe to the tune of a 6-0 shutout featuring a one-hit performance from the combination of pitchers Aiven Cabral and Jake Gigliotti.
 
This will be the fourth matchup of the season between the Phoenix and Huskies with Elon taking two of the three games at Latham Park earlier this season.  
 
How to Follow
 

• All CAA Tournament games will be aired on FloBaseball which can be reached by CLICKING HERE. 
• All of Elon's games are available to listen to via The Varsity Network App which can be reached by CLICKING HERE.
• Live stats will be available for this weekend's series with Hofstra and can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.
• Follow live updates on the Elon Baseball Twitter account @ElonBaseball.

 
Series History
 

• Elon leads the all-time series against the Huskies 13-11.
• This includes taking two of the last three earlier this season, which saw the Phoenix sweep a doubleheader thanks to a Cole Reynolds walk-off homerun in game one and Justin Mitrovich's fine pitching performance in game two.
• This will be the fourth meeting at the CAA Tournament for the two teams dating back to Elon's joining of the CAA back in 2014-2015.
• In the most recent CAA Tournament matchup the Phoenix prevailed 8-6 over Northeastern. Cam Devanney and Tyler Stanley both had excellent afternoons at the plate with Devaney finishing 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, and three RBI in the winning effort.

 
Scouting Northeastern
 

• Northeastern enters the matchup with the Phoenix having won their first matchup of the tournament against William & Mary by the score of 8-6.
• Aiven Cabral was outstanding, throwing 5.1 innings of one hit ball, then handing the ball to Jake Gigliotti who earned the save with 3.2 innings of no-hit ball to complete the shutout of the Tribe.
• Northeastern posted four players on the All-CAA First Team and three award winners with Cam Maldonado earning CAA Rookie of the Year, Spencer Smith earning Defensive Player of the Year and Head Coach Mike Glavine earned CAA Coach of the Year.
• Maldonado was the third Husky since 2018 to be named Rookie of the Year. He ranked eighth in the CAA with a .354 batting average while compiling 28 extra-base hits. He drove in 41 runs while scoring 42 and ranked second in the CAA with 30 stolen bases.
• Smith was the first Defensive Player of the Year since 2017. The shortstop had a fielding percentage of .974 committing just five errors in 196 chances. His performance at short helped lead the Huskies to the conference's highest team fielding percentage.
• Northeastern enters this matchup with a 42-12 record, the best overall record of anyone in the CAA. This record features wins over four top-25 teams with no losses.

 
About the Phoenix
 

• The Elon Phoenix enter their 23^rd consecutive postseason appearance as the number-two seed in the CAA. The first-round bye was clinched on the final day of the season as two wins by the Phoenix against the Hofstra Pride and a Charleston win over Northeastern gave the Phoenix the bye.
• Elon is currently ranked 59^th in RPI and is ranked 20^th in the Mid-Major Power Rankings by 11point7. Elon is one of five CAA members in the top 100 of the RPI poll.  
• Justin Cassella was awarded the CAA Co-Player of the Week for his performance in four games last week. Cassella has been on fire since April 1, leading the CAA in home runs, slugging percentage, and OPS during that time. Cassella continues to use the long ball, posting the most home runs by a Phoenix in the CAA era in a season with two more against Hofstra.
• Cole Reynolds has been an on-base machine this season, having reach base safely in 38 of his last 40 games. Reynolds has an on-base percentage of .410 and a conference on-base percentage of .468 good enough for third best in the conference during CAA play. Reynolds is also batting .350 during conference play and is top five in OPS during CAA games.
• Luke Stephenson has continued to showcase his power that Elon fans saw a season ago. Stephenson now has eight home runs on the season giving him 23 for his Phoenix career. He slashed a career high seven RBI in game two against the Sea Wolves and set a CAA program mark for longest hitting streak by a primary catcher. Stephenson hit safely in 14 consecutive games, breaking the previous mark held by Matt Oldham.
• James Broderick has been a steady glove at shortstop and is coming off another hot weekend series. Broderick reached base in nine straight games over the last month and hit .367 during that streak. Broderick has found a way on base via the walk all season, he is in the top ten for both overall and conference play in total walks.
• Justin Mitrovich is second among CAA freshman in ERA with a 3.84 clip, good enough for ninth overall. Mitrovich has fanned 55 batters on the season, another freshman category that he is in the top two of.
• Shea Sprague spearheads the weekend rotation and is still just as dominant. Sprague is second in the conference in ERA and is second in strikeouts. The two-time CAA Pitcher of the Week is first in innings pitched and tied for third in wins among qualified pitchers. Sprague set a new career-high against William & Mary earlier in April with nine strikeouts on 109 pitches.
• All three starters; Sprague, Sprock and Mitrovich also find themselves in the top 15 amongst CAA pitchers in strikeouts.
• Liam Dabagian continues to be a consistent left-handed arm out of the bullpen. Dabagian has an ERA of 2.23 and a team low whip of 1.17. Dabagian has allowed just 7 extra-base hits in 40.1 innings of work and has walked just ten batters.
• Joe Savino continues to make his mark out of the bullpen. Savino has made 20 appearances for Elon and has struck out 69 batters while walking just eleven. Savino sits third in the CAA in total punchouts and is tops in the CAA among primary relievers. In his last outing, Savino delivered a great performance in 6.1 innings of relief. He tossed a season high eight strikeouts and earned his fifth win of the season.
• Phoenix pitching finds themselves ranked Top-50 nationally in four separate categories. The Phoenix rank: third in walks per nine innings (2.75), fifth in strikeout to walk ratio (3.21), 33^rd in ERA (4.49), and 33^rd in WHIP (1.37).

 
CAA Postseason Honors
 

• Junior Justin Cassella and Sophomore Shea Sprague were selected to the All-CAA First Team for their performances during the 2023 season. Elon University baseball had seven players earn All-CAA honors as the league announced its postseason awards on Tuesday, May 24. The Phoenix's seven honorees are the most for Elon since 2019 when eight Phoenix were honored.
• Four different Phoenix were honored to the CAA Honorable Mention with: Cole Reynolds, Luke Stephenson, Ryan Sprock and Joe Savino all collecting CAA Honorable Mention. This is the second All-CAA Honorable Mention award for Luke Stephenson during his time with the maroon & gold, while this is the first postseason honor for Reynolds, Savino, or Sprock.
• Both Ryan Sprock and Justin Mitrovich were named to the CAA All-Rookie Team. For the eighth consecutive season in the CAA, the Phoenix have had a selection to the All-Rookie team. This is the second time in three seasons that Elon has had multiple players selected to the team with Alex Iadisernia and Justin Cassella elected to the All-Rookie Team in 2021.

 
Up Next

With a Phoenix win against Northeastern the Phoenix will play again at 7 p.m. on Friday against the winner of UNCW and Delaware. A loss for the Phoenix would see Elon play at either 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. on Friday with the opponent to be determined.