ELON, N.C. – The Elon University baseball team is no stranger to the greatest feeling in all of sports: winning. 

But what stuck out most to head coach Mike Kennedy throughout preparing for the 2024 season was not simply one player or asset to the team. It was the collective effort and the club's chemistry that he's seen get stronger every day.

"These guys really get along well and they spend a lot of time together and it's all positive energy," Kennedy said. "I think they're developing. They root for each other and put the team first, so I hope that continues to go that way. It seems to me they have a shared interest in doing well, no matter who does it."

In the 2023 regular season, the Phoenix went 32-20 overall and 19-9 in conference play, finishing second place in the CAA, only a game shy of first. The team also picked up three wins over ranked opponents during the course of the season – No. 17 NC State, No. 2 Wake Forest and No. 8 Campbell. 

Sophomore Ryan Sprock said being part of such a successful team last season continues to add to the motivation for this year. 

"It's a driving force, just to see what we can do when we play our games like that," Sprock said. "We know that if we show up to the yard and just do things the right way, we can beat anyone on any given day. It's an encouraging factor going into this year. If we are able to step up and do what we know we can do, then we're going to be pretty damn good."

However, the makeup of this squad is much different than last year's group. Due to a combination of graduation, the transfer portal and the MLB draft, the Elon pitching staff lost some key contributors this offseason, a combination of 271.2 innings pitched, or roughly 30 nine-inning games. 

On the other hand, the Phoenix welcomed a new pitching coach this offseason to help bolster the pitching staff in Jamie Serber, who previously spent eight seasons with North Carolina A&T, as well as 16 new players – eight transfers and eight freshmen – who are ready to step up and get the job done. 

"There's a lot of guys who really haven't pitched a ton at this level, and that's the challenge for [coach Serber], to blend those guys in and try to get them all on the same page with his style and what he teaches," Kennedy said. "Anytime there's changes, there's challenges. It takes time. They'll get better as they gain experience. It's just for us to trust what he does and buy into what he does."

Having 16 new players on a team of 39 might seem difficult to navigate, but Kennedy applauded the leadership of the upperclassmen who helped make their transition smooth.

"That's the state of college baseball now, you're going to have to be able to manage kids coming and going and having new kids pretty regularly," Kennedy said. "That's going to be a challenge. But I think for us, the positive side of that is that our veteran guys and our older guys that are here. Liam Dabagian, Connor Offshack, Will Vergantino, those guys have all been very welcoming to these kids. They have really taken them in and made it feel like home and shown them the way."

Among the transfers, Elon added redshirt freshman Vince Fattore from Duke and redshirt sophomore Justin Szestowicki from North Carolina. The Phoenix also added former CAA opponents in graduate student Shane Paradine, who transferred from Stony Brook, and sophomore Tank Yaghoubi, who was named to the CAA-All Rookie team and transferred from William & Mary. 

The Phoenix also added four pitchers, five including two-way player Szestowicki, with a variety of previous experience. Even with added members, Sprock said the team continues to preach its same philosophy.

"The culture and the message hasn't changed at all," Sprock said. "Everything that was preached last year and in years before I got here is still the same from the coaching staff and everyone else involved with the team – that excellence is expected in all aspects and that we expect a lot of ourselves and our teammates as a group, no matter who we're throwing out there."

Sophomore Justin Mitrovich echoed Sprock, and said he has been impressed with the team's work ethic day in and day out. 

"We go about our work in a really professional way," Mitrovich said. "We get there as early as possible for practice, everyone's doing extra work leading up to practice. Even in games, people are showing up early, way earlier than the time for stretching, to get their extra work in prior to even starting. The attention to detail that they take out of their day to constantly work on their free time to make themselves better is a big part of this year."

Another aspect for Phoenix fans to be excited about is this squad's offensive prowess. The Phoenix, who already had a strong offense last season, have continued to become better and better, seemingly with every at-bat this season.

"This team's going to hit," Sprock said. "That's what we've depicted from day one, once we saw even our first intersquad in the fall, we could tell that it's going to be a group that can swing it."

Through its first seven games of the 2024 season, the Phoenix has scored a total of 80 runs. The offense has gone so far as breaking a record last weekend, scoring 27 runs in a game, the most ever scored at Latham Park. Juniors Kenny Mallory Jr. and Charlie Granatell boast  team high .591 and .531 batting averages, respectively. 

Sprock has also been a standout this season with a .464 batting average and team-high 13 RBI, following up on a fantastic freshman campaign in which he batted .333 with 25 RBI to earn a spot on the CAA All-Rookie team. Kennedy said he continues to be impressed with Sprock's ability at the plate. 

"He doesn't miss any pitches," Kennedy said. "If you make a mistake, he can really make you pay for it. He can hit anything to both sides of the field."

Prior to this season's start, Sprock was tabbed as an All-CAA honorable mention, but said he is not focused on individual achievements but rather the success of the team.

"It's always nice to see some recognition but at the end of the day, I don't think that's what we really are striving for," Sprock said. "For me personally, there's some self expectations and self goals, there's nothing wrong with that, but I think as a unit, we're just going out there trying to win baseball games trying to get as far as we can as a team. And if we do that, if we set our attention on that, then the accolades and recognition will come on its own." 

On the mound, Phoenix ace Mitrovich has also picked up two CAA honors himself, being named to the All-CAA Rookie Team after posting a 3.38 ERA over 56 innings in his freshman campaign and the All-CAA Preseason Team this season.

"The biggest thing for me to take away from last year was just going deeper into games," Mitrovich said. "I had a couple of times where I felt like I let the team down in a sense. I feel like I could have went deeper into a game and gotten us a win. I know some starts are going to be better than others, it's just the way baseball is, but if I can go out there and give us a good shot every time and extend how deep I go into games, I think I'll put myself in a better spot."

So far, Mitrovich has done just that, pitching two absolute gems for the Phoenix at seven innings apiece.

"I just really want to help the team win," Mitrovich added. "If I can put my team in a good winning spot, good things can happen."

Not to mention the 20 strikeouts and a 0.64 ERA he's picked up along the way.

"He's probably one of the tougher kids I've ever coached," Kennedy said. "He hates to lose and he really gets after it, works extremely hard so that he doesn't put himself in that position."

Mitrovich, Sprock and Kennedy all have the same overall goal in mind – winning the CAA championship and getting a chance at making a splash in Omaha in the NCAA Tournament.

"The number one goal is to win conference championships and keep playing ball for as long as we can," Sprock said. "We want to win as many games as we possibly can, even though it comes down to taking it one game at a time, but the goal is really just to see how far the team can go and see how far along we can take ourselves."

THREE THINGS TO KNOW:

THE KENNEDY LEGACY
The winningest head coach in Elon baseball and Elon athletics' entirety, this season will mark Kennedy's 28th leading the team. He needs 11 more wins this season in order to hit 850 total wins, which would add another feather to his cap in an illustrious career. 

FRESH FACES
The Phoenix welcomed 16 new members to the squad in the offseason, made up of eight transfers and eight freshmen. 

STAYING CLOSE TO HOME
Through the first portion of the season, Elon only plays in the state of North Carolina. The Phoenix will play its first out-of-state game March 26 against USC Upstate before traveling to Stony Brook April 5-7 for a series against the Seawolves.
 

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'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.

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