Following three straight victories, the Elon Phoenix (4-4) will play host to two games this weekend against Valparaiso (2-5) and Binghamton (2-4) before traveling on the road to face #1 Wake Forest (7-1) in the Wake Forest Tournament.
 
The Phoenix looks to continue their winning streak following a midweek win against local rival, UNCG, 6-3 in Greensboro. Elon will meet both Valpo and Binghamton for the first time on Friday and Saturday and will meet the Demon Deacons for the 106^th time on Sunday.
 
Game times for each of the games are as follows:
 
Game 1 vs. Valpo – 11:00 A.M. on Friday at Latham Park
Game 2 vs. Binghamton – 4:00 P.M. on Saturday at Latham Park
Game 3 @ Wake Forest – 2:00 P.M. on Sunday at David F. Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem
 

HOW TO FOLLOW

• Friday's game will not be streamed, but Saturday's game will be streamed on FloBaseball. Sunday's game against Wake Forest will be streamed on ACCNX behind a paid subscription.
• Live stats for the game will be available for all three games. Live stats can be reached by CLICKING HERE. This link will go to the Elon events page where all three games will be live.  
• Follow live updates on the Elon Baseball X account @ElonBaseball.

 
VALPO SERIES HISTORY

• This will be the first meeting all-time between the Phoenix and the Beacons.
• Elon most recently welcomed a Missouri Valley Conference foe when the Phoenix hosted Indiana State for a three-game series in 2020. Elon has played two other MVC schools in its history, facing both Bradley and Belmont.  

 
SCOUTING VALPO

• Valpo enters the Wake Forest Tournament with a 2-5 record coming off a series loss to #17 Alabama.
• The Beacons split their opening series with the Alabama State Hornets, in which they split a four-game series. The two wins came during a Saturday doubleheader with ASU in Montgomery, which saw the Beacons beat the Hornets by a combined 16-3.
• Valpo was picked to finish ninth in the MVC with NCAA Regional host Indiana State taking eight of the ten first place votes.
• Outfielder Ryan Maka was selected to the preseason all-MVC team prior to the season.
• Kyle Schmack enters the matchup with Elon leading the Beacons in both batting average and home runs.
• The Valpo lineup features three hitters that are batting over .300 with Schmack leading the way with a .333 average.
• Extra-base hits have come at a premium for the Beacons with Valpo registering 17 doubles in seven games and add five home runs as well.
• The pitching staff enters the tournament with an 8.77 ERA. Three pitchers have started twice with Lucas Foley leading the way. Foley has walked just one batter to 12 strikeouts so far this season in two starts.

 
BINGHAMTON SERIES HISTORY

• This will be the first all-time meeting between the Phoenix and the Bearcats.
• The Bearcats will be the second America East foe the Phoenix will play this season with Elon taking two out of three games against NJIT.

 
SCOUTING BINGHAMTON

• Binghamton enters the Wake Forest Tournament having just taken two out of three games against UNCG.
• The Bearcats enter the tournament 2-4 after falling in their first three games in a series loss to the University of Houston.
• The first 14 games for Binghamton will be away from Vestal, N.Y. with the Bearcats traveling to East Tennessee State and Virginia Tech before a weekend series against VMI.
• Tim Sinicki leads the Bearcats for the 32^nd season at the helm. He has led Binghamton to five NCAA Regional appearances since 2009. Sinicki enters the tournament with 679 career wins. Combining Mike Kennedy and Sinicki, the two have coached at one university for a combined 60 years and have 1,519 wins.
• Binghamton are currently 17^th in the nation in triples with four as a club and ninth in triples per game.
• The Bearcats are averaging 4.3 runs per game and are allowing just 8.46 hits per nine innings which is tops in the America East Conference.
• Bearcat pitching has been great to start the season, with both strikeouts-per-nine innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio are both in the top 100 nationally.
• Mike Gunning leads the Bearcats in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage to start the year. Out of his nine hits, five have been for extra-bases with three home runs and two triples.
• The combination of Driscoll, Bates and Berkwich have been the consistent weekend starters. Each of them has gone 8.1 innings on the mound with Driscoll leading among qualified starters with a 3.24 ERA. Opponents are batting just .242 against Binghamton with the Bearcats strikeout-to-walk ratio being better than 2:1.
• Binghamton was projected as the favorite in the America East conference making them the preseason favorites two years running.

 
WAKE FOREST SERIES HISTORY

• The Phoenix and the Demon Deacons will meet for the 106^th time on Sunday, making Wake Forest Elon's most played Power Five opponent.
• Dating back to 1909, the Demon Deacons have been a common midweek opponent throughout Mike Kennedy's tenure as head coach.
• Elon and Wake Forest met twice last in a home-and-home series with the home team taking each matchup.
• Wake Forest got the best of Elon in Winston-Salem, but then Elon claimed their first win over a #2 ranked team ever with a 5-3 win at Latham Park. The Phoenix used four fifth inning runs to take down the Demon Deacons for their highest ranked win since 2002.

SCOUTING WAKE FOREST

• Wake Forest enters the matchup with Elon as the consensus #1 team in the country in every poll. Of the five major college baseball polls, the Deacs were #1 in all of them despite losing two first round picks in Rhett Lowder and Brock Wilken.
• A season ago, the Demon Deacons had their most successful baseball season since 1955 when the won the College World Series. Wake finished with a third-place finish in Omaha coming one game short of the three-game series final.
• The Demon Deacons enter the tournament with a 7-1 record. The Demon Deacons lost a midweek game to UNCG last Tuesday, 4-3 in Greensboro.
• Wake has won both of their weekend series in sweeping fashion, most recently coming off a sweep of the Dayton Flyers.
• On Tuesday, Wake bested CAA-foe North Carolina A&T on the road, 12-1. Wake Forest used seven runs in the first two innings to run away from A&T thanks to extra-base hits from Austin Hawke and Jack Winnay.
• Wake Forest's calling card has been their pitching with their rotation of Josh Hartle, Chase Burns and Michael Massey all earning Preseason All-America Honors by D1 Baseball. The Demon Deacon pitching staff is third in the nation in hits-per-nine innings and third in WHIP as a pitching staff.
• Chase Burns is 16^th in the nation in strikeouts with 18 while Michael Massey is top-10 in the ACC in strikeouts with 13. Each Wake Forest starter is 2-0 which puts each of them in a tie for sixth in the nation in victories.
• Both Nick Kurtz and Seaver King were selected to multiple preseason All-American lists with Nick Kurtz being selected as the preseason Player of the Year in the ACC.
• The Deacs were selected as the preseason favorite in the ACC Atlantic Division over both Clemson and NC State.

 
GRANATELL NAMED CAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Junior outfielder Charlie Granatell was named the CAA Player of the Week by the conference Monday afternoon. Granatell earns his first CAA Player of the Week award following a single CAA Rookie of the Week award and being named to the CAA All-Rookie Team in 2022.
• Granatell finished the opening weekend against Navy batting 10-for-15 (.667). The ten hits were the most hits in a series for Granatell in his career.
• Granatell produced the second four-hit game of his career on Saturday and secured two doubles on Sunday. The Franklin Lakes, N.J. native picked up a pair of two-baggers in the same game for the fourth time in his career.

 
ELON IN THE RANKINGS

• The Phoenix finished their first eight games as one of the hottest hitting teams in college baseball.
• Elon ranks ninth in the nation in hits with 106 entering the three-game tournament. The Phoenix have secured double-digit hits in every game so far this season.
• The Phoenix is the top scoring team in the CAA and top 20 in the nation averaging nearly 11 runs per game (10.8).
• Elon ranks 20^th in the nation as a team in batting average, averaging .343 as a club.
• As a team, the Phoenix lead the Coastal in slugging percentage and are top 50 in the nation.
• Charlie Granatell ranks fifth in the nation in doubles per game and is top-20 in the nation in hits per game at over two a contest.
• Ryan Sprock leads the CAA in RBIs having driven in 15 runs in eight games so far this season. He is over halfway to matching his total of 25 last season. Sprock has also been the toughest strikeout in the nation having failed to be punched out so far this season.
• Justin Mitrovich is fourth in the nation in strikeouts with 20 following an 11-strikeout performance against NJIT last Friday. Mitrovich is also 26^th in the nation in WHIP while everyone above #19 has pitched fewer innings.

 
               
ELON WELCOMES IMPACT TRANSFERS

• Head coach Mike Kennedy and the Elon baseball program have announced the arrival of eight transfers to booster the 2024 Elon baseball roster.
• The eight transfers coming into the program include four pitchers, one catcher, two outfielders and one two-way player. Two of the incoming players hail from North Carolina "Big Four" schools, Duke and UNC. Two players join the Phoenix following stints at the JUCO level and one joins from Division III.
• A pair of players will join Elon following break out seasons and careers in the CAA. Tank Yaghoubi will join the Phoenix after a standout freshman season at William & Mary while Shane Paradine joins the program following four years at Stony Brook. 

 
ELON IN THE PROS                                                  

• Elon has seen a number of players be called up to the Big Leagues within the past two seasons, including a pair of teammates from the 2019 CAA Regular Season Championship team. George Kirby and Ty Adcock currently both representing the Seattle Mariners.
• Kirby became Elon's first baseball player to represent his club at the MLB All-Star game since Tom Brewer was selected during the 1956 season. Kirby was dominate for Seattle during the 2023 season, finishing with 13 wins for the Mariners.
• The Rye, N.Y. native finished the season with the 13th lowest ERA in the majors at just 3.35, finished third in the MLB in WHIP at 1.04. Kirby has become known for his ability to not walk batters with a walks per nine inning rate of just 0.9. This lead the majors and was the lowest walks per nine in the major leagues since Clayton Kershaw finished the season with a 0.8 rate in 2016.
• The Phoenix also features two relievers in the Bigs with John Brebbia and Ty Adcock. Adcock made his debut for the Mariners on June 12, 2023, and made nine appearances out of the bullpen before allowing a run.
• Brebbia has been the majors for six seasons after making his debut with St.Louis in 2017. Brebbia lead the majors in appearances during the 2022 season with 76 appearances featuring 11 starts for the San Francisco Giants.

 
JUSTIN MITROVICH CLIMBS THE HILL       

• Starter Justin Mitrovich returns to the Phoenix following an outstanding freshman campaign in the maroon & gold.
• The right-hander put in another stunning performance on Friday night against the NJIT Highlanders. Mitrovich once again went seven innings and struck out a career-high 11 batters on just 91 pitches. His game score of 81 ranked as the sixth highest in college baseball Friday night,
• Mitrovich started the 2024 season on a very high note. Against Navy, the right-hander matched career highs to that point, in innings and strikeouts, fanning nine batters in seven innings of work. He earned his first win of the campaign, leading Elon to a 10-2 victory over the Midshipmen.
• During his freshman campaign, Mitrovich finished with a record of 7-4 in 14 starts and an ERA of 3.68. He finished in the top-10 among CAA pitchers in nine different categories and finished in the top-five in wins, runs allowed, earned runs allowed, and home runs allowed. The freshman finished with 66 strikeouts, ranked second among freshman in the league. His seven wins were tied for third in the CAA.
• Mitrovich was one of three CAA freshman to make both D1 Baseball and Baseball America lists. The Yardley, P.A. native was joined by Northeastern freshmen Aiven Cabral and Cam Maldonado as CAA first years to be mentioned to both teams. The right-hander joins Alex Iadisernia and Shea Sprague as freshman all-Americans. This marks three straight years where the Phoenix have had a freshman all-American.
• The sophomore earned a Preseason All-CAA selection as a starter for the 2024 season. This marks the seventh consecutive season that the Phoenix have produced a preseason All-CAA starting pitcher.

 
BRINGING THE LUMBER

• The Phoenix enters the Wake Forest Tournament having won 30 of their last 34 games when outhitting their opponents.
• Against NJIT, the Phoenix scored a Latham Park record with 27 runs against the Highlanders. The 27 came in large part due to a 12-run seventh inning that featured grand slams from both Kenny Mallory Jr. and Will Vergantino.
• Elon's seven runs against the Tar Heels are the most runs scored by a Phoenix squad against Carolina since May of 2010.
• Against Navy, the Elon bats caught fire all three days with the 42 hits being the most to open a season since 2015.
• Elon's 30 runs are the most in an opening series since the Phoenix hung 34 runs on Penn State to open the 2015 campaign.
• Elon brings back Ryan Sprock and Charlie Granatell who finished in the top 5 on the team in qualified batting average a season ago.
• Connor Offshack returns for the Phoenix following a .310 batting average season a year ago. Offshack made 27 starts and finished the season with 11 extra-base hits and 17 RBI. 

 

KENNEDY EYES HISTORY                

• Elon's head coach is just 10 wins away from his 850th win as the skipper of the Elon baseball program. If Coach Mike Kennedy surpasses 860 wins this season, he will enter a pantheonic list of coaches and enter the list of the top 100 winningest coaches in the history of Division I college baseball.
• The program's all-time winningest coach, he currently owns an all-time record of 840-657-3 (.561). The skipper is in his 28th season with the maroon and gold. The skipper has managed 1,500 games with the Phoenix, making him the longest tenured and winningest coach in Elon athletics.

 
 
PHOENIX SELECTS TEAM CAPTAINS FOR 2024  

• Connor Offshack and Liam Dabagian were selected as team captains for the 2024 season, voted by their teammates.
• "We are excited to name both Liam Dabagian and Connor Offshack our team captains for the 2024 season. These two have been selected by their teammates and I believe that shows how they are respected in the clubhouse. They both have strong character and represent Elon baseball very well on and off the field. "

 
UP NEXT

• Elon will play four straight games at Latham Park, welcoming Longwood in on Tuesday for a midweek matchup. First pitch against Longwood will be at 4:00 P.M.