Elon, N.C.- Elon baseball (7-9) marches back into Latham Park following a midweek loss to High Point to welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-7) to the Carolinas.
 
Elon and Minnesota meet for just the second time ever with the two facing off for the first time since 2014. Elon won the only matchup between the two in a 5-2 win in Conway, S.C.
 
Coach Mike Kennedy and John Anderson are two of the most tenured head coaches in Division I college baseball. The two skippers have combined for 71 seasons managing their programs and for 2,215 wins between both Kennedy and Anderson.


HOW TO FOLLOW

• This weekend's games will be streamed on FloBaseball behind a paid subscription.
• Live stats can be reached by CLICKING HERE. All three games can be reached by clicking the link.  
• Follow live updates on the Elon Baseball X account @ElonBaseball.
• This weekend's games can also be heard for free on the Varsity Network App or by CLICKING HERE. The Dugout Show hosted by Taylor Durham will begin 15 minutes prior to first pitch. 

 
MINNESOTA SERIES HISTORY
 

• Elon leads the all-time series over Minnesota, 1-0.
• The two teams have faced off one time previously in 2014.
• The Phoenix and Golden Gophers played in the Chanticleer Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Phoenix finished 2-1 in the tournament with the win over Minnesota and a win over UMBC.
• Elon defeated Minnesota, 5-2 in their first game of the Chanticleer Classic. Elon allowed two first inning runs to the Gophers but responded with five unanswered runs to secure the victory.
• Ryan Cooper, Andy Moore, and Nick Zammarelli finished with multi-hit games with Zammarelli adding a triple to his tally.
• Starter Lucas Bakker tossed a complete game allowing five hits and no earned runs while striking out six.

 
SCOUTING MINNESOTA

• Minnesota enters the matchup with the Phoenix 7-7 having placed a coast-to-coast schedule to begin the season.
• The Golden Gophers are coming off a 5-1 victory Wednesday night over St. Olaf College in their home opener in Minneapolis.
• Their most recent weekend series came against Gonzaga on the road, in Spokane. Gonzaga took two out of three against the Golden Gophers with Minnesota taking the result last Friday night, 8-5.
• Minnesota in 0-2 against the CAA this season facing off against Northeastern in Fort Myers, FL last month.
• Kris Hokenson leads the Golden Gophers in the batter's box with a .357 average. His 15 hits and four doubles are both second the team.
• Ike Mezzenga has led Minnesota on the power side at the plate. His .293 average is second on the team and leads the team in both homers (4) and RBIs (13).
• Minnesota was picked outside of the top six in the Big Ten preseason poll. Brady Counsell, Weber Neels and Connor Wietgrefe were slated to the Big Ten Preseason Honors list.
• Earlier this week, Kyle Remington was honored as the Big Ten co-Freshman of the week. The Grand Rapids, Mich. native pitched 3.1 innings of relief for the Gophers, striking out six of the 13 batters he faced. He did not allow a run in two appearances, giving up just one walk and two hits. Remington held opponents to a measly .167 average against him for the week.
• Head Coach John Anderson announced that he will retire after his 43^rd season with the Minnesota baseball program. His 1,372 wins are the third most of any active head coach and his 43 seasons are the most of any active coach in Division I.

 
GRANATELL EARNS FIRST 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 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 Yardley, Pa. native claimed his second win of the season against UMass last Friday. Mitrovich went six innings on the mound earning the win and struck out ten batters while surrendering just three hits to the Minutemen.
• The right-hander put in another stunning performance 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.
• The Phoenix have outscored opponents by 12 runs on the season when Mitrovich starts on the mound.

 
BRINGING THE LUMBER

• Elon put together two more double-digit run performances against UMass. Elon is now second in the CAA in scoring and second in runs behind Campbell.
• The trio of Charlie Granatell, Ryan Sprock and Kenny Mallory Jr. have combined for 25 hits so far this season. They are in a three-way tie for first in the conference in hits and in terms of trios they are the lone combination of hitters to all be within the top 40 in hits in the nation. They are the third highest hitting trio (75) in the nation behind a trio from Georgia (79) and UVA (76).
• After scoring 11 runs against Longwood, Elon registered their fifth game of the season with double-digit runs. The Phoenix reached 100 runs in their 12^th game of the season, while in 2023 it took the Phoenix until the 18^th game to reach that number.
• The Phoenix have clubbed four grand slams in 12 home games to start that year. Elon averages right at one grand slam every three games.
• 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 seven 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 843-663-3 (.560). The skipper is in his 28th season with the maroon and gold. Against UNCG this season, Kennedy managed his 1,500^th game 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
 

• The Phoenix welcomes the Pirates of East Carolina for a midweek matchup on Tuesday. First pitch between Elon and East Carolina will be at 4 pm.