Elon, N.C.- Elon baseball (9-10) finishes its four-game homestand with a Tuesday night matchup with the #10 East Carolina Pirates (14-4). First pitch will be at 4 pm!
 
Elon took their first Power Five series win since the Phoenix defeated Penn State to open the 2015 season. The Phoenix took two out of three against Minnesota to go 8-7 at Latham Park to begin the season.
 
Gates will open 60 minutes prior to first pitch. Please arrive early to purchase tickets and ensure yourself a seat for this highly anticipated game. Tickets will be available for the standing area down the third base line of Latham Park once all seated tickets have been sold.

HOW TO FOLLOW

• This Tuesday's game will be streamed on FloBaseball behind a paid subscription.
• Tuesday's game will be streamed on the audio side on the Varsity Network App. You can listen to the game by CLICKING HERE. 
• Live stats can be reached by CLICKING HERE.
• Follow live updates on the Elon Baseball X account @ElonBaseball.

 
EAST CAROLINA SERIES HISTORY

• Elon trails the all-time series with East Carolina, 32-57-1.
• This will be the tenth straight season the Phoenix and Pirates have met for a non-conference midweek matchup.
• The series was dormant for 20 years before it was brought back by head coach Mike Kennedy in 1998.
• Elon and ECU met once last season in a result that ended in a 5-1 defeat for the Phoenix.
• The Phoenix last triumphed over the Pirates in 2021. Former Phoenix Spencer Bauer and Brian Edgington combined for nine innings of work against the Pirates including a season-high 14 strikeouts.
• Under head coach Mike Kennedy, the Phoenix have beaten a ranked ECU team six times. Four of those wins came at Latham Park.

 
SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA

• The East Carolina Pirates find themselves in the Top 10 of this week's D1 Baseball poll at #10.
• Coming into the matchup with Elon, East Carolina sits with a 14-4 record.
• ECU has won seven games in a row following a win over UNCW and most recently a weekend sweep over Columbia.
• The Pirates are 1-1 this season against the CAA with a win over UNCW and a loss to Campbell.
• Carter Cunningham paces the Pirates offensively with a .452 batting average with six home runs and 25 RBIs. He leads the AAC in multiple hitting categories and enters the matchup with the Phoenix with an 18-game hitting streak.
• As a pitching staff, the Pirates have a collective 3.60 ERA and have struck out 215 batters.
• Head coach Cliff Godwin owns 365 career wins and is second on the East Carolina all-time list in head coaching wins.

 
GRANATELL EARNS FIRST CAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Junior outfielder Charlie Granatell was named the CAA Player of the Week by the conference after the opening weekend against Navy. 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.
• Mitrovich yielded another strong performance against Minnesota last Friday. Mitrovich allowed just one unearned run against the Golden Gophers while striking out eight and walking just two.
• The Yardley, Pa. native claimed his second win of the season against UMass. 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.
• Elon scored six runs in the seventh inning against Minnesota on Sunday. The six runs mark the 11^th time the Phoenix have scored four-plus runs in an inning this season.
• 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 five 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 845-664-3 (.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 will hit the road for their CAA conference opening weekend series against the UNCW Seahawks.