Elon N.C.- Following their series victory over North Carolina A&T, the Elon Phoenix (21-29, 10-14 CAA) return to Latham Park and welcome the College of Charleston Cougars (36-12, 18-5 CAA) in the final home conference series.
 
This is a series for the Phoenix, who currently sit ninth in the CAA standings, that with the right results could see them finish as high as fifth. Charleston comes to Elon with a chance to claim their second CAA regular season title in three years.
 
Game 1: Thursday, 4:00 PM, Mitrovich vs. Hunter
Game 2: Friday, 6:00 PM, Straniero vs. Brink
Game 3: Saturday, 1:00 PM, TBA vs. Campbell
 
HOW TO FOLLOW

• This weekend's games will be streamed on FloBaseball behind a paid subscription.
• The link to all live stats for Elon Baseball can be reached by CLICKING HERE.
• You can find every Elon home game on the Varsity Network App or by following this link. The dugout show with the Voice of the Phoenix, Taylor Durham, will begin 15 minutes prior to first pitch.
• Follow live updates on the Elon Baseball X account @ElonBaseball.

COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON SERIES HISTORY

• Elon trails the all-time series with College of Charleston, 32-41.
• The Phoenix took three of four games against CofC last season including a victory over the Cougars in Patriot's Point in the CAA Tournament.
• In the last matchup, Elon put Charleston out of the CAA Tournament with a 10-5 victory, vaulting the Phoenix into the CAA Semifinals. Former Elon catcher, Parker Haskin finished with a four-hit day and James Broderick's RBI triple all but sealed the win.
• The two first met for a three-game series in 1998 that was won by the Cougars. Both have been members of the same conference, the SoCon and CAA since 2004 despite one season following Charleston's departure from the SoCon in 2014.
• All matchups against the Cougars have come under Mike Kennedy's leadership.

 
SCOUTING COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON

• College of Charleston enters the matchup with Phoenix with a 36-12 record with an 18-5 record in conference play.
• Charleston has been on a rampant pace in CAA play, winning 17 of their last 20 conference games and taking seven straight CAA series. Their last series loss was to North Carolina A&T where the Aggies took two out three games in Patriot's Point.
• Will Baumhofer leads the way in batting average and stolen bases for the Cougars. His .359 average leads the team, and his 16 base swipes tops the club list.
• Four different players have at least 10 home runs with Cole Singsank leading the way with 16. Singsank was awarded CAA Player of the Week last week and earned two other national awards following his performance against Northeastern.
• The top returning hitter from last season is Cole Mathis, batting .316 with 11 home runs and a team leading 49 RBIs.
• All three starters for the Cougars have the same ERA at 3.31. Friday night starter Aidan Hunter has appeared in 14 games to lead qualified pitchers.
• Head Coach Chad Holbrook is in his seventh season in the Holy City. Holbrook has already claimed his fifth season in Charleston with 35+ wins and 35+ in three straight years.

 
GRANATELL EARNS FIRST CAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Junior outfielder Charlie Granatell was named the CAA Player of the Week by the conference following his week one performance. 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. 
• Paradine has been a spark for the Phoenix at first base. He finished these past two weeks batting .389 over five games against Minnesota, ECU, and UNCW.

 
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.
• In his new Saturday role, Mitrovich thrived against the Hofstra Pride. Mitrovich was back to throwing seven innings for the Phoenix, limited the Pride to a solo run on just three hits. Mitrovich finished with six punchouts to a single walk and is now second in the CAA in strikeouts with 66.
• Mitrovich yielded another strong performance against Minnesota. Mitrovich allowed just one unearned run against the Golden Gophers while striking out eight and walking just two.
• His money pitch has been the changeup. Entering this weekend, Mitrovich has the fifth highest whiff rate in the country on the changeup producing a whiff rate at 55%.
• 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.

KENNEDY EYES HISTORY                

• Head coach Mike Kennedy became the 160^th coach in college baseball history to surpass 850 career wins following Elon's victory over Hofstra on Sunday. Kennedy ranks 20^th among active coaches in Division I in all-time wins.
• The program's all-time winningest coach, he currently owns an all-time record of 857-682-3 (.557). 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 CAA Tournament begins in Wilmington, N.C. on Wednesday, May 22.