Elon N.C.- Following their final out-of-state road trip, the Elon Phoenix (17-26, 6-12 CAA) return to Latham Park and welcome the William & Mary Tribe (26-19, 9-9 CAA) in the penultimate home conference series.
 
This is a crucial stretch for the Phoenix as Elon will finish its last ten games in the state of North Carolina with seven of the games coming at Latham Park. Six of the final nine conference games will be against teams who are ahead of the Phoenix in the CAA standings with North Carolina A&T being one game behind Elon in the standings.

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.

WILLIAM & MARY SERIES HISTORY

• Elon leads the all-time series with William & Mary, 22-19.
• The two schools faced off in Williamsburg last season. The Tribe took both games one and three to take the season series for the third consecutive season.
• The last time Elon beat the Tribe, former Phoenix Shea Sprague delivered a combined shutout performance as the Phoenix defeated the Tribe, 8-0. In the game, outfielder Adam Berry had his first career Elon home run.
• Elon and William & Mary have met in three of the last four CAA Tournaments with the Phoenix prevailing all three times.
• In 2022, the Phoenix defeated the Tribe 6-3 in the CAA Tournament at Latham Park, despite the fact William & Mary had swept the Phoenix at Latham just a week prior.
• Over the last three seasons, the two have met 14 times and faced off six times in the 2021 season alone.
• The series history was dominated by the Tribe early with the first meeting between the two coming in 1916. Elon saw a 10-game winning streak in the series stretching from 2018-2021.

 
SCOUTING WILLIAM & MARY

• William & Mary enters the matchup with the Phoenix with a 26-19 record with a 9-9 record in CAA play.
• The Tribe got off to a strong start in CAA play collecting an 8-4 record through their first 12 games. Two series against the CAAs two best teams saw just one win in six games which now has the Tribe as the final playoff seed.
• The Tribe faced off with the North Carolina Tar Heels last night and the Heels made quick work of W&M in seven innings. Carolina jumped on the Tribe with a 19-2 win in Chapel Hill with all 19 runs coming in the first four innings.
• Ben Parker has led the Tribe at the plate with a .351 batting average and appearing in every game this season while starting 44.
• Joe Delossantos has been the teams most potent offensive threat with 11 home runs and 44 RBIs on the year. Delossantos also leads the Tribe in stolen bases with 15.
• The one-two punch on the mound of Zack Potts and Nate Knowles has been lethal on the mound for the Tribe. The two have combined for a 12-4 record in 24 starts with Knowles making 15 starts on the season. Knowles leads the CAA in strikeouts with 83 on the season in just 56.1 innings pitched.
• William & Mary has a team ERA of 4.51 while their opponent ERA is 1.5 runs higher at 6.01.
• The Tribe has a batting average of .266 as a team to go along with 64 doubles and 49 home runs. William & Mary has only surrendered 25 home runs as a pitching staff this season. Seven members of the Tribe have an on-base percentage of over .400 with the collective team OBP at .406.
• Mike McRae is in his third season at William & Mary. He has a record of 84-67 with the Tribe following three seasons at Niagara and 13 seasons at Canisius. His overall record as a head coach is 554-489.  

 
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.

 
BRINGING THE LUMBER

• The Phoenix have homered in four straight games coming into the series with Northeastern. Elon put up four home runs in the rain against the Hawks last Sunday to tie their highest homer output of the season.
• Six players have at least 20 RBIs with Charlie Granatell leading the way with 33 RBIs. Kenny Mallory Jr. and Ryan Sprock are right on his heels with 31 and 32 respectively.
• The Phoenix put together two walk-off victories in back-to-back home games. Elon walked off game three against UMass and game one against Minnesota thanks to singles from Will Vergantino and Shane Paradine.
• Elon scored five runs in the second inning against Wofford last month month. The five runs mark the 12^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 five grand slams in non-conference play. Elon averages right at one grand slam every five 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 were 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                

• 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 853-679-3 (.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

• Elon will finish their midweek slate of games this Tuesday when the High Point Panthers head to Latham Park. First pitch with High Point will be at 6 pm.