College Catch-Up: How Braves players have done in April
The NCAA college baseball season is upon us, and, for fans of the Cape Cod Baseball League, that means summer baseball is almost here.
The back-to-back reigning champion Bourne Braves currently has 42 players on its anticipated Opening Day roster.
Through April the Braves roster features 15 players on teams represented in the USA TODAY Sports Baseball Coaches Poll.
Here is a check-in on how some of this season’s Braves are faring in the month of April.
General manager Darin Weeks announced the release of Hugh Pinkney (Rutgers), Griffin Stieg (Virginia Tech), Cam Nelson (Wake Forest), and AJ Shepard (Indiana) while adding RHP Cooper Dossett (Arkansas), RHP Taylor Faye (Alabama), LHP Justin LeGuernic (Clemson), outfielder Davis Gillespie (Southern Miss), LHP Connor Hults (Florida State), and RHP John Abraham (Florida State).
RHP Aidan Knaak (Clemson) went 2-0 in three starts in April for the Tigers. Following a seven-inning, nine-strikeout no-decision against Notre Dame, the freshman has thrown 13.2 scoreless innings—allowing six hits and three walks while striking out 18. His ERA is 2.59 in 10 starts on the year.
When the weather warms up, so too do the bats. That’s been the case for Caden Sorrell (Texas A&M) as three of his four home runs came in April. From April 9 through April 27, Sorrell drove in 15 runs. That stretch includes a 2-for-5 performance against Alabama to go with two runs scored, and five RBI as well as a 4-for-4 game against Houston when he was a homer shy of the cycle.
Speaking of warm weather, Isaiah Jackson (Arizona State) enjoyed his time in sunny southern California during a three-game series against the Trojans. Jackson went 6-for-12 in the series with two homers, three RBI, five runs scored, and a stolen base for the Sun Devils.
Gabe Gaeckle (Arkansas) closed out April in dominating fashion. The freshman made six appearances, throwing 14.1 innings, allowing five hits, one earned run, and issuing four walks while striking out 16. He hasn’t given up a run since an April 6 appearance at home against Ole Miss.
The hits keep coming—often in bunches—for Caden Bodine (Coastal Carolina). Bodine went hitless just four times in 16 April games. He amassed seven multi-hit games while driving in 16 runs during that stretch. On the season, Bodine has walked 26 times while striking out 17 times—a testament to his plate discipline.
His Chanticleers teammate, Blake Barthol, has been equally impressive at the plate. Barthol rattled off four multi-hit games in April to bring his season stats to 56 hits with 14 home runs, 14 doubles, 49 RBI, 55 runs scored, and a .327 average.
After not pitching through the fifth inning in his first five starts of the season, Nolan Sparks (Rochester) has become a bit of a workhorse. He’s pitched 23 innings in his last three starts, including a complete-game, three-hit shutout on the road against Clarkson that included nine punchouts. Sparks ended the month with an eight-inning, 15-strikeout performance against RIT on April 26.
RHP Griffin Hugus (Cincinnati) returned to action late in April and has been another quality arm for the Bearcats. After not appearing in a game since March 2, Hugus threw an unblemished inning of work against Houston before making two appearances against UCF. The sophomore threw four innings and allowed two hits and one walk while striking out five.
Hugus’s teammate, Christian Mitchelle has been able to do it all in his first year with the Bearcats. After transferring from Central Michigan, Mitchelle has hit .306 with three homers and 16 RBI at the plate while posting a 3.86 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 30.1 innings this season.
Kodey Shojinaga (Kansas) continues to pile up hits for the Jayhawks. The infielder has 61 hits on the season—25 of which came in April. During a three-game home series with Pacific, Shojinaga went 11-for-17 with a homer, three doubles, six runs scored, and eight RBI.
