College Baseball Preview: Elon at William & Mary

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (Interstat) — The Elon Phoenix and William & Mary Tribe meet Saturday afternoon at Plumeri Park in a pivotal Colonial Athletic Association series finale, with both teams searching for momentum in the middle of the regular season.

William & Mary (19-23, 5-5 CAA) enters with a slight edge in the standings and the confidence of a series-opening shutout Friday night. The Tribe rolled to a 9-0 victory at North Carolina A&T on April 26, their third consecutive win by double-digit runs. Third baseman Matthew Kosuda powered the offense, going 5-for-5 with three RBIs.

Elon (17-26, 4-6) arrives after dropping a non-conference series to UNC Wilmington, including an 8-1 loss Sunday. The Phoenix have lost 10 of their last 12 overall and sit near the bottom of the league standings.

Players to Watch

RJ Latkowski, P, Elon: The Phoenix reliever has been wildly inconsistent. In his most recent appearance against UNC Wilmington (April 26), he threw a scoreless inning with one strikeout. But two outings prior, against Winthrop (April 21), he allowed four earned runs without recording an out. In his lone appearance against William & Mary this season (April 10), Latkowski surrendered four earned runs on one hit over 0.2 innings in a 9-6 loss.

Tom Bourque, P, William & Mary: The Tribe right-hander is coming off a dominant performance, firing four scoreless innings of two-hit ball with two strikeouts in the 9-0 win at North Carolina A&T on April 26. He has allowed just one earned run over his last seven innings. Bourque did struggle against Elon on April 12, allowing five earned runs in 1.1 innings, but rebounded with a scoreless inning in a 13-1 win over the Phoenix the following day.

Series History

The teams split a three-game series at Elon earlier this month. William & Mary won the opener 9-6 on April 10, then dropped the middle game 9-4 on April 12 before routing the Phoenix 13-1 on April 11. Friday’s series opener at Plumeri Park was won by William & Mary, 4-0.

Forecast & Projection

First pitch is scheduled for the afternoon under cloudy skies with temperatures around 66 degrees.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a 6-3 victory for William & Mary.

Up Next

The series concludes Sunday with the same two teams facing off at Plumeri Park. William & Mary then hosts George Mason on Tuesday, while Elon travels to South Carolina Upstate for a midweek game.