Mike Kennedy, Elon Phoenix

Winning baseball continues to be the tradition for Mike Kennedy and the Elon Phoenix baseball as the skipper enters his 22nd season as head coach in 2017-18.

His previous 21 Elon Phoenix teams have collected 17 winning records and 15 campaigns of 30 or more victories, all while facing many of the country’s finest programs.

His 2006 squad set a school record with 45 victories while the 2008 team captured the program’s first NCAA Division I league tournament title. Kennedy’s program won four Southern Conference regular-season crowns as well as two league tournament titles.

With each victory tallied, Kennedy adds to his record for the most wins by an Elon Phoenix baseball coach, a mark he has been building upon since 2003. In his 21 seasons, Kennedy has guided the Elon Phoenix to 678 victories. In the last 19 seasons, Elon has recorded 27 victories over opponents ranked in the top 25. In his tenure, Kennedy has led his program to 53 victories over Atlantic Coast Conference opponents.

During the 2017 season, Kennedy saw his pitching staff toss a pair of no-hitters. Robbie Welhaf tossed the first, no-hitting Longwood for the program’s first no-no since 1989. Jordan Barrett and Kirby would later combine to no-hit College of Charleston for the first no-hitter ever thrown in the CAA Tournament. The pitching staff also established a new program record with 491 strikeouts. That squad boasted four all-conference players and two all-rookie selections, including the 2017 CAA Rookie of the Year in pitcher Kyle Brnovich. Brnovich also collected a pair of freshman All-America honors. Barrett would be drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2017 draft.

In 2016, the Phoenix’s second as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, Elon posted a 13-10 conference record to finish third. During the year, Elon defeated 16th-ranked East Carolina on the road, the program’s first win at ECU since 2007. Five Phoenix players earned All-CAA honors and two were named to the league’s all-rookie squad. Elon saw two players chosen in the 2016 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

Kennedy guided Elon in to its first season of play in the CAA in 2015. The Phoenix finished the year with a 13-11 league mark, finishing fourth in its first season in the CAA. Along the way, Elon claimed two victories over 22nd-ranked UNCW.

At the end of the year, Elon placed four players on the All-CAA squads and had one player named to the league’s all-rookie team while two players collected all-state accolades. Outfielder Ryan Cooper became just the seventh Elon player to ea...