William and Mary (21-12, 5-1 CAA) won two out of three games Saturday and Sunday afternoon in Harrisonburg, Va. for a series win against conference opponent James Madison.
The final score of the first game of Saturday’s double-header was 13-5, with multiple players contributing to the win. In the second game, however, the College fell short and lost 9-8. In the series finale Sunday, the Tribe trounced the Dukes 24-6.
During the first game, senior first baseman Kevin Nutter, junior right fielder Nick Thompson, and senior second baseman Ryan Lindemuth each scored three runs for the College. Senior third baseman Kevin Casey scored two runs, while freshman shortstop Tim Hoehn and senior center fielder Derek Lowe scored one run apiece.
At the end of the first inning Saturday, the Tribe was up 1-0 before JMU came back and tied the game. However, by the fourth inning the College had scored eight runs and taken a 9-1 lead. In the eighth inning, Hoehn scored the team’s tenth run; the College added three more runs to the scoreboard in the ninth. Despite scoring four more runs by the end of the ninth inning, the Dukes were unable to catch up.
Unfortunately, the College was unable to mirror its strong first game performance in the second game and lost by a single run.
JMU scored a run in the first inning and the Tribe retaliated with two runs in the second, taking a 2-1 lead. In the third and fourth innings, JMU responded with four runs to retake the lead 5-2. The College came back again with two runs of their own, closing the gap to 5-4. In the eighth inning, the Tribe retook the lead again, adding two more runs thanks to Casey and sophomore designated hitter Ryan Hissey. In the top of the ninth, the College scored two more runs to stretch its lead to 8-6. However, in the bottom of the ninth the Dukes came back with three runs of their own, winning the game 9-8.
Over the course of the final game, the Tribe amassed an incredible 24 runs. In the first inning, the College managed to score six runs with runs coming from Thompson, Lindemuth, junior Michael Katz, Hissey, Casey, and Nutter. In the third inning, the Tribe scored an additional seven runs to make the score 13-2. The Tribe added three more runs in the fifth inning and an additional two in the sixth. JMU responded with three runs to leave the score 18-5 at the end of the sixth. In another high-scoring inning, the Tribe brought in six more runs in the top of the seventh, the team’s final runs of the game. Katz, Lowe, and Hissey each drove in four runs during the game.
The College will play again at home this Tuesday, April 15 against Old Dominion at Plumeri Park. The game starts at 7 p.m.