Two of the William and Mary’s last three games needed extra innings to decide the outcome, but Sunday’s matchup against High Point didn’t even take a full nine. The Tribe (3-9) put down the Panthers (5-6) in a decisive 13-2 victory as it claimed its first weekend series victory of the season, 2-1.
After losing by fourteen runs in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Tribe was looking for redemption. It found that right away as starting pitcher freshman Jacob Haney quickly ran through four High Point batters at the top of the first, setting up the College to take the lead in the bottom of the inning. Junior infielder Nick Butts capitalized on that chance as he walked to first base, eventually tallying a run on a single from junior catcher Hunter Smith to open scoring and bring the game to 1-0. The Tribe added another run in the second inning as senior outfielder Luca Farina scored on a hit from freshman infielder Matt McDermott, bringing the game to 2-0.
High Point found an answer to the Tribe’s early runs in the top of the fifth, scoring twice to tie the game at 2-2. But the Tribe didn’t let the game stay even for long. It immediately retaliated with three runs in the bottom of the inning to put the Panthers down 5-2.
the Tribe turned the matchup into an offensive showcase, putting up eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings to close out the game.
That was as close as the Panthers would get to taking a lead as the Tribe turned the matchup into an offensive showcase, putting up eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings to close out the game. The scattered Panthers couldn’t put together a comeback attempt, and with their scoreless ninth inning the Tribe was able to pack the game away as a 13-2 victory.
This win marked the third game of a tight weekend series. The Tribe split yesterday’s doubleheader to open the set, winning the first game in a resilient 4-3 extra-inning victory before falling later that day in a 17-3 blowout. Sunday’s victory makes them 2-1 on the weekend and marks their first weekend series victory of the season.
Eight separate Tribe players recorded runs in the Sunday win, and five batters recorded multiple hits. Smith recorded a team-high three runs on two hits; freshman infielder David Hogarth and senior outfielder Luca Farina, both seeing their first looks as part of the Tribe core this season, each tallied two runs on two hits.
Freshman Jacob Haney recorded his first win of the season by allowing only two runs in six innings, bringing his record to 1-2.
The Tribe also got a solid performance out of its pitching contingent. Freshman Jacob Haney recorded his first win of the season by allowing only two runs in six innings, bringing his record to 1-2. Senior Michael Toner and graduate Andrew Burnick closed out the game, allowing no runs and only one hit in the last three innings.
With this victorious weekend series over High Point, the Tribe improves to 3-9 on the season. The team’s momentum will bring them into their next two-game midweek matchup against Radford next Tuesday and Wednesday looking to keep adding to the win column.