Baseball: Seahawks soar past Tribe in 1-0 pitching duel

JAMIE HOLT / THE FLAT HAT

Sunday, May 2, William and Mary (12-21, CAA 9-9) lost 1-0 to the University of North Carolina Wilmington (23-16, CAA 7-8). The loss concluded the Tribe’s three game series against conference rivals UNCW. 

Junior Zach Tsakounis started for the Tribe on the mound. Tsakounis, who was named Colonial Athletic Association Pitcher of the Week last week, lasted 6 ⅔ innings and recorded three strikeouts. 

“We wanted to keep the ball down and use my fastball on both sides of the plate,” Tsakounis said. “We also wanted to focus on managing their line-up by collecting outs at the bottom of the line-up to limit the number of runners in scoring position.” 

Despite Tsakounis’ strong performance through the first five innings, Seahawk Matt Suggs sparked some offense for UNCW in the sixth. He hit a triple down the left field line to advance into scoring position. Seahawk Cole Weiss hit a single up the middle to drive in Suggs, but the inning ended with two flyouts. 

The Seahawks rebuilt momentum in the seventh inning, with two runners on and two outs. However, senior pitcher Randy Prosperi forced a groundout to end the inning.

In the eighth inning, Suggs advanced to first on a hit by pitch in the eighth inning and got into scoring position with two outs. However, sophomore infielder Ben Greenspoon recorded a strikeout to end the top half of the inning.

In their final push, the Tribe put a runner in scoring position after senior infielder Matt McDermott was hit by a pitch. He advanced to second base on a groundout by sophomore Mark Trotta, but a strikeout ended the Tribe’s chances.

Despite minimal support on offense, Tsakounis remained poised throughout the game. 

“I just focused on doing my job,” Tsakounis said. “I like the pressure of pitching in tight games. It makes every pitch feel a lot more important.”

On a quiet offensive day for the Tribe, Tyler Solomon went 2-3 with two singles.

The Tribe will travel to Durham, N.C. to face Duke on Tuesday, May 4 at 6 p.m. 

According to Tsakounis, the Tribe will focus on taking quality at bats this week.

“If we continue putting good at bats together then we will put ourselves in good positions to win offensively,” Tsakounis said.

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