William and Mary (16-12, CAA 7-2) defeated Towson (9-23) 10-3 at Plumeri Park Sunday, April 10. After sweeping the Tigers, the Tribe improved to 7-2 in league play, their best start to a season since 2014.
Senior Rojo Prairie took the mound to start for the Tribe and recorded his third win of the season. He did not allow any runs in three innings of work. Freshman Carlos Lovasz continued the impressive Tribe pitching performance by striking out four batters in four innings of work.
The Tribe held the Tigers scoreless until the eighth inning, when they recorded all three of their runs of the day. Graduate student Randy Prosperi closed out the game, retiring all four batters he faced.
As they did all weekend, the Tribe struck early in Sunday’s game. In the first inning, with junior Ben Williamson and senior Matt Thomas on base, senior Cole Ragone reached first base on a fielder’s choice to advance Williamson. Ragone would then make a sharp move to steal second, causing the catcher to misthrow the ball into center field. The error allowed Williamson a chance to run down the third baseline and score the first run of the game.
Junior Mark Trotta stepped up next and continued his strong weekend at the plate by doubling in Ragone for the second score. The third and final score of the inning came when Trotta scored off a sacrifice fly by junior Joe Delossantos.
Prairie made quick work of the Towson batters in the top of the second. The College would find their fourth score of the game off of two solid hits from graduate student Tyler Solomon and Williamson in the bottom of the inning. After Solomon’s thumping double to right field, Williamson’s line drive single was enough to get Solomon home for the score.
The third inning saw both teams unable to find a score, but the Tribe was able to put on an impressive offensive display in the fourth and fifth innings to secure a leading margin that the visitors would be unable to overcome.
The Tribe’s consistent ability to get on base in the fourth proved to be their foundation for success in the inning. Sophomore Nate Goranson led off with a single. Solomon, Williamson and Thomas all hit singles of their own that allowed the Tribe to score a pair. Ragone had a sacrifice fly of his own, resulting in the seventh unanswered score of the game.
The fifth inning started with both Delossantos and Goranson reaching on walks, before Solomon stepped up to bat for the highlight of the game. His three-run homer blasted off all the way over the left side of Plumeri Park and was the nail in the coffin for Towson, marking a double-digit deficit.
After trading back to back scoreless innings, at the top of the eighth, Towson gained some momentum on offense. After a quick three scores on two hits, the Tigers had bases loaded coupled with hot hitters on deck. Prosperi entered the game in this crucial moment and calmly fired a strikeout to close out the inning. He would settle fans’ nerves by retiring three straight batters in the ninth inning to see off the late charge by the Tigers.