William and Mary baseball (2-1) opened up its season with a home series against Holy Cross (1-2) Friday, Feb. 16 to Sunday, Feb. 18. Though the Tribe dropped Friday’s matchup 2-4, it managed to close the back half of the series with two solid victories at Plumeri Park in Williamsburg, Va.
In Friday’s matchup, the first three innings went scoreless thanks to a dominant performance from Tribe junior starting pitcher Nate Knowles. He allowed just two hits over three innings while recording eight strikeouts. After Tribe junior pitcher Carter Lovasz took the mound for his relief stint at the top of the fourth, Holy Cross’s bats came alive, scoring three runs. In the bottom of the inning, fifth-year outfielder Joe Delossantos homered to left field, getting William and Mary on the scoreboard.
The score held constant for the next few innings. Sophomore pitcher Owen Pierce replaced Lovasz on the mound in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the eighth, graduate student outfielder Ben Parker hit an RBI single to bring the score to 3-2. In the top of the ninth, Holy Cross junior outfielder Connor Cooney singled to right field, driving in freshman infielder Alex Sandell to increase the Holy Cross lead back to two. William and Mary was unable to respond in the bottom of the ninth, recording its first loss of the season on its opening day. Lovasz was credited with the loss and Holy Cross’ sophomore pitcher Danny Macchiarola with the win.
In Saturday’s game, Holy Cross scored first, recording two runs in the top of the third. Redshirt sophomore pitcher Mark Hindy came to the mound mid-inning for the Tribe, throwing two pitches to force a groundout and get William and Mary out of the inning. William and Mary’s offense came alive in the bottom of the fifth. An RBI single from Delossantos scored the Tribe’s first run of the game. A pair of consecutive hit-by-pitches scored another run and loaded the bases, leading to a freshman first baseman/outfielder Anthony Greco single to right field to score one more and an RBI double from graduate student infielder Luca Trigiani to extend the Tribe lead to three. The Tribe scored one more run that inning, marking a colossal six-run inning. William and Mary scored one more in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the seventh, Holy Cross scored two more on a triple to center field to make it 7-4. Another RBI single from Delossantos put William and Mary up four, a lead it held until the end. Saturday’s win marked the first win of the season and evened the series at 1-1.
Sunday’s matchup started off with a massive seven-run inning for Holy Cross. In the bottom of the first, Parker hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot to get William and Mary on the board. The Tribe tacked on one more in the bottom of the third. The Tribe’s big inning came in the fourth, scoring five runs on only one hit thanks to a combination of hit-by-pitches and walks from the Holy Cross pitcher. In the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a Delossantos three-run homer and a senior catcher Nate Goranson two-RBI double, William and Mary scored five more. Holy Cross scored two in the top of the sixth, leading to a 12-9 Tribe lead. William and Mary scored once in the bottom of the seventh to give it a four run lead, which Holy Cross nearly closed with a three-run eighth inning. In the bottom of the eighth, Goranson singled to score one more for the Tribe and increase its lead to two, which it held onto through the end. The Tribe won the series finale, 14-12, and the series, 2-1.
William and Mary will travel to play against Richmond (0-4) Feb. 20 at Pitt Field in Richmond, Va.