Friday, March 27, to Sunday, March 29, William and Mary baseball (12-14, 4-5 CAA) lost a weekend series to Coastal Athletic Association rival North Carolina Wilmington (18-9, 7-2 CAA). The Tribe fell to the Seahawks 5-3 on Friday and 22-1 on Saturday before salvaging a 9-8 win on Sunday afternoon at Brooks Field in Wilmington, N.C.
The Tribe started the weekend series brightly, jumping ahead in Friday’s game 3-0 by the end of the third inning.
Freshman infielder and pitcher Jett Humphreys carried over his strong play from the previous series against North Carolina A&T, where he recorded six RBIs over three games, with a single that brought home senior outfielder Charlie Iriotakis.
The same could be said for sophomore infielder Jamie Laskofski, who extended the Tribe’s lead to 2-0 in the top of the third inning with his fourth home run of the season, before Iriotakis brought home the Tribe’s third run of the game with an RBI groundout.
A two-out triple from redshirt freshman infielder Matthew Kosuda put the Tribe in position to add to its lead, but freshman outfielder Chase Ecker struck out, bringing the inning to a close.
With the Tribe’s offense putting runs on the board early, sophomore pitcher Zach Boyd retired Seahawks batters in an efficient fashion, allowing just three baserunners across four innings.
Unable to extend its three-run lead any further but reinforced by strong pitching, the Tribe entered the bottom of the seventh inning in a dominant position. However, the away team soon unraveled.
After a double from junior infielder Trevor Lucas, the Seahawks brought home their first run of the game, setting themselves up to cut further into the Tribe’s advantage. With the bases now loaded, the Seahawks brought home four more runs, turning what started with a three-run Tribe lead into a two-run lead for the home team. The Tribe finally stopped the bleeding after freshman pitcher Connor Jernigan struck out junior outfielder Jake Bechtel, evading another bases-loaded situation.
Now trailing, the Tribe immediately went to work at the top of the eighth.
Following a single from Ecker and a fielding error from UNCW, William and Mary found itself with runners on second and third bases with two outs. However, the situation amounted to nothing after a groundout from redshirt sophomore infielder Kevin Francella brought the inning to a close.
Facing its last chance to erase the two-run deficit, the Tribe got another runner on base in the bottom of the ninth inning with a single from redshirt junior catcher Witt Scafidi. However, this marked the extent of the Tribe’s comeback efforts, with an unsuccessful base-stealing attempt from graduate student outfielder Jackson Woolwine bringing the game to a close.
After a hard-fought loss on Friday night, Saturday’s encounter between the teams went completely south for the Tribe.
The Seahawks jumped on redshirt junior pitcher Luke Calveric immediately, with graduate student infielder Kevin Jones hitting a two-run homer on only the second at-bat of the game. The damage did not stop there, however. After Calveric hit three Seahawks batters, UNCW extended its lead to 4-0.
The bottom of the second inning was much the same for Calveric and the Tribe. A two-run single from junior infielder Danny O’Brien extended the Seahawks’ lead to 6-0, and after hitting his fourth batter of the game, Calveric’s afternoon ended.
With freshman pitcher Jack Pye now on the mound, the UNCW onslaught continued. Three consecutive UNCW hits ballooned the lead to 11-0 before Pye managed to bring the inning to an end.
Already facing a double-digit deficit, the Tribe’s offense also stalled. Through the first three innings of the game, the Tribe recorded zero hits and got only two players on base.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Tribe had its first real chance of the game to cut into the UNCW lead after back-to-back walks from graduate student infielder Connor Chavez and Ecker. With runners on second and third bases, Francella struck out, ending the inning without any runs scored from the away team.
The bottom of the fifth brought more damage from the Seahawks, who managed to load the bases with zero outs in the inning. A throwing error followed by a single and a sacrifice fly out brought in three more runs, extending UNCW’s lead to 16-0.
Simply playing for pride, the Tribe secured one run in the top of the sixth after junior infielder Anthony Greco hit his second homer of the season.
“The one thing that he did when we were getting beat on. He stayed locked in,” head coach Rob McCoy said, complimenting Greco.
Unsatisfied with its 15-run lead, the Seahawks went back to work in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs already recorded in the inning, UNCW rattled off six runs, including a two-run homer from sophomore infielder Brady Thompson. When freshman pitcher Derek Baker ended the inning, the UNCW advantage stood at 22-1.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association baseball mercy rule brought the game to an end after the Tribe left two men on base in the top of the seventh.
The message from McCoy following the game to his team left no doubt.
“I did not say anything to them, I just said the sun will come up tomorrow,” he said.
McCoy remained confident that his team would improve its performance in the series finale.
“They are competitive, they know [that] they got to show up the next day,” he said.
After spurning a bases-loaded opportunity situation at the top of the first inning, the Tribe quickly paid the price.
Singles from sophomore infielder Mason Hughes and Jones secured the first two runs of the game for the Seahawks in the bottom of the third. Lucas then drove in the home team’s third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly out.
UNCW extended its lead to four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly out from redshirt senior outfielder John Newton.
The Tribe rally started immediately at the top of the sixth, with Greco hitting his second home run of the series, cutting the deficit to two runs.
“He stepped up, and when he got a chance, he made the most of it,” McCoy said.
While the Seahawks successfully limited the Tribe to only two runs in the bottom of the sixth, the away team’s comeback efforts continued in the bottom of the seventh. Iriotakis brought in the Tribe’s third run with a sacrifice fly out before Laskofski leveled the score at 4-4 off a passed ball.
“We just kept playing, we just kept grounding out at-bats,” McCoy said. “They blinked and gave us an opportunity to get some guys on base and then start spinning the game a little bit on them.”
Desperate to avoid a series sweep, the Tribe turned the game for good in the top of the eighth and ninth innings.
Redshirt sophomore infielder Trey Christman’s fifth homer of the season gave his team a 7-4 lead in the top of the eighth before the Tribe added two much-needed insurance runs in the top of the ninth.
With a five-run lead and needing to retire three more UNCW hitters, the Tribe made the bottom of the ninth inning anything but easy.
The Seahawks worked the bases loaded with zero outs in the inning, driving in two runs. After a hit batter and a wild pitch, the Tribe’s lead was down to just one.
Despite seeing his team’s lead nearly evaporate, McCoy never lost confidence that the Tribe would manage to close out the win.
“I am pretty optimistic, so I am just thinking that we are going to get the next play,” he said.
With the lead at just one run and one out on the board, McCoy brought on sophomore pitcher Jack Weight to finish the job, which he did efficiently.
Weight retired the only two UNCW batters he faced, giving the Tribe a much-needed win to finish off the weekend.
“Guys kept their composure, they are always going to try and come back at some point,” said McCoy, who added that Friday’s blown lead helped prepare his team for the similar effort it made Sunday afternoon.
Keeping the series loss in mind, McCoy was quick to take positives away from the weekend.
“With each passing weekend, I see more and more good stuff and guys developing,” McCoy said. “As we continue to get guys in spots and have them step up and trust their training and playing free of fear, that is a good sign.”
The Tribe will return to action Tuesday, March 31 against out-of-conference foe Virginia Military Institute (21-6, 1-2 SoCon) at Plumeri Park in Williamsburg, Va.
