JOHNSON CITY, TN - William and Mary scored five of its seven runs on home runs, one each by Michael Brown (Richmond, VA), Trey Wakefield (Dallas, TX) and Chris Rahl (Chesapeake, VA), and the Tribe held off a ninth inning rally to defeat East Tennessee State 7-5 this afternoon at Cardinal Park in Johnson City. The Tribe improves to 9-4, while the Bucs fall to 4-8.

Tribe starter Chris Ray (Tampa, FL), improved to 3-0 on the year after allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out eight in seven innings of work. Chris Shaver (Hampden-Sydney, VA) earned his second save of the year after allowing one run on two hits in two innings. Beau Alford, the third of seven ETSU pitchers, was charged with the loss after giving up two runs on two hits in one inning of work.

Each team plated a run in the second and fourth innings, which included a solo shot from Brown in the fourth, and the Tribe scored two in the fifth. Rahl led off the inning when he reached on an error, stole second, and scored on Wakefield's second home run of the year to give the Tribe a 4-2 lead.

Ray retired the side in order in the fifth, and the College struck for two more in the sixth. C.J. Stimson (Crystal Beach, FL) drew a one-out walk, moved to second on Kevin Healy's (Vienna, VA) groundout, and scored on Rahl's titanic blast to left, his third of the year and the fourth hit of his career, and it gave the Tribe a 6-2 lead.

ETSU scored two in the seventh to cut the lead to 6-4, but the Tribe added an insurance run in the ninth. Will Rhymes (Houston, TX) reached on an error to lead off the inning and advanced to second. He scored on the next pitch when Yancey Jones (Ashland, VA) smoked a single to left center to increase the lead to 7-4.

The Bucs threatened in the ninth, but could only score one. Blake Church led off the ninth with a single to center, and then moved up to third on back-to-back passed balls. Justin Clear then walked to put runners on first and third with nobody out. But Shaver got Tim Turner to strike out for the first out of the inning, then gave up a single to Andy Howdeshell to score Church. With Howdeshell on first with one out, Shaver got out of the jam when he got Davis Burklin to ground into a 6-3 double play to end the game, as the Tribe escaped with a 7-5 win.

Brown finished the game 2-5, as he doubled in the fifth inning after his fourth inning homer, and extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

W&M is back in action this weekend, when it hosts Columbia in a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m.