Williamsburg, Va. - The William and Mary Tribe baseball team used great pitching and a big third inning to defeat the Hofstra Pride, 12-1, on Saturday at Plumeri Park.  With the win, the Tribe evens its record on the season at 15-15 and improves to 8-6 in the CAA.  With the loss, Hofstra falls to 5-16 on the season and to 5-6 in conference play.

Every Tribe starter recorded a hit on the afternoon, while eight different players scored a run.  Freshman Ryan Lindemuth went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored while Jonathan Slattery drove in a pair.  Sophomore Ryan Williams hit a two-run home run to cap a wild third inning and classmate Ryan Brown reached base four times, going 2-for-2 with a walk, a RBI, two runs scored, and a hit by pitch.  Also collecting RBIs on the day were senior Derrick Osteen and juniors Tadd Bower and Chris Forsten .

For the third consecutive start, senior Logan Billbrough was fantastic for the Tribe, extending his scoreless inning streak to an impressive 20 frames.  Against the Pride, Billbrough threw six scoreless innings, striking out 10 batters while surrendering just four hits.

After being held scoreless for the first two innings on Saturday, the College would send 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third, scoring seven runs on eight hits in the frame.

The inning started with junior Derek Lowe singling to left field.  Lowe was quickly joined on base by Forsten and Brown, who both reached bunt singles to load the bases.  With the Hofstra infield drawn in, Lindemuth singled on a hard-hit ball to third, scoring Lowe from third.  Osteen came up next and drove in a run of his own, laying down the Tribe's third bunt single of the inning, making the score 2-0 in favor of W&M.

With the bases still loaded and with no one out, Slattery hit a ball to center field, just deep enough to score Brown from third on the sacrifice fly.  After a groundout moved the runners to second and third, there were two outs in the inning with Bower at the plate for the Tribe.  With the count 1-0, Bower cracked a liner right at the Pride's first baseman, ricocheting off his glove for a RBI single.

Runners were now on the corners for Williams, but before he could do damage, Hofstra starter Joe Burg fired a fastball that got past the catcher, allowing Osteen to score from third on the wild pitch.  On the very next offering, Williams blasted a ball over the left field fence, giving the Tribe a 7-0 lead.  Williams' two-run shot was his team-leading third of the season.

The seven in the third inning tied for the most the Tribe has scored in one frame this season, matching the seven-run eighth the College had in its 14-2 victory over Fairfield on February 26.  The eight hits in the inning was a team high for the 2011 season.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Tribe added to its lead over the Pride.  In the inning, the College received one-run, RBI singles from both Lindemuth and Slattery to push its lead to 9-0 over the Pride after four complete.

After two scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth, the College plated three runs in the bottom of the seventh in a unique way.  After the bases were loaded on a walk to Lowe, the next three Tribe batters earned RBIs after getting hit by pitches.  After seven full innings, the Tribe's lead over Hofstra stood at 12-0.

In the top of the ninth, the Pride pushed across one run, but it would not be enough as the Tribe evened the series with Hofstra with a 12-1 victory at Plumeri Park.

The William and Mary Tribe baseball team will conclude its series with the Hofstra Pride on Sunday, April 3 in Williamsburg.  First pitch at Plumeri Park is scheduled for 1 p.m.