GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The
William and Mary baseball team fell in game two of its three-game series with
the No.1 ranked Florida Gators Saturday afternoon, 5-1. The loss drops W&M to 2-4 overall, while
Florida improves to 5-1 on the year.
At the plate, sophomore Ryan Lindemuth had another solid
day, going 2-for-4 with a stolen base.
Senior Tadd Bower drove in the Tribe's lone run with a solo home run in
the top of the seventh. The solo shot
was Bower's first of the year. Juniors
Ryan Williams and Ryan Brown each recorded a hit Saturday afternoon.
On the mound, Junior Matt Wainman (1-1) took the loss after
pitching 6.2 innings. Senior reliever
Jay McCarthy only allowed one hit in 1.1 innings of work. Florida's Brian Johnson (1-0) earned the
victory, after allowing one earned run in 6.1 innings of work.
The Gators struck first with a pair of runs in the bottom of
the third. Florida's Daniel Pigott drove
home Tyler Thompson with a sacrifice fly to center field, making the score
1-0. Before the inning was over, Preston
Tucker's solo home run to right field made the score 2-0 in favor of the
Gators.
W&M threatened the Gators lead in the top of the fourth,
but was unable to plate any runners.
Lindemuth led the inning off with a single through the left side of the
infield. After freshman Michael Katz
drew a walk, which put runners on first and second, Florida pitcher Brian
Johnson loaded the bases after hitting Bower with a pitch. With one out and the bases loaded, the
College grounded out into an inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the sixth, Florida tacked on three more
runs and extended its advantage to 5-0.
Needing an answer, the Tribe responded when Bower led the top of the
seventh off with a solo shot to right field.
Feeling a possible change in momentum, Florida brought in reliever Greg
Larson with one out and junior Ryan Williams on first. Larson proceeded to get the next two batters
out, which halted all Tribe momentum.
Down 5-1 in the top of the ninth, the Tribe made things
interesting. Bower led the frame off
with a walk and then advanced to second on a Devin White groundout to
short. Williams then reached base on a
fielding error by the shortstop. With
one out and runners on first and second, freshman Josh Smith advanced each
runner a base after grounding out the shortstop. Down to their last out, the Tribe was unable
to put any across and fell to the hometown Gators, 5-1.
The Tribe concludes its three-game set with the Gators
tomorrow. The first pitch from
Gainesville is slated for 1 p.m.
