RICHMOND, Va. - The
William and Mary baseball team fell at VCU, 7-4, Saturday afternoon from The
Diamond. Down 3-2 heading in to the
eighth inning, W&M plated a pair of runs in the frame to take a 4-2
advantage. However, VCU responded with
four runs in the bottom half en route to the victory. The loss drops W&M to 25-17 overall and
10-10 in CAA play while VCU improves to 21-18 on the year and 8-12 in league
action.
At the plate, senior left fielder Tadd Bower went 1-for-4
with two RBIs to lead W&M. Sophomore
third baseman Ryan Lindemuth tallied two hits and a run scored, while senior
designated hitter Sean Aiken finished the contest with a hit and a run scored. Junior shortstop Ryan Williams scored a run in
his 1-for-4 effort, while junior second baseman Kevin Nutter rounded out the
output with an RBI.
Senior RHP Matt Davenport (5-3) pitched six innings,
allowing just two earned runs on seven hits in the no-decision. Senior RHP Jay McCarthy (3-3) took the loss
working an inning of relief. VCU's
junior RHP Blake Hauser (2-1) earned the win after pitching 1.1 innings of relief.
The Tribe got on the scoreboard first with run in the top of
the third. Williams led off the frame ripping
a double to left field, he later advanced to third on a wild pitch from VCU's
starting LHP pitcher junior Ryan Farrar.
With one out, Nutter plated the Fairfax, Va., native after grounding out
to second.
In the bottom half, VCU responded with a trio of runs as it
took a 3-1 lead. Having already plated a
pair of runs, the Black and Gold's third run of the frame culminated when
sophomore designated hitter Chris Ayers pushed across sophomore third baseman
Joey Cujas on a single through the middle of the infield.
W&M scored a run in the top half of the fifth, as it cut
the VCU lead down to just one run. Aiken
started the inning off with a single to right center field. He later scored all the way from second on a
Williams fly out to left field, in which the Rams left fielder committed a
throwing error, allowing Aiken to plate the College's second run of the
afternoon.
The College went ahead, 4-3, after plating a pair of runs in
the top half of the eighth. With one
out, Brown and Lindemuth registered back-to-back hit by pitches to put runners
on first and second. After the Rams
recorded the innings second out on a strikeout, Bower put the Green and Gold in
front by a run after his double to right field plated Brown and Lindemuth.
As it had done earlier in the game, VCU answered W&M's
two run top half with four runs in the bottom half. With no outs, sophomore pinch-hitter Landon
Prentiss and senior left fielder Paul Nice connected on back-to-back home runs
as the Black and Gold regained a 5-4 lead.
Before the inning closed, the Rams managed to tack on two more runs as
it extended the margin to 7-4.
In the top of the ninth, the College put the tying run at
the plate, but was unable to score any runs as VCU held on for the, 7-4,
victory.
Tribe baseball returns to action this afternoon as it plays
game two if its doubleheader against VCU with the first pitch from The Diamond
scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Fans can follow
the action online at TribeAthletics.com with live stats.
