CLEMSON, S.C. - In
dominant fashion, the William and Mary baseball team evened up its three-game
series against Clemson with an impressive 11-2 win over the Tigers on a cold
and blustery Saturday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Thanks in part to senior RHP John Farrell's
exceptional performance on the mound and timely hitting from a lineup that
belted 16 hits, the Tribe built an early 6-0 lead and cruised to its first win
over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent since it defeated Duke during the
2011 season. With the win, the Green and
Gold improves to 1-1 on the season while Clemson falls to 1-1 on the year.
Farrell (1-0) was strong all afternoon as he allowed just
two earned runs in seven innings of work.
The Andover, Mass., native tallied five strikeouts, while surrendering only
one walk. Sophomore J.T. Castner worked
a scoreless eighth inning of relief, while freshman Mitchell Aker recorded the
final three outs in the ninth.
At the plate, sophomore Michael Katz led the Tribe with four
RBIs and three hits. Junior Ryan
Lindemuth finished the afternoon with four hits, two runs scored and an RBI,
while senior Kevin Nutter went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Senior Ryan Brown went 3-for-4 with three
runs scored and a run batted in, while junior Willie Shaw registered two hits
and an RBI.
The Green and Gold struck first with a run in the top of the
game's opening inning. With one out,
Brown reached first base on a walk and later scored from first after Lindemuth
laced a double down the right field chalk.
In the top of the third, the Tribe plated three runs as it
extended its lead to 4-0. Katz drove in
two of the runs after his bases loaded double to deep right field pushed across
Nutter and Brown. Shaw gave W&M the
four-run cushion with a single through the right side, which plated Lindemuth
for the Tribe's third run of the inning.
The Tribe added to its advantage with a pair of runs in both
the fourth and fifth innings. In the
fourth, Nutter drilled a two out double down the left field line, which drove
in freshman Thomas Pulisic. W&M's
second run of the frame culminated on Katz's bases loaded walk, which pushed
across Nutter.
Once again, W&M scored two runs on two outs in the fifth
and again it was Nutter who fueled the opportunity. The Vienna, Va., native drove in senior Ryan
Williams on an infield single. Brown followed
Nutter and proceeded with a single to right field, which drove in Pulisic as
the Tribe took a commanding 8-1 lead.
After W&M built a 6-0 margin, Clemson got on the
scoreboard with a run in the bottom half of the fourth. Shane Kennedy's single to left field was deep
enough to score Steve Wilkerson from second base. The Tigers managed to tack on another run in
the sixth as Tyler Krieger drove in Kennedy with an infield single.
In the top of the seventh, W&M put the contest out of
reach with three runs as its stranglehold swelled to the final margin of 11-2. A Katz RBI single through the right side that
plated Brown from third base highlighted the three-run frame. The Tribe's other two runs in the inning came
off a Clemson wild pitch and a fielder's choice.
The series concludes tomorrow afternoon with the first pitch
from Clemson, S.C., slated for 1 p.m.
