WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The
William and Mary baseball team blew past Siena, 9-3, on Saturday night at
Plumeri Park. With the contest scoreless
as play reached the bottom of the fifth, the Tribe plated six runs in the
frame, all on singles, as its nine run output was ignited by the fifth inning
outburst. With the win, the Green and
Gold improves to 2-3 on the season, while the loss drops Siena to 1-3 overall.
Senior RHP Brett Koehler (1-1) recorded five strikeouts in
7.1 innings of work as the Glen Gardner, N.J., native posted his first victory
of the 2013 season. Freshman Mitchell
Aker notched the last two outs of the eighth on strikeouts, while junior John
Sheehan tallied two strikeouts as he recorded the final three outs of the
contest.
At the plate, senior shortstop Ryan Williams and junior left
fielder Willie Shaw each drove in a pair of runs, while senior center fielder
Ryan Brown went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Freshman catcher Ryan Hissey finished the
night going 2-for-3 with a run batted in, while junior second baseman Ryan
Lindemuth recorded two hits and two runs scored. Rounding out W&M's solid offensive effort
was senior first baseman Kevin Nutter, who finished the contest with two hits
and a run scored.
After four scoreless innings of baseball, the Tribe took
control of the contest with a six-run fifth inning. senior right fielder Derek Lowe got the frame started with a
one-out walk. Nutter proceeded to move
the Sudbury, Mass., native into scoring position with a single through the
middle. With one out and runners on
first and second, Brown's single to center field pushed across Lowe for the
night's first run.
Siena managed to record the inning's second out but that's
when the Tribe did its damage with three two-out singles that plated five runs. With two outs and the bases loaded, Shaw
blasted a single to center field, which brought home Lindemuth and Brown, from
second and third, as the Tribe went ahead, 3-0.
Williams extended the Green and Gold advantage, 5-0, after the Fairfax,
Va., native laced a single to left center field, which brought home sophomore third baseman Michael Katz and
Shaw. W&M's sixth run of the inning
came when Hissey plated Williams from second on a single through the middle of
the Siena infield.
Siena cut the deficit in half with three runs in the top
half of the sixth. The Saints got on the
scoreboard courtesy of Andres Ortiz's solo home run to left field. With two outs, Larry Balkwill's two-run home
run over the left field wall got the Saints to within 6-3.
W&M countered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh
as it pushed its advantage to 8-3. After
the Saints recorded the frame's first two outs, Hissey plated Katz and
Lindemuth with a single to the pitcher, whose throwing error allowed Lindemuth
to cross.
In the bottom half of the eighth, W&M tacked on an
insurance run as Nutter crossed home from third after a Siena wild pitch.
The series concludes tomorrow with a doubleheader scheduled
to get underway at 11 a.m. Fans can
follow the action online at TribeAthletics.com with live audio and stats.
