WILMINGTON, N.C. – The William and Mary Tribe baseball team fell in the winner's bracket finals of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, 3-1, to the No. 2 seeded College of Charleston. Charleston's starting pitcher Bailey Ober pitched a complete game for the Cougars. With the loss, the Tribe falls to 33-21, while Charleston improves to 40-17.
Sophomore Josh Smith led the Tribe's offense belting his second home run in as many days. He drove in and scored the only Tribe run.
Charleston opened the scoring with a run in the top of the second inning. Nick Pappas hit a solo home run over the right field wall. Pappas' fourth home run of the season gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars added another run in the top of the third inning. Champ Rowland led off the frame with a double into left center field. The next batter, Brendan Butler shot a single through the middle, scoring Rowland and giving Charleston a 2-0 lead.
After W&M just missed tying the score with a near home run from junior Michael Katz, Charleston responded with a run in the top of the fifth. Brandon Murray led off the inning with a solo shot to right center field, giving the Cougars a 3-0 advantage.
The Tribe got on the board with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sophomore Josh Smith led off the inning with a solo shot to left field. His second homer in as many days cut the Cougars lead to 3-1.
W&M got the tying run on in two of the last three innings. However, Ober was able to get out of trouble both times.
Ober tossed all nine innings allowing just one run on five hits. He struck out four batters in his ninth win of the season for the Cougars.
The loss was pinned on redshirt senior John Sheehan. The righty tossed six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, while striking out four. Sophomore Joseph Gaouette pitched the final three innings for the Tribe allowing one hit, and striking out two.
William and Mary will play again tonight at 7 p.m. in an elimination game. The Green and Gold will face the winner of the next game between UNCW and Delaware.
