BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The William and Mary baseball team dropped game two of a doubleheader 8-5 at Campbell on Wednesday afternoon. The Camels swept the double dip with the victory and improved to 10-2, while the Tribe fell to 4-4.
Freshman Ryan Hall led the Tribe going 3-for-4 with four RBI in the contest. Classmate Cullen Large collected three hits as well, including his first career home run.
Campbell wasted little time, geting on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Cedric Mullins led off the frame with a triple to right field. The next batter, Steven Leonard hit a sacrifice fly to left, giving Campbell a 1-0 lead.
The Camels added another run in the bottom of the second inning. With two outs, Brian Taylor skied a home run over the left wall, giving CU a 2-0 advantage.
W&M broke onto the scoreboard with a homer of its own in the third. Large led off the frame by crushing his first career homer over the left field fence. The run cut the Campbell lead to 2-1.
However, Campbell responded with its biggest inning of the game, scoring four times in the bottom of the third. Leonard started the rally with a one-out walk, moving to second on a single from Anthony Lopez. The next batter, Kyle Leady doubled to left center, brining home the first run of the frame. Seth LaRue reached on fielder's choice brining home a run, before Cole Hallum hit a two-out homer to left field, giving the Camels a 6-1 advantage.
CU added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Taylor led off the frame with a double down the left field line. With one out, Leonard singled to center, bringing home Taylor and gave Campbell a 7-1 lead.
The Tribe's comeback effort started in the top of the fifth inning when they plated three runs. With two outs, senior Willie Shaw doubled to right field, which was followed by a walk to junior Ryan Hissey, and junior Charley Gould was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. The next batter, Hall doubled into left field, clearing the bases and cutting the deficit to 7-4.
W&M cut the game to two runs with another tally in the top of the seventh inning. Junior Ryan Hissey singled to start the rally, moving to second on a passed ball. Hissey then moved third on a groundout, before Hall grounded out to cut the score to 7-5.
The Camels stopped the Tribe's rally with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs, Leady hit an infield single, moving to second on a stolen base. LaRue followed with a single through the right side, giving CU an 8-5 lead.
Sophomore Daniel Powers made the start tossing 2.1 innings allowing five runs on six hits, he was charged with his first loss of the season. Senior Bryson Kauhaahaa was a bright spot on the mound tossing 2.2 scoreless innings for the Tribe.
The Green and Gold are set to open its home portion of the schedule with a three-game series against UMass Lowell this weekend. The series starts with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 7, before a single game on Sunday, March 8. Both games start at 1 p.m.
