WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William and Mary baseball team dropped the series finale 10-6 to No. 18 College of Charleston on Sunday afternoon at Plumeri Park. With the result, the Tribe falls to 19-25, 9-12 in Colonial Athletic Association play, while the Cougars improve to 35-9, 16-2 in league action.
Seniors Willie Shaw and Devin White each recorded three-hit games in the contest, while freshman Ryan Hall had a pair of hits. Junior Charley Gould extended his on-base streak to 20 games with a walk in the bottom of the first inning.
William and Mary got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Shaw singled, moving to third on back-to-back to walks from Gould and Devin White, which loaded the bases. The next batter, sophomore Tim Hoehn hit a sacrifice fly to right, giving W&M a 1-0 lead.
Charleston came right back with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Morgan Phillips started the rally with a single, moving to second on a two-out walk to Alex Pastorious. A single by Champ Rowland tied the score, before a run down allowed Pastorious to score, giving the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
The Green and Gold tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman Zach Newell started the inning with a walk, moving to second on an error that allowed Hall to reach. A walk to freshman Luca Farina loaded the bases. After an out, Shaw singled up the middle scoring Newell. Gould followed with a sacrifice fly to center, before a single from Devin White gave W&M a 4-2 lead.
CofC cut the lead in half with a run in the top of the fifth inning. Pastorious led of the inning with a double. After a pair of outs, Tommy Richter doubled, making the score 4-3 W&M.
W&M added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Hall and sophomore Ryder Miconi put runners on the corners with back-to-back singles. After the second out, Shaw singled into right, scoring Hall and making the score 5-3.
The Cougars took the lead for good with five runs in the top of the seventh inning. Ervan Roper led off the inning with a single. After a pair of outs, a pair of walks and hit by pitches allowed for two Charleston runs to score. Back-to-back singles from Nick Pappas and Phillips gave the Cougars an 8-4 lead.
Charleston added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning. Richter led off the inning with a single to right. After an out, Blake Butler hit a home run over the left field wall, giving the Cougars a 10-5 lead.
The Tribe added a run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Gould led of the inning with a single, moving to second on an error, and to third on a groundout. A groundout by Hoehn cut the score to 10-6.
Junior Aaron Fernandez turned in a quality start, but didn't factor into the decision. He pitched six-plus innings allowing four runs on six hits. Classmate Mitchell Aker was saddled with his second loss of the season, he allowed four runs and 0.2 innings, but didn't surrender a hit.
The Green and Gold concludes conference play and the home portion of the schedule with a three-game series with Northeastern next weekend at Plumeri Park. The series gets underway on Friday, May 8 at 7 p.m.
