WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William & Mary baseball team opens the home portion of its regular season as it welcomes Patriot League foe Holy Cross to Plumeri Park for a three-game weekend series. The lid-lifter is set for Friday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. The series continues on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m., before concluding on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m.

TribeAthletics.com caught up with head coach Brian Murphy to discuss the mid-week game at Liberty, playing at home, and the upcoming series against the Crusaders. The video feature is available through the above link, or by clicking here.
 

Game Day Information - Game 5-7 - Holy Cross
When	Friday-Sunday, Feb. 26-28
Where	Williamsburg, Va.
Venue	Plumeri Park
How to Follow	Live Stats | Live Audio
Social Media	Tribe Baseball Facebook | Tribe Baseball Twitter Tribe Baseball Instagram | Tribe Athletics Instagram Tribe Athletics Facebook | Tribe Athletics Twitter Tribe Game Day Twitter | #RisingTribe
Stats	William & Mary | Holy Cross | CAA
Game Notes	William & Mary | Holy Cross | CAA
Weekend Rotation	Friday - RHP Nick Brown vs. RHP Phil Reese Saturday - RHP Mitchell Aker vs. RHP Ben White Sunday - RHP Daniel Powers vs. RHP Brendan King
Tickets	TribeAthletics.com | Tickets

ON TAP
• The William & Mary baseball team looks to get back into the win column as they open the home portion of the schedule as they welcome Holy Cross to Plumeri Park for a three-game weekend series. The series gets underway on Friday, Feb. 26 with first pitch set for 4 p.m. The set continues on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m., before closing on Sunday at 1 p.m.
• The Green and Gold dropped an 8-4 road decision at Liberty on Tuesday in the first mid-week game of the season. Sophomore Cullen Large led the team with two hits, while classmate Ryan Hall led the team with two RBI.
 
SERIES HISTORY
• William & Mary and Holy Cross meet for the fourth-seventh time all-time in Williamsburg this weekend. It is the first meeting since the 1996 season. The Tribe leads the all-time series by a 2-1 mark.
• After this weekend all seven games will have been played in Williamsburg.
 
SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS
• Holy Cross enters the weekend series with a 1-2 record after a trip to California. The Crusaders took one game of three game set from Long Beach State.
• Through short work, the team is hitting just .165. Anthony Critelli leads the team with a .364 (4-for-11) batting average he also leads the team with two doubles. Nick Lovullo is the team leader in RBI with a pair.
• On the mound, the Crusaders had an excellent weekend pitching, combining for a 2.88 team ERA. Brandon King anchored the rotation last weekend, picking up the lone victory. He tossed six innings allowing two runs (one earned) and had four strikeouts. Justin Finan and Sean Gustin made two appearances out of the bullpen. Finan tossed 3.2 innings with one hit and two strikeouts, while Gustin pitched two innings, with one hit, two strikeouts, and a save.
• Greg DiCenzo is in his ninth season at the helm at Holy Cross. He has posted a 192-210-1 record in his time in Worcester.
 
ON DECK
• Following the homestand, W&M hits the road for 12 of its next 13 games, including a nine-game road swing, which starts at defending national champion Virginia on Tuesday, March 1. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
• The road trip continues as the Tribe heads to the left coast for eight games in eight days. W&M opens the California trip against 2015 NCAA Tournament team Oregon State on Saturday, March 5 at 4 p.m. EST. The game will be played in San Diego.
 
START ME UP
• The Tribe offense wasted little time getting runs on the board. W&M scratched across, at least, one first inning run in three of the four games this season.
• Despite not scoring in the first inning, W&M still got on the scoreboard first against Liberty and has scored the game's first run in all four games this season.
• Last season, W&M scored, at least, one first inning run in 19 of the 52 games posting a 13-6 record when they scored in the first inning.
 
AN ACE IN AKER
• Senior Mitchell Aker turned in one of his best starts of his career in his first start of the 2016 season. Aker turned in 6.1 innings allowing only an unearned run. He added two strikeouts on the day.
 
POWERED BY POWERS
• Not to be outdone, junior Daniel Powers had the best start of his Tribe career in his first start of the year. He pitched seven scoreless innings, scattering just seven hits, and punching out three.
• The bullpen pitched the final two scoreless innings as the Vienna, Va. native was apart of the first shutout since the final day of the 2014 regular season.
 
IN A PINCH
• So far this season, William & Mary has had some success with its pinch hitters a whole. As a team pinch hitters are 2-for-3 with a walk.
• Junior Ryder Miconi has had the most chances going 1-for-2, while freshman Owen Socher also picked up a base hit in his Tribe debut.
 
MESS WITH THE BULL YOU GET THE 'PEN
• Potentially one of the strongest assets of this year's Tribe team, the bullpen lived up to the hype over the first weekend of the season. It combined to pitch 10.2 innings of only allowing four runs, three of which were on a homer. All four runs against the Tribe bullpen came against Liberty on Feb. 23. 
• Senior Joseph Gaouette (1.1 innings) leads the way without allowing a run and has the pitching staff's lone save of the season.
 
BE A DUDE
• For the fourth consecutive season, the William & Mary coaching staff will be giving out the "Be A Dude" Award for the Tribe player with the most two-out RBI over the course of the season.
• So far this season the Tribe has eight two-out RBI. Freshman Hunter Smith leads the team with two, two-out RBI, while six other players have one, two-out RBI.
 
STRIKING OUT CANCER
• For the second straight year, the Tribe baseball program has joined forces with the Vs. Cancer Foundation in the hopes of raising money towards defeating childhood cancer. This year W&M is asking for supporters to donate money for each strikeout recorded by the Tribe pitching staff. The pitching staff has already recorded 16 strikeouts.
• Last season, the team participated in a fundraising campaign during the fall season and raised more than $6000.

COMMONWEALTH CHALLENGE
• Once again the 2016 schedule is loaded with games against competition from the Commonwealth of Virginia. This year, W&M plays 13 games from teams the Old Dominion.
• The Tribe squares off with Liberty (L, 4-8, 4/27),  Virginia (3/1), Norfolk State (3/15, 4/19), Richmond (3/22), Virginia Tech (4/5), Old Dominion (4/6, 4/12), VCU (4/13), and James Madison (4/15-17).
• Currently the Tribe is 0-1 against teams from Virginia.
 
AS GOOD AS GOULD
• Senior Charley Gould has already been tabbed with some lofty preseason accolades. The senior was named a Preseason Louisville Slugger Third-Team All-American by the Collegiate Baseball newspaper.
•  The Lake Forest, Ill. native has also been named the Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Player of the Year by a vote of the league head coaches, D1Baseball.com, and Perfect Game Magazine.