WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William & Mary baseball team concluded weekend action in dramatic fashion as junior
Cullen Large delivered a two-run walk-off homer to lift the Tribe to a 7-6 victory against Yale on Sunday afternoon. W&M moves to 9-6 with the win, while the Bulldogs fall to 3-5.
Sophomore
Nick Raquet took a no decision for the Green and Gold, throwing 6.2 innings, allowing three runs, none earned, on five hits. He finished with nine strikeouts. Junior
Charlie Fletcher threw 1.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, while classmate
Robert White picked up his second win of the season, pitching the ninth. Yale's Alex Stiegler took the loss, allowing two runs on Large's walk-off in 1.1 innings.
The Tribe's offense had four players notch multiple hits for a balanced attack. Senior
Ryder Miconi got the most out of every plate appearance, finishing 2-for-2 with two walks and adding his second home run of the year. Coming off a banner performance yesterday, freshman
Brandon Raquet was 2-for-4 with a double. Junior
Ryan Hall and senior
Matthew Tilley recorded two hits each, while Large and freshman
Patrick Ryan both tallied two RBI.
The Bulldogs scored a pair of two-out unearned runs in the first to take the early lead. Simon Whiteman reached on an error and Harrison White walked to give Yale a pair of base runners. Griffin Dey hit a two-out, two-strike, two-run double off the track in center to bring around both Yale runners.
The Tribe answered with three runs in the bottom of the second, all with two outs. Miconi and
Charles Ameer both walked and stood on second and third base with two outs. Ryan tied the game with a bouncing ball single up the middle. He advanced to second on the throw home and then came home to put the Tribe on top 3-2 thanks to a Tilley single back through the box.
It was again Miconi and Ameer in the middle of the action, generating the Tribe's fourth run of the game an inning later in the third. Raquet walked early in the inning and moved around to third on a Miconi shot through the right side. Ameer drove him home with a single up the middle, increasing the Tribe lead to 4-2. The Green and Gold loaded the bases on a
Kyle Wrighte walk with two outs, but could not push across any more runs.
Yale pushed across another unearned run in the top of the fourth on a Tim DeGraw sac fly. Alec Hoeschel and Dai Dai Otaka sandwiched singles around Tom Ruddy reaching on an error to load the bases for the visitors. With one out, DeGraw lifted a high fly ball to right field, bring home Hoeschel to close the gap to 4-3.
The Tribe pitched its way out of a jam in the top of the seventh. DeGraw singled for Yale on a soft roller in front of the plate. He advanced to second on a wild pitch with one out and over to third on a soft ground out to the pitcher. Fletcher came out of the bullpen and closed the door on the chance, striking out Richard Slenker looking.
Miconi continued his torrid week with his second home run in five days. The Tribe senior hit a towering shot to right field, padding the Tribe lead to 5-3 after eight.
After the Green and Gold recorded the first two outs in the top of the ninth, Yale used two singles and four walks to plate three runs in taking the lead. Otaka and Brian Ronai singled around a DeGraw walk to load the bases. Three-straight walks to Slenker, White and Dey pushed across runs and gave Yale a 6-5 lead.
The Tribe responded in grand fashion in the bottom of the inning. Hall singled to center to lead off the inning and moved up 90 feet on a Raquet sacrifice bunt. Large launched a 1-1 pitch deep over the right field wall to give W&M the walk-off victory with a two-run home run. It was his second bomb of the season and pushed his team-best RBI total to 19.
W&M continues its home stand with a lone midweek affair against in-state foe Norfolk State on Tuesday, March 14. Game time is set for 6 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on Tribe Athletics TV via Stretch Internet.
