WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team begins a six-game road stretch with a pair of mid-week games at in-state rivals Old Dominion and Norfolk State on April 11-12.
ON TAP
After claiming a Colonial Athletic Association series victory against Elon, William & Mary opens a six-game road trip with a pair of mid-week games this week. The Tribe will make back-to-backs trips to Norfolk, Va., starting with Old Dominion on Tuesday, April 11 at 6 p.m. and then Norfolk State on Wednesday, April 12 at 5 p.m.
SCOUTING THE MONARCHS
Old Dominion heads into the week coming off a 2-1 series win against Middle Tennessee, improving its overall mark to 24-9. The Monarchs are batting .280 as a team. Vinnie Pasquantino leads the offense with a .371 batting average (46-for-124), 12 doubles, three homers and 21 RBI. Jared Young, a .350 hitter, has a team-best six home runs. On the mound, ODU owns a 4.72 team ERA. Tuesday's starter John Wilson has pitched 40.1 innings with 26 strikeouts and a 3.79 ERA. Wilson holds a 5-1 record. Chris Finwood enters his sixth season as head coach at ODU. He holds a 168-146 mark in his tenure.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
Norfolk State swept a doubleheader against Delaware State last weekend to enter mid-week action at 14-14 overall. The Spartans are batting .261 as a team. Alex Mauricio leads the lineup with a .347 batting average (26-for-75), adding eight doubles, two triples, a home run and 11 RBI. As a team, NSU holds a 3.73 ERA. Devin Hemmerich leads the team with 62. 1 innings and 70 strikeouts. Claudell Clark is in his 13th season at his alma mater. Clark is 275-324-1 at NSU.
SERIES HISTORY vs. OLD DOMINION
W&M and Old Dominion meet for the 87th time in series history on Tuesday. It is the second of two meeting between the programs after ODU defeated the Tribe 11-6 at Plumeri Park on March 29. The Monarchs lead the all-time series 57-29. During the previous meeting, senior
Charles Ameer was 2-for-5 with a RBI and a double.
SERIES HISTORY vs. NORFOLK STATE
The Tribe and Spartans play each other for the 37th time in series history on Wednesday. It is the second meeting of the season between the program as the Tribe won the first game, 6-1, in Williamsburg on March 28. In the first meeting, junior
Ryan Hall paced the team with a 3-for-3 day, adding a RBI and a double. With the home win, the Tribe now lead the all-time series record 29-7.
WEEKLY AWARDS
W&M added its fifth weekly award of the season as freshman
Brandon Raquet collected his second CAA Rookie of the Week honor for the week of April 10. Raquet batted .692 (9-for-13) with two doubles, a triple, five runs scored and three RBI's in William & Mary's 3-1 week. The Tribe's pitching staff produced two Pitcher of the Week honorees in senior
Daniel Powers and sophomore
Bodie Sheehan. Powers earned his weekly accolade for the week of March 27 after picking up a win and his first career save. Sheehan garnered his for the week of March 6 by posting a career-best 11 strikeouts and contributing to a shutout win against Dayton (March 4). Freshman
Patrick Ryan also received Rookie of the Week accolades on the week of Feb. 27, batting .444 (4-for-9) with four runs and four RBIs to help the Tribe sweep its home opening series against Lafafyette (Feb. 24-26).
COMMONWEALTH CLASH
This week's games are the eighth and ninth of 15 contests against in-state rivals this season. The Old Dominion and Norfolk State games are both the second of two meetings this year. During the first meeting, the Tribe defeated NSU (March 28), 6-1, but dropped an 11-6 decision to ODU (March 29). The other Commonwealth opponents the Tribe played against include Virginia (L, 3-11), VMI (W, 7-0) and Virginia Tech (W, 19-10; L, 3-2). The remaining in-state matchups consists of Richmond (4/18), James Madison (4/21-23) and George Mason (4/26). Currently, the Tribe is 4-3 against state rivals this season.
GOING STREAKING
Ameer is riding his longest hitting streak of the season at eight games, which ranks second on the team. Junior
Cullen Large holds a team-best 16-game hitting streak that was snapped at Virginia Tech on March 21. Raquet is also in the midst of his longest hitting streak of the season at six games. Senior
Ryder Miconi has extended his on-base streak to a season-high 11 games, which is third best on the team. Large's 18-game on-base streak is a team-best.
BEST IN THE LEAGUE
Redshirt sophomore
Nick Raquet currently owns the top ERA in the Colonial Athletic Association at 1.98. In 41 innings of work, Raquet has tallied 48 strikeouts and allowed 13 runs, nine of which were earned, on 32 hits. The Boalsburg, Pa., native owns a 1-1 record. He did not factor into the decision during his start against Elon (April 9), tossing seven innings with eight K's and one run on eight hits.
POWERED BY POWERS
Powers went a season-high eight innings during an 8-2 conference win over Elon on Friday. He fanned seven batters and held the Phoenix the two runs, both earned, on five hits. The win marked his third of the season.
GOING, GOING GONE
The Green and Gold registered a pair of home runs in the series finale against Elon on April 9. Rookie
Matthew Trehub registered his first career homer on a solo blast to right field, while Hall notched his fourth homer of 2017 with a three-run bomb through the left side. It's the eighth game this season the Tribe hit two dingers in a game and is 6-2 when doing so.
