WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball pitchers combined for a three-hit shutout, and junior Cullen Large recorded W&M's fourth home run of the weekend as they dispatched Charleston, 2-0, to complete a three-game sweep on Sunday afternoon.
 
With its fourth straight win, the Tribe moves to 28-21 overall and 12-6 in CAA action, while the Cougars fall to 22-25, 12-9 in league play.
 
Large led the Tribe after finishing 2-for-4 with two RBI and his second homer of the series and sixth of the season. Rookie Brandon Raquet posted a 3-for-4 effort with a double.
 
Senior Daniel Powers paced the shutout effort by spinning 7.2 innings with just two hits allowed and two strikeouts. Junior Charlie Fletcher logged 0.1 innings, and once again it was senior Nick Brown claiming his third consecutive save after fanning a batter and surrendering just one hit in the top of the ninth. Brown has now tallied five total saves for the season.
 
The Green and Gold struggled to capitalize on early opportunities after leaving a runner on third base in the first and second inning. In the bottom of the first, Raquet laced a leadoff doubled down the right line and advanced to third on a grounder. However, two more groundouts left him stranded.
 
In the home half of the second, senior Charles Ameer hit a one-out single and an error by first baseman Ari Sechopoulos advanced him to second. Following the second out, Ameer moved to third base behind a pass ball, but redshirt sophomore Kyle Wrighte grounded out to shortstop to end the frame.
 
Nonetheless, W&M's defense was fantastic as the team converted a couple of double plays in the first and second inning and kept the Cougars out of scoring position until the fourth inning. In the top of the fourth, Tommy Richter reached on an error at third base with one out. A grounder bumped Richter to second base, but Powers retired the side with a fly out to left field.
 
The Tribe finally broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth. Raquet led off the frame with a single to left center. Large then dialed up the two-run blast to right field, lifting W&M to a 2-0 advantage.
 
W&M maintained its two-run advantage concluding the seventh and eighth inning and relied on Brown for the third consecutive game to preserve the win in the top of the ninth. Brown was hit in the leg by a leadoff single, but stayed in the game to retire the next three batters on a strikeout looking and back-to-back fly outs.
 
The sweep marks the Tribe's fourth 3-0 weekend of the season and the second against a CAA rival. The team has also achieved its highest win percentage of the season (.571) at seven games over .500.
 
W&M returns to action with another key CAA series against Northeastern next week. The three-game set begins with a single game on Thursday, May 11 at 6 p.m. and concludes with a doubleheader on Friday, May 12 at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. The Green and Gold will recognize its graduating players for senior day between game one and two of the doubleheader.