WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team will finish out its four-game road swing at in-state rival Old Dominion on Wednesday, March 28 at 6 pm. The broadcast of the matchup can be accessed on
cusa.tv for a fee of $6.95, while live stats are available for free by clicking
here.
W&M News and Notes
• W&M and ODU will meet for the 139th time in series history on Wednesday evening. The Monarchs hold an 86-52 all-time series lead against the Tribe. ODU swept the 2017 regular season series with the Tribe by scores of 11-6 and 6-3.
• So far, the Tribe is 3-3 in its mid-week games. Two of the wins were claimed by double-digit runs, while the other was captured in the 10th inning. The mid-week success has been due in large part to the pitching staff, allowing just 14 earned runs for a 2.22 ERA and holding opponents to a .204 batting average.
• A quick start is key to the Tribe in gaining wins. The Green and Gold is 4-0 when it scores in the first inning and 7-3 after putting up the first run of a game. W&M has also been able to protect its lead down the stretch with a 6-2 mark when leading after six innings.
• Senior
Jason Waldman made a big splash in his first start as the designated hitter on Saturday at CofC. He was 2-for-5 with his first home run and a career-best four RBI. Waldman's homer was a two-out three-run bomb to left field, giving W&M a one-run advantage. He drove in his fourth run behind a single to the pitcher in the seventh.
• Over the last seven games, a trio of juniors
Zach Pearson and
Matt McDermott and freshman
Matt McDermott have hit over .300. Pearson leads the way with a .391 batting average (9-for-23) with a double and seven RBI. McDermott is batting .308 (8-for-26) over the stretch and earned a base hit in all but one game. Lipke, a junior college transfer, is starting to adjust to the DI level after hitting .300 (9-for-30) with four double and three RBI during the period.
• After tallying his sixth multi-hit game last weekend, Senior CLASS Award candidate
Ryan Hall needs eight more hits to tie 15th all-time in Tribe history. The Richmond, Va., native has collected 209 career knocks, while also ranking top 12 at W&M in most sacrifice flies (t-9th), at bats (t-10th), walks (11th), and doubles (12th).
• Senior
Charlie Fletcher continues to close in on the program appearances record after seeing action twice at CofC. He upped his career total to 88 and is now nine appearance away from setting a new Tribe standard. Fletcher logged three scoreless innings out of the bullpen over the weekend to lower his ERA to 3.75.
• Four-year reliever
Michael Toner is enjoying a successful senior campaign as he has already exceeded his career-high in strikeouts (23), which ranks second on the team. Toner is also very close to setting new personal-best in appearances (10) and inning pitched (18.0). The righty out of Cumming, Ga., holds a 3.00 ERA and contributed to a shutout against ETSU (March 16).
• W&M will play against another school from the Commonwealth 12 times in 2018. The Tribe plays VCU (L, 4-3), No. 18 Virginia (L, 4-3), Radford (L, 2-1; W, 3-2), Old Dominion (March 28; April 10), James Madison (April 13-15), Norfolk State (April 17), Richmond (April 24), and Virginia Tech (May 15). So far, the Green and Gold is 1-3 versus in-state rivals.
• Junior
Bodie Sheehan was named CAA Pitcher of the Week for the week of Feb. 20. He went seven strong innings with four strikeouts, an earned run and three hits on Feb. 16 at then-ranked No. 12 Clemson. The honor marks the third weekly conference award of his career. Furthermore, Sheehan has fanned 12 batters in a conference-leading 14 innings of work.
• A trio of Tribe Baseball players earned preseason recognition from the Colonial Athletic Association, highlighted by sophomore
Brandon Raquet making the All-Conference Team. Hall and Smith both received Honorable Mention distinctions. In the predicted order of finish, the Tribe tied fifth with Elon with 37 points. UNCW (six first-place votes) is the preseason favorite, followed by Delaware (three first-place votes) and College of Charleston rounding out the top three.
