WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team returns to Plumeri Park to host preseason favorite UNCW in its first Colonial Athletic Association home series. The three-game set opens on Friday, March 30 at 6 pm, continues on Saturday, March 31 at 4 pm and ends on Sunday, March 3 1 at 1 pm.
Each contest will be broadcasted on Tribe Athletics TV via
Stretch Internet and live stat links can be found on the Tribe Baseball
schedule page.
There will also be an assortment of promotions throughout the weekend. An Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday highlights the docket as fans can search Plumeri Park for a chance to win awesome prizes hidden in Easter eggs. For more details, check out the Tribe Baseball promotion schedule by clicking
here.
W&M News and Notes
• W&M and UNCW will meet for the 107
th-109
th time in series history over the weekend. The Seahawks have had the upper hand for most of the all-time series history, owning 78-28 advantage, but the Tribe is 3-3 in the last six meetings. In addition, two of the past three matchups were decided by one run.
• The Seahawks are the third program the Tribe will face from the border state of North Carolina. The previous N.C. teams were Big South Representatives High Point and Campbell. So far, W&M has gone 6-4 against its border line opponents if you include the outings against Maryland (Feb. 21) and East Tennessee State (March 16-18).
• After scoring in the top of the first at Old Dominion, the Green and Gold is now unbeaten at 5-0 when striking in the opening frame. W&M improved to 8-3 when it tacks on the first run of a game and 7-2 after leading through six innings. Additionally, the Tribe enjoys playing under the lights with a 3-1 record in night games.
• Big hits from junior
Hunter Smith was once again critical in leading the Tribe to a victory, this time at Old Dominion (March 28). Smith homered for the fourth time this year and platted four (season-high) of W&M's five runs. He was a triple away from hitting for the cycle on Wednesday night. The Caldwell, N.J., product paces the team in slugging percentage (.430), and RBI (18), and multi-hit (eight) and multi-RBI (five) efforts. Furthermore, 12 of Smith's RBI occurred with two outs.
• Senior
Ryan Hall notched his eighth double of 2018 in mid-week action and now needs just one more to reach 50 in his career. He will become just the 12
th player in Tribe history to hit the mark. The Senior CLASS Award candidate also needs 7 more knocks to become one of the program's top 15 hitters with 210 so far. Hall already ranks top 12 all-time in sacrifice flies (t-9
th), at bats (10
th), and walks (11
th).
• Four-year reliever
Charlie Fletcher tossed a scoreless frame with two strikeouts and two hits in his 89
th career appearance vs. the Monarchs. For those keeping track, Fletcher is now eight calls to the mound away from breaking the W&M record. He has allowed just two runs (both earned) in his last 7.1 innings of work, lowering his ERA to 3.46.
• Riding a season-high four-game hitting streak, rookie
Matt McDermott has strung together an impressive stretch of offensive production since March 9. During the stint, McDermott has led the team in batting average (.359), hits (14) and on base percentage (.405), while adding a triple and scoring eight runs. He also earned a base hit in all but two games in the span, including a season-high three hits at conference-leading College of Charleston (March 24).
• Senior
Michael Toner is experiencing a successful final campaign as he has already exceeded his career-high in strikeouts (23), which ties second on the team. Toner is also very close to setting new personal-best in appearances (11) and inning pitched (19.0). The righty out of Cumming, Ga., holds a 2.84 ERA and contributed to a shutout against ETSU (March 16).
• Following this weekend's home set, the Tribe will have played 17 of its first 28 games in Williamsburg. The Green and Gold has held two five-game homestands and will have one more from the span of April 4-10. W&M holds a 7-7 ledger at Plumeri Park and is 6-3 in the second month of the season.
• The Tribe pitching staff enjoyed a robust effort at Old Dominion after totaling 12 strikeouts and holding an opponent to two earned runs or less for the 11
th time this year. Despite yielding nine hits to the Monarchs, the Green and Gold did not allow any with runners in scoring position. The W&M arms are fourth-best in the CAA in strikeouts (190) and rank second in batters struck out looking (63).
• Junior
Bodie Sheehan is four strikeouts away from surpassing 150 in his career. The Virginia Beach, Va., native has fanned a team-leading 28 batters to go along with a 3.12 ERA. He is also the only Tribe player to collect a weekly award after being named CAA Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 20) following an exceptional Friday start at then-ranked No. 12 Clemson.
• 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.
