WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team concludes its second five-game homestand with back-to-back mid-week games against in-state rival Radford from March 6-7. Due to a forecast of rain, Tuesday's game was moved to 2 pm and Wednesday will have a 4 pm first pitch.
Streaming and live stats links for both contests are available on the Tribe Baseball
schedule page. Tomorrow's game is also Tasty Tuesday as concessions will sell popcorn and hot dogs for just $2 each. In addition, fans can purchase a $2 youth ticket with the purchase of an adult ticket on Wednesday.
W&M News and Notes
• The Tribe (3-9) earned its first series win last weekend against High Point. It took an extra innings triumph, which is also a 2018 first, followed by the best offensive effort of the season in the series finale. The Green and Gold manufactured season-highs in hits (14), runs scored (13) and RBI (12) in the rubber game. W&M also matched the school record with four sacrifice flies last Sunday.
• W&M and RU will meet for the ninth-10
th time in series history on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Green and Gold owns a 7-1 all-time series lead over the Highlanders. However, Radford defeated W&M, 4-1, during the previous meeting in 2015.
• The W&M pitching staff is fifth-best in the Colonial Athletic Association in batters struck out (98) and stands second in batters struck out looking (36). Five Tribe hurlers have reached double-digit k's, led by junior
Bodie Sheehan and freshman
Jacob Haney. Sheehan, who leads the CAA with 21.2 innings of work, has fanned 18 batters and Haney boasts 15 strikeouts in 14 innings. Senior
Michael Toner and junior
Nick Butts have tallied 13 apiece and sophomore
Wade Strain adds 10 more. Strain punched in seven strikeouts in just four innings of work during the opener with HPU.
• Juniors
Zach Pearson and
Owen Socher both batted at least .400 last weekend. Pearson has paced the offensive effort in the early goings of 2018 and that didn't change against the Panthers. He finished the series 5-for-12 at the plate with an RBI, two walks and three runs scored. Socher generated his best weekend of the year after going 4-for-10, adding a double and two RBI. The Vienna, Va., native also held a .500 slugging percentage and .538 on base rate.
• The Tribe defense ranks 26
th in the nation behind 12 converted double plays. W&M turned a season-high three double plays in its extra-inning affair at No. 18 Virginia. In total, the Green and Gold has executed at least one double plays in eight of its first 12 games.
• Senior
Ryan Hall recorded his 200
th career hit in the fifth inning on Sunday against the Panthers. He is 17 knocks away from raking top 15 in program history. The Richmond, Va., native also tied 15
th all-time with 46 career doubles. His five 2018 doubles tie 48
th in the NCAA and matches second in the CAA.
• Four-year veteran
Charlie Fletcher ties third in program history with 82 career appearances on the bump. The Ashburn, Va., native ties second in the conference after seeing action in six games this year. He tossed a scoreless inning in three of his las four outings, allowing just one hit. Fletcher will break the Tribe record with 15 more appearances.
• Rookie
Matt McDermott is riding a team-best nine-game on-base streak. He drew a walk in three of his last four outing, and recorded his first multi-hit game (2-for-4) in the series finale against High Point (March 4). Junior
Zach Pearson has also reached safely in his last five appearances.
• The month of February pitted the Green and Gold against three Power Five opponents, two of which were ranked top 20 in the nation. In four total games at ACC members No. 10 Clemson and No. 18 Virginia, the Tribe fell in each contest by a combined four runs and went extra innings twice. However, W&M scored a season-high 10 runs in a triumph over Big Ten affiliate Maryland.
• The Green and Gold opens up March with eight consecutive games against Big South programs in High Point, Radford, and Campbell. In all-time series history, W&M boasts a 66-54 (.542) record against Big South opponents after its series win over HPU. After hosting Radford in mid-week action, the Tribe travels to Campbell for a three-game set (March 9-11).
• W&M will play against another school from the Commonwealth 13 times in 2018. The Tribe plays VCU (L, 4-3), Virginia (4-3), Radford (March 6-7), George Mason (March 21), Old Dominion (March 28; April 10), James Madison (April 13-15), Norfolk State (April 17), Richmond (April 24), and Virginia Tech (May 15). The Green and Gold is currently 0-2 against in-state foes.
• 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 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.
• Rookie
Justin Pearson has shown signs of promise in his two appearances of relief. The Stafford, Va., product is yet to surrender a run in four innings of work. He went three innings with three hits and a strikeout against VCU (Feb. 20), before fanning a batter and conceding a hit in an inning versus Quinnipiac (Feb. 25). Pearson also tops the CAA in runners picked off (two).
• Graduate transfer
Andrew Burnick earned his first win in a Green and Gold uniform last week. He hurled two shutout frames, including two strikeouts and no hits, against Big Ten rival Maryland. Burnick has logged 4.0 innings of work out of the bullpen, fanned four batters and held opponents to a .133 hitting average.
• The Tribe has launched three home runs in the first two weeks of 2018. Hall was the first W&M player to go yard with a three-run bomb (14th of his career) in the season-opener at No. 12 Clemson. Junior
Hunter Smith followed up the next day with a solo jack, the eighth of his career. In the triumph over Maryland, Pearson blasted his second homer at W&M.
• 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.
• Under head coach
Brian Murphy, W&M has fashioned three 30-plus win seasons in his four years as the skipper. His most wins (34) occurred in his first season at the helm (2014), resulting in CAA Coach of the Year honors. Murphy owns a career record of 122-117 (.510) and 54-35 (.600) mark in conference play as of March 5.
