WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team travels to Harrisonburg, Va., for a Colonial Athletic Association series with James Madison this weekend. The three-game set opens on Friday, April 13 at 6 pm, resumes on Saturday, April 14 at 4 pm, and concludes on Sunday, April 15 at 1 pm.
The series lid-lifter will be broadcasted on MadiZONE HD SportsNet, while the last two games will have an audio-only stream via
Portal Stretch.
W&M News and Notes
• W&M and JMU will meet for the 123
rd-125
th time in series history over the weekend. The Dukes lead the all-time series, 74-48, but the Tribe has been on the winning side in the last five matchups. Last year, the Green and Gold walked off twice in a sweep of the Dukes at Plumeri Park.
• After hosting 65 percent of its games, the Tribe will hit its longest road stretch of 2018 in the coming weeks. W&M will compete in a hostile environment in six of its next seven games, which includes a northern trip to CAA rival Northeastern (April 20-22). In total, the Tribe finishes out the season with 13 of its last 21 games away from Williamsburg.
• The Tribe earned its first comeback win in completing a season sweep of in-state rival Old Dominion on Tuesday night. W&M overcame a late one-run deficit with a seventh inning rally to edge the Monarchs, 4-3. Junior
Nick Butts and senior
Charlie Fletcher combined to shutout ODU in the last 3.1 innings. Butts received his second win, both of which occurred against the Monarchs, and Fletcher pick up his first save.
• Senior
Charlie Fletcher is destined to become W&M's all-time appearance leader following this weekend's series. Currently at 95, Fletcher is just two calls away from breaking the record set by
Pete Vernon '08 ten years ago. The Ashburn, Va., native currently ties sixth in the CAA record books. Fletcher leads the league with 15 appearances, owns a 4.95 ERA, and struck out 13 batters.
• Junior
Hunter Smith is one of the CAA's top run manufacturers as he ties ninth in the league with 23 RBI. The cleanup hitter specializes in the deep ball, tying for fourth in the conference on six homers. Smith paces the Tribe in slugging percentage (.445), in two-out RBI (14) and is riding a season-best seven game hitting streak.
• Following a 2-for-5 effort against ODU, Senior CLASS Award Candidate
Ryan Hall now ranks 14
th in Tribe history in most hits (219). He is also top 10 in school history in doubles (t-eighth), walks (seventh), games started (eighth), at bats (eighth
h) and sacrifice flies (t-fifth). The outfielder is eighth in the CAA with 12 doubles.
• Over the last six games, junior
Colin Lipke has been experiencing a torrid stretch, hitting .400 (8-for-20) with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBI. The community college transfer boasts a .860 slugging percentage and .556 on base percentage during the period. Lipke produced two three-RBI games and is on a six-game hitting streak.
• Sophomore
Wade Strain saved all three wins for the Tribe last week, tossing 3.2 innings with no earned runs allowed, six hits and two strikeouts. The effort lowered his season ERA to a 1.67. Strain ranks second in the CAA in both appearances (18) and games finished (14), while boasting the third-most saves in the association (6).
• A quick start is critical for the Tribe in winning games. The Green and Gold is 8-1 when it scores in the first inning and 13-4 in scoring the first run of a game. W&M has also displayed the ability to maintain a lead with a 10-3 mark when ahead after six innings. The Tribe also improved to 6-2 in night games.
• Relief pitcher
Michael Toner is enjoying a standout senior season with the Green and Gold. He has notched career-highs in appearances (14), innings pitched (23.2), and strikeouts (30). The Cummings, Ga., native has allowed just seven earned runs on 22 hits for a 2.66 ERA. He also pitched in a shutout against ETSU (March 16).
• Competing in tight game has been a major story lines for W&M in 2018. Exactly half its contests, 17 out of 34, have resulted in a one-run decision. The Tribe pulled out its last three wins by a single run to improve to 7-10 in the nail-biting affairs. Additionally, the Green and Gold has gone to extra innings six times, holding a 3-3 ledger.
• Rookie
Matt McDermott is one of just nine CAA players to triple at least two times this year. As the only freshman to start every game, McDermott is third-best on the team in hits (31) and batting .294 in conference play. The second baseman has tallied seven multi-hit games and ties first for the longest reached base streak (10). His nine sacrifice hits also tie eighth in Tribe history.
• Junior
Bodie Sheehan has been one of most effective hurlers in the association with a CAA-leading 54.0 innings pitched. The Virginia Beach, Va., native is also exceptional at finding the strike zone after walking just six batters, which slots third in the league. Sheehan is 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.
• Three week ago, redshirt sophomore
Chris Farrell was promoted to the weekend rotation and the decision has paid off for the Tribe so far. He earned his second win versus Towson after hurling 5.0 innings with three strikeouts and two runs (both earned) on five hits. The weekend before last, Farrell restricted UNCW to just one run on six hits in 4.1 innings.
• 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 (W, 5-2; W, 4-3), James Madison (April 13-15), Norfolk State (April 17), Richmond (April 24), and Virginia Tech (May 15). So far, the Green and Gold is 3-3 versus in-state rivals.
• Three former Tribe players in the pros have received their minor-league assignments, all of them drafted last year. After helping the rookie level Elizabethton Twins capture a league title last summer, Nick Brown '17 will start his second season pitching for the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Parent Club: Minnesota Twins). Third round draft pick Nick Raquet will hurl for the Hagerstown Suns (Parent Club: Washington Nationals), while fifth rounder Cullen Large was assigned to the Lansing Lugnuts (Parent Club: Toronto Blue Jays).
