WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team will travel to Big Ten affiliate Maryland, before opening a five-game homestand against George Washington. The Tribe visits the Terrapins on Tuesday, April 3 at 4 pm and host the Colonials on Wednesday, April 4 at 6 pm.
W&M News and Notes
• W&M and Maryland will meet for the 31
st time in series history and the second time in 2018. The Terrapins lead the all-time series, 18-11-1, but the Tribe was victorious in the previous meeting on Feb. 21. The Green and Gold saw four different players collect multiple hits and also tallied four extra base knocks in a 10-4 win. W&M has never defeated Maryland in College Park (0-10-1) but came extremely close in a 9-8 setback on March 7, 2017.
• The Green and Gold and GW will square for the 55
th time in series history on Wednesday. It's the first time the Colonials will travel to Williamsburg since 2012. GW owns a 30-24 all-time series lead against the Tribe. However, W&M has pulled out a win in four of the last five meetings. The Tribe took two out of three during the previous timeout in 2015.
• Big hits powered the Tribe to a 2-2 effort last week, including its first conference win against preseason favorite UNCW on Friday. W&M totaled 10 extra base hits with six doubles, two triples and two home runs. Senior CLASS Award candidate
Ryan Hall led the way with two doubles and a triple for a .750 slugging percentage. Junior
Hunter Smith went yard twice, doubled and tallied six RBI. Rookie
David Hogarth also generated a double in back-to-back games.
• In just his second weekend start, sophomore
Chris Farrell held UNCW, one of the CAA's top three offenses, to just a run. The righty from Great Falls, Va., tied his career-high six strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work. For the season, Farrell owns a 3.00 ERA and a 1-1 record, while holding batters to a .247 average.
• Junior
Zach Pearson is off to a tremendous start in CAA play. After six games, he is hitting .421 (8-for-19) with a triple and five RBI. Pearson also boasts a .526 slugging percentage and a .429 on base rate against conference opponents. He totaled three multi-hit performances against two of the league's top three pitching staffs in UNCW and Charleston.
• The Tribe pitching staff has been supreme in mid-week outings, allowing just 16 earned runs for a 2.19 ERA across seven games. W&M has restricted opponents to a .216 batting average and also posted 59 strikeouts. In the previous four mid-week outings, the Tribe hurlers have allowed no more than two runs.
• Senior
Charlie Fletcher brought his career appearance total to 91 after seeing action in back-to-back games last weekend. The Ashburn, Va., native is closing in on the program record and needs six more nods to become W&M's new appearance leader. Fletcher provided a critical relief effort in Saturday's game (March 31), blanking UNCW in the last 1.1 innings to keep the Tribe down just one run.
• With three more knocks, Hall will rank top 15 in program history in most career hits. After his high-caliber performance over the weekend, he now has 214 career hits and also doubled for the 50
th time at W&M. The Richmond, Va., native ranks top 10 all-time in sacrifice flies (t-5
th), at bats (9
th), walks (9
th) and now doubles (t-10
th).
• Junior
Bodie Sheehan exceeded 150 career strikeouts in two and a half seasons. The Virginia Beach, Va., native has fanned a team-leading 33 batters to go along with a 3.19 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.
