WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team matched its season-best three home runs in a 9-6 setback against Colonial Athletic Association rival Hofstra on Sunday afternoon. The Tribe (15-29, 3-15 CAA) outhit the Pride (21-15, 10-8 CAA) 12-to-9, but was unable to dig out of a five-run hole during the weekend finale.
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The Green and Gold ignited a late comeback bid in the bottom of the eighth inning, trailing 6-1. Senior
Luca Farina reached on a fielder's choice to set up junior
Jason Waldman for a two-out two-RBI bomb to right field, cutting the deficit to 6-3.
Nonetheless, the Pride juiced the bases in the ninth inning and pushed across three insurance runs to claim a 9-3 margin. In the bottom half of the frame, W&M took big swings in its effort to make a tremendous comeback.
Sophomore
Brandon Raquet led off the frame with a solo shot to right field. After senior
Ryan Hall slashed a single through the left side, junior
Hunter Smith rocketed a two-RBI blast to right field. However, Chris Weiss fanned two the last three batters to strikeout the side and complete a series sweep.
Tribe Standouts
Raquet and Smith paced the Green and Gold with two hits, including a home run, apiece. Waldman also matched Smith with two RBI, while sophomore
Patrick Ryan generated an RBI double in the second inning. Rookie
Jacob Haney led the pitching staff with five strikeouts, two hits and a run in 3.2 innings of relief. Senior
Robert White also hurled 1.1 shutout innings and fanned two of just four batters faced.
Inside the Numbers
- Two-out hits hindered W&M as Hofstra batted .357 (5-for-14) and platted four runs when down to its last out.
- The Tribe finished the game hitting .316 (12-for-38), but gave up four critical extra base hits, including a three-run homer in the first.
- The Pride also capitalized on key opportunities by hitting .375 (6-for-16) with runners in scoring position and .750 (3-for-4) with runners on third, less than two outs.
- Teddy Cillis (2-3) took over the game in the second and went six innings with four K's, five hits and two runs for the win.
- Sophomore
Chris Farrell (2-3) gave up five runs on four hits in the first two innings to take the loss.
- Chris Weiss gained his seventh save after receiving the ball with the game-tying run on deck in the eighth.
Notes
The last time the Green and Gold homered three times was in a 8-7 win over Towson (4/6)…The three dingers also tie 13
th in program history…Raquet went yard for the second time in as many days – the fifth of his career…Smith increased his 2018 home run total to eight, while Waldman added his second at W&M…Hall leaped to eighth for most hits (230) in Tribe history…Hall also pushed his on-base streak to a 2018-best 11 consecutive games…Ryan tallied his third double of the season…Smith ties first on the team with 12 multi-hit games…The Tribe suffered its fifth loss despite outhitting an opponent (8-5).
Up Next
The Tribe is back in action next weekend at No. 3 North Carolina State. The series opens on Friday, May 4 at 6:30 pm, continues on Saturday, May 5 again at 6:30 pm and concludes on Sunday, May 6 at 1 pm.
