WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team opened 2019 with a big splash after claiming a doubleheader sweep of Marist by scores of 8-3 and 3-2 on Friday. The Tribe (2-0) scored critical runs late in each contest for back-to-back wins over the Red Foxes (0-2).
GAME 1: W&M 8, Marist 3
W&M got off to a fast start as redshirt senior
Kyle Wrighte tripled in his first at bat of the season. He was then plated on a sacrifice fly by freshman
Jack Cone. After rookie
Hunter Hart drew a walk and senior
Hunter Smith singled, senior
Zach Pearson extended the lead with a two-out, two-RBI double.
Marist would get a run back in the top of the third thanks to a two-out double from Frankie Gregoire. Regardless, the Tribe quickly responded in the bottom half. Smith drew a walk and advanced all the way to third via wild pitch and a grounder. He then crossed home plate following a Red Foxes' error.
A two-RBI home run from Marist's Tyler Kapuscinski cut the Tribe's lead to 4-3 in the fifth. However, W&M answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh as rookie
Matt Thomas belted a RBI single and Pearson scored behind another Red Fox error.
W&M tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth and freshman
Tristan Snyder closed out the game with a three up, three down ninth inning.
The Tribe freshmen enjoyed a big day, with Cone tripling, Hart reaching base three times, and Snyder hurling 4.2 innings with six strikeouts for his first collegiate win.
GAME 2: W&M 3, Marist 2
After escaping an early jam in the top of the first, senior
Bodie Sheehan settled down and went four scoreless innings before W&M broke the 0-0 tie on an error by Marist. However, the Red Foxes responded in the next half inning with two runs of their own to take the lead.
After a scoreless half inning from each team, Wrighte tied the game, 2-2, after blasting a long home run to left-center. Two innings later it was senior
Brandon Raquet who went deep, this time to right, scoring what would eventually be the winning run, giving the Tribe a permanent 3-2 lead.
Redshirt-junior
Chris Farrell pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win for the Tribe. Zane Kmietek took the loss for Marist.
Tribe Standouts
Raquet highlighted the doubleheader after finishing the day 3-for-6 with a home run and double. Pearson went 2-for-6 with a double and drove in two runs. Wrighte contributed two hits with a triple, while Smith had two base knocks as well.
Sheehan went six innings with four strikeouts, five hits and two runs in game two. In game one, Snyder tossed 4.2 shutout innings. Sophomore
Randy Prosperi and Farrell also threw 2.1 scoreless innings of relief.
Notes
Tribe started a new season undefeated for the first time since 2012 …Sheehan needs one more start to tie
Nick Brown '17 for fifth all-time in program history … W&M is now 2-0 in all-time series history against Marist … The Tribe played a total of four freshman in its season debut … All of the rookies featured in the starting lineup earned their first collegiate hit.
Up Next
The third game on Saturday, Feb. 16 has been moved back to 4 pm due to a forecast of rain.
