WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team erased a three-run deficit to take the series finale against Marist, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon. Tribe (3-0) pitchers
Jacob Haney and
Zach Tsakounis held the Red Foxes (0-3) scoreless across eight-consecutive innings to sweep opening weekend.
The game began with the first four Marist batters reaching base, thanks to three singles and an error, resulting in a quick 3-0 lead for the Red Foxes. Despite being held hitless through 5.1 innings, W&M would answer with a run each in the first two frames behind RBI groundouts from freshman
Hunter Hart and sophomore
Matt McDermott.
Haney recovered from a tough start to blank Marist through 3.1 innings, before being relieved by Tskakounis. The Tribe would receive its first base hit from senior
Hunter Smith in the sixth, which set the table for freshman
Matt Thomas' RBI single that would level the score at 3-all.
Freshman
Jack Cone led off the eighth with a long triple off the wall in right, and would come around to score the go-ahead run two pitches later on a wild pitch. In the top of the ninth, Tskakounis induced a double play and grounder to shortstop to pick up the win.
Erubiel Candelario was dealt the loss after yielding the game-clinching run in 1.2 innings of work.
Tribe Standouts
Haney's final line was 4.1 innings, two earned runs, and four strikeouts. Tsakounis pitched 4.2 shutout innings with two strikeouts in his collegiate debut. Cone registered the only extra base hit of the game. Smith went 2-for-4 at the dish, while Thomas notched the RBI single and drew two walks.
Notes
The series sweep marks the first time the Tribe has started a season 3-0 since 2010 … Tsakounis and
Tristan Snyder (2/15) both picked up a win in their collegiate debuts … Cone has tripled in two of his first three collegiate games … The Tribe improved its all-time series lead against Marist to 3-0 after meeting for the first time … Smith recorded a base hit in each game this weekend.
Up Next
The Tribe will take the week off before hosting a weekend series against Sacred Heart from Feb. 22-24.
