WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The William & Mary baseball team picked up a walk-off win on Wednesday night at Plumeri Park. Senior Zach Pearson scored on sophomore Matt McDermott's grounder with one out in the ninth to give the Tribe a 2-1 win over George Washington.
 
In the ninth, the Tribe (22-14) loaded the bases on a trio of walks to Pearson, junior Matt Trehub and an intentional pass to senior Jason Waldman following a GW wild pitch. McDermott hit a grounder to short, and Pearson scored the winner when the throw to the plate was off line.
 
Four Tribe pitchers combined to throw a strong nine innings. Senior Nick Butts pitched three scoreless innings to start the game before giving way to sophomore Justin Pearson, who allowed a run in three frames. Sophomore Randy Prosperi struck out four in two scoreless innings, and junior Chris Farrell picked up the win, pitching the ninth.
 
Defensively, the Tribe received a pair of huge outfield assists in the sixth and eighth innings. The combination of freshman right fielder Matt Thomas and McDermott threw out the Colonials' first potential run of the game at the plate in the sixth, before senior Owen Socher cut down the go-ahead run in the eighth on a perfect throw followed by a nice tag from senior catcher Hunter Smith.
 
W&M struck first in the second as Waldman drove home Trehub, who doubled to lead off the frame, with a single up the middle. George Washington (21-15) junior Jaret Edwards threw eight strong innings to keep the Tribe offense at bay. He struck out six and allowed just four hits to go with the one run.
 
How It Happened
- George Washington threatened in the top of second, loading the bases on three-straight walks. Senior starter Nick Butts got GW's Steve Barmakian to ground out to second in first pitch of his at-bat to end the frame.
- Junior Matt Trehub led off the bottom of the second by legging out a double to right field. Senior Jason Waldman brought him home with a single back through the box. 
- GW tied the game in the sixth. Nate Fassnacht and Dom D'Alessandro led off the inning with back-to-back singles to right field. Tyler Hix doubled to right, but the Tribe turned in a nice defensive play to cut down the Colonials' potential run. Freshman Matt Thomas and sophomore Matt McDermott turned a nice relay throw, and senior Hunter Smith tagged Fassnacht out at the plate. Derek Ripp grounded out to first base to score D'Alessandro to tie the game at one. 
- The Tribe received another terrific defensive play to cut down a GW runner at the plate in the eighth. Fassnacht reached on an error and moved up 90-feet on another D'Alessandro single. After a strikeout, Ripp's blooper landed just inside the left field. Senior Owen Socher fielded it on a bounce and fired home to cut down Fassnacht trying to score from second. Prosperi struck out Anthony Frechette to end the inning.
- The Tribe threatened in the home half of the eighth. With two outs, senior Kyle Wrighte was hit by a pitch and junior Brandon Raquet singled through the left side to give W&M a pair of base runners. Thomas flew out to right field to end the threat. 
- Wrighte made another nice defensive play in the top of the ninth. Logan Doran singled to center and advanced into scoring position on a Cade Fergus sacrifice bunt. Wrighte fielded a Barmakian ground and threw out the lead runner at third before Farrell struck out pinch hitter Alex O'Rourke.
- With one out in the bottom of the ninth, senior Zach Pearson and Trehub earned back-to-back walks off George Washington reliever Pat Knight. The Colonials' second relief pitcher of the frame, Keagan McGinnis, uncorked a wild pitch to advance the Tribe runners and then intentionally walked Waldman to load the bases. With the infield drawn in, McDermott grounded to short, but Fassnacht's throw home was off the mark, and Pearson scored to set off a Tribe celebration.
 
Notes
W&M recorded its first walk-off win of the season and its first since March 18, 2018 against ETSU … The Tribe's pitchers combined for seven strikes over nine innings of work … After picking up the win over W&M last week, striking out five over three innings, GW's Pat Knight walked two in just a third of an inning and took the loss … Junior Chris Farrell struck out one, pitching the ninth to pick up the win and improve to 3-1 on the year … Junior Matt Trehub's double in the second was his fifth of the year, while senior Jason Waldman's RBI was his ninth of the year … Senior Hunter Smith picked up a single in the first inning, giving him 199 for his career … He is just one shy of becoming the 10th player in school history with 200 hits.
 
Up Next
- The Tribe wraps up its homestand with a three-game set against CAA foe Elon this weekend.  The series commences on Friday, April 19, at 6 p.m.
- W&M and Elon square off on Saturday, April 20, at 4 p.m., before wrapping up the three-game league series on Sunday, April 21, at 1 p.m.
- All three games will be broadcast on Tribe Athletics TV.