HARRISONBURG, Va. – After a pair of masterful pitching and defensive performances in the opening two wins, the William & Mary baseball team dropped its first game at the Colonial Athletic Association Championship on Friday evening at Eagle Field at Veteran's Park. UNCW used six extra-base hits among its eight on the night to score five runs over the sixth and seventh innings to pull out the 5-1 victory in the winner's bracket match-up.  
 
W&M (33-21) struck first thanks to a Jack Cone RBI single in the second inning. Senior Hunter Smith doubled to right-center field to lead off the frame and scored one out later on Cone's knock to right field. The Tribe rookie finished the contest 3-for-3 at the plate.
 
UNCW (31-28), which scored eight runs in each of its first two wins at the tournament, used the longball to its advantage in taking the lead in the sixth inning. Cole Weiss homered over the right field wall to tie the game with one out in the frame before Noah Bridges followed with a two-out blast also to right field to give the Seahawks a 3-1 lead.
 
The Seahawks tacked on two more an inning later thanks to back-to-back extra-base hits from Chris Thorburn (triple) and Greg Jones (double) to open up the four-run cushion, 5-1.
 
In the ninth, the Tribe loaded the bases with just one out on a Matthew Trehub single, a Cone HBP and a Kyle Wrighte walk. Unfortunately, UNCW right-hander Nick Bruno came on to close it out. After getting a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Bruno fielded a nubber off the bat of Thursday night's hero Owen Socher and his throw to first just beat the Tribe senior for the final out of the game. In total, the Tribe stranded nine runners on base, including five in scoring position.
 
Freshman left-hander Zach Tsaukounis turned in W&M's third-straight strong starting effort of the CAA Championship. He tossed 5.1 innings and allowed just one run on four hits, while striking out four. UNCW's Zarion Sharpe out-dueled the Tribe rookie allowing just one run on seven hits and seven strikeouts over 7.2 innings to pick up the victory.
 
How It Happened
- W&M struck first with an RBI single in the top of the second from Cone. Smith led off the frame with a double to the right-center field gap. After Matt McDermott reached on an error, Cone brought home Smith with a single to right field to give W&M the 1-0 lead. UNCW escaped further damage, turning a double play on a popped-up bunt.
- Cone laced a 3-2 offering down the right-field line for a double to lead off the top of the fifth inning. He moved up to third on a ground out to shortstop a batter later but was stranded 90-feet from home.
- UNCW threatened in the fifth before Tsakounis pitched his way out of it. Matt Suggs hit a two-out double to right-center field, and Chris Thorburn was hit by a pitch to give the Seahawks two runners in an inning for the first time on the night. Tsakounis got CAA Player of the Year Greg Jones to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning as Wrighte flipped to McDermott for the force at second.
- Cole Weiss tied the game with a solo home run over the right-field wall with one out in the bottom of the sixth to chase Tsakounis. After a four-pitch walk to Kep Brown, Noah Bridges blasted a two-run homer to right field off sophomore Jacob Haney to give the Seahawks a 3-1 lead.  - With two out in the seventh, the Tribe put two runners on, but could not push any across. Cone singled on a bouncer up the middle and Wrighte was hit by the first pitch he saw to put runners on first and second. Seahawks starter Zarion Sharpe got pinch hitter David Hogarth to ground out on a chopper up the middle to end the threat.
- UNCW used a pair of extra-base hits to tack on a pair of runs in the seventh. Thorburn tripled to left-center field to lead off the frame and scored on a Jones bloop double to right field. Jones moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a balk to give the Seahawks a 5-1 lead.
- In the eighth, senior Zach Pearson doubled into the left-field corner with two outs to chase Sharpe from the contest. Pearson advanced to third on a wild pitch but UNCW reliever Henry Ryan got Smith to ground out to short to end the inning.  
- W&M loaded the bases in the ninth. Trehub led off the frame with a single up the middle. After the first out of the inning, Cone was hit by a pitch and Wrighte drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases. UNCW reliever Nick Bruno came on to close the door striking out pinch-hitter Jason Waldman and getting Socher to ground back to the pitcher to end the game.
 
Notes
Senior Hunter Smith went 2-for-4 at the plate to record his 13th multi-hit game of the season and the 58th of his career … Senior Zach Pearson was 2-for-4 on the night and notched his team-leading 18th multi-hit game of the year … Pearson has 41 multi-hit games in his career … Freshman Jack Cone tied a career-high going 3-for-3 with his fourth three-hit game of the season … It was his 12th multi-hit game overall and second in as many days at the CAA Tournament … Cone leads W&M with six hits in the CAA Tournament … Freshman left-hander Zach Tsakounis pitched into the sixth inning for the fourth time this season and finished with a line of 5.1 innings allowed four hits and one earned run, while striking out four without a walk … Junior reliever Jamie Sara pitched a season-high two innings out of the bullpen striking out three and walking two without allowing a hit.
 
Up Next
The Tribe returns to action on Saturday in its first elimination game of the CAA Championship, taking on No. 1 seed Elon, who downed No. 4 Northeastern to send the Huskies home on Friday. First pitch is set for noon and the game will be broadcast on CAA.TV.