By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
Officially, William & Mary has lost eight of its last nine games entering the CAA baseball tournament, which begins Wednesday in Wilmington, North Carolina. Yet because of a ruling snafu that occurred three weeks earlier, the Tribe was able to finish the regular season on a high.
 
To recap: On April 25 at Plumeri Park, W&M swept a doubleheader against James Madison. However, the first game mistakenly ended after seven innings. Conference rules stipulate all games, including doubleheaders, must be nine innings.
 
So last Tuesday, two days after the regular season supposedly had ended, the teams resumed play at Plumeri with Tribe leading 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh. W&M not only held on, it tacked on four runs for a 10-3 victory.
 
"The way everything played out, with the way we finished it by scoring more runs, that was definitely a bit of a momentum boost," Tribe catcher Matt Trehub said.
 
"We knew those two innings might be something that would lead us in getting into the tournament or not. It's something we can only use as momentum."
 
It certainly left a better taste than two days earlier, when W&M lost a one-run game in 11 innings at Madison. W&M led that game 3-0 after four innings and 5-2 in the middle of the seventh.
 
As the No. 6 seed, William & Mary (13-27, 10-14) will open against No. 3 Elon (21-20, 10-8) in the double-elimination tournament Wednesday at 4 p.m. The Tribe and Phoenix split six games during the regular season with each sweeping a weekend series at home.
 
This game will be in the neutral setting of Brooks Field in Wilmington.
 
"Something's gotta give," William & Mary coach Brian Murphy said.
 
In Elon's three-game sweep, the Tribe was held to 13 runs on 17 hits. The following weekend, W&M had 27 runs on 33 hits.
 
The Phoenix's Brian Edgington pitched a three-hit shutout with no walks in an 8-0 win on April 11. A week later, The Tribe plated seven runs on eight hits in one inning against him.
 
"He almost no-hit us at Elon, but we did a much better job against him here," Murphy said. "That's baseball. There are adjustments from the first series to the second series, and there are adjustments from the second series to now. You're never the same as you were the day before."
 
William & Mary comes into the tournament with a team batting average of .235, but the sticks have heated up with the weather. In its final four games, the Tribe scored 27 runs and batted .306.
 
"We've got a dangerous lineup," Trehub said. "It's a matter of stringing together quality at bats one through nine and getting a hit to fall here and there. That's when you can explode for some of those big innings we've been able to have lately."
 
Of course, pitching is especially huge this time of year — not just the starting rotation, but the entire staff.
 
Statistically, the Tribe has a team ERA of 5.46 and an opponent's batting average of .311. But individually, junior lefty Zach Tsakounis has worked at least six innings in each of his last four starts. Senior RHP Wade Strain has pitched into the seventh inning seven times and showed his mental strength last week.
 
At James Madison on May 15, Strain lasted one inning and gave up seven earned runs. But when W&M had to finish that mistakenly shortened game against the Dukes three days later, with a spot in the CAA tournament possibly on the line, Murphy didn't hesitate to use his fifth-year senior.
 
It paid off. Strain threw two scoreless innings to close it out.
 
"He was the perfect guy to pitch that," Murphy said. "Obviously, he had a bad outing Saturday prior, but the guy's been with us five years. You don't lose everything he's done for five years over two innings."
 
Trehub could see how badly Strain wanted the ball.
 
"For him personally," Trehub said, "that was a little bit of a redemption."
 
After a unique regular season, this promises to be a unique tournament.
 
To minimize travel and COVID exposure, the CAA created a divisional schedule. Of the teams in the tournament, Northeastern and Towson were in the North; UNCW, Elon, Charleston, and W&M were in the South.
 
So while W&M is very familiar with Elon, UNCW and Charleston, it hasn't played Northeastern or Towson since 2019. And vice versa, of course.
 
"Whoever wins this thing is going to have to play awesome, whether you're the 1 seed or the 6 seed or anywhere in between," Murphy said.
 
"You have to have guys step up, you have to win different types of games, and you have to beat several opponents. What we have now is a chance to play awesome in a four- or five-day stretch and see if we can do something cool."
 
Murphy has an impressive track record in the CAA tournament with nine wins, including three as the lower seed, in five trips. The Tribe finished as runner-up in 2014 and won the title two years later.
 
Trehub, who last weekend received his Master of Science in Business Analytics, believes more success is ahead.
 
"We're as dangerous a 6 seed in the CAA tournament as there's been in a long time," he said.

Find complete game notes for the CAA Championship here.