WILLIAMSBURG, VA.- A pair of big innings and lights out pitching from the bullpen powered William & Mary to a 13-5 win over UNCW Friday night at Plumeri Park. The Tribe scored six in the fourth and five in the fifth to erase a 5-0 early deficit in the CAA opener. The win improved the Green and Gold to 10-9 on the year and was the team's fifth straight victory.
For the second straight game,
Cole Ragone homered and
Matt Thomas and
Mark Trotta each had a pair of hits and knocked in three, while
Max Winters knocked in two and scored three times.
Matt Howat,
Adam Fischer, and
Randy Prosperi combined to toss 7.1 scoreless innings out of the pen allowing just three hits. Howat earned his second win of the year, throwing 3.1 innings and striking out a pair.
The Seahawks wasted no time getting to the Tribe as lead off man Taber Mongero took a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right. The visitors added on as a pair of William & Mary errors scored another but
Tom Mayer would retire the next three men to limit the damage. UNCW would strike again in the second, scoring three runs on a pair of hits to open the game up, 5-0.
After a pair of scoreless frames from Howat, the Tribe busted out for a six-run fourth inning to take the lead. Ragone started the party with a solo homer and
Ben Williamson singled and later scored on a single from
Jack Cone.
David Hogarth walked and a
Joe Delossantos single would bring home Cone. The Tribe tied the game as Hogarth and Delossantos scored on
Max Winters' single up the middle. The lead would come on a
Matt Thomas RBI single making it 6-5.
Howat would shut down the Seahawks again in the fifth and the Tribe would break open the game with a five spot in the bottom half. UNCW would walk the bases loaded and a single from
Tyler Solomon would plate a run. Winters and Hogarth came in on a Trotta single to center and two men scored as Thomas swatted a triple off the wall in dead center.
The Tribe patted on an insurance run in the seventh as Ragone shot a two-out single up the middle to plate Thomas making it a 12-5 ballgame and one in the eighth as Trotta would single to knock in Winters.
Prosperi would retire all seven men he faced. The righty entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh and struck out his man to end the inning. He would then get one, two, three frames in the eighth and ninth to give the Tribe the win.
Up Next: The same two teams will battle at 2:00 p.m. Saturday at Plumeri Park.
