WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Despite an early 2-0 lead and eight scoreless innings by the Tribe's pitching staff, William & Mary baseball fell to No. 15 Virginia on the road Tuesday evening, 6-2.

With one breakout inning, the Cavaliers were able to get six runs across for the midweek victory to advance to an overall record of 14-3. The Tribe fell to 10-6 on the season.

To open the game, Nate Knowles silenced one of the most potent offensive lineups in the nation for four straight innings, allowing only two hits and two walks while striking out five.

Of his strikeouts, most notably, was Virginia's second baseman Henry Godbout who entered the game as one of only three qualifying players in the NCAA to have no strikeouts on the season, maintaining the mark over 16 games. In the bottom of the fourth, Knowles caught Godbout looking for the first time this year and Travis Garnett added a second strikeout, swinging, in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Ben Parker opened the scoring for the day, launching an opposite field home run on only the sixth pitch of the game. Ahead 1-0 in the count, Parker extended his hit streak to 10 games and knocked out his team-leading sixth home run in the process.

Head's up baserunning allowed Nate Goranson to score the second of the Tribe's runs in the second inning, coming across on a wild pitch that eluded the sight-line of Virginia's catcher. 

Mark Hindy entered the game in the fifth inning, dealing a scoreless frame of his own. Following the gap in scoring for both teams, Virginia took a brief hold of the game in the sixth frame, scoring six runs on four Cavalier hits and one Tribe error. 

Garnett held down the game on the bump for the Green & Gold in the final two innings, throwing a perfect seventh frame and allowing only one baserunner in the form of a walk in the eighth.

With a wild pitch moving runners to second and third in the top of the ninth, it looked like a comeback could be in the cards for the Tribe, but a called strikeout sealed the game for the Cavaliers. Virginia's bullpen combined for 7.2 innings without allowing a run following the pair scored on the Cavalier starter in the first two innings.
 
Up Next
The Tribe continues its road trip as it prepares to take on Longwood Wednesday, March 13. Then the Tribe will return home to wrap up their final non-conference weekend with Quinnipiac on Friday-Sunday, March 15-17.
 
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