WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Driven by a remarkable effort on the mound, William & Mary baseball (17-6, 2-0) swept Stony Brook (9-12, 0-2) in its Friday doubleheader, winning the conference opener by a score of 6-1 and taking the second game, 3-1, to clinch the first CAA series of 2024.

Across 18 innings on day one of conference play, five pitchers combined to allow just two runs, only one of which was earned, and six hits while fanning 18 Seawolves.

The pair of wins marked the Green & Gold's sixth and seventh straight victories, the second time this season they have achieved that mark.

In the series opener, Nate Knowles, Mark Hindy and Carter Lovasz posted the Tribe's third combined two-hitter on the year. Hindy, in quite the impressive feat, is the lone arm to appear in all three of them and has earned the win in two, including his fourth win of the season in Friday's first game.

Lovazs posted a near-perfect relief effort, catching a pair of Seawolves looking to turn a 1-2-3 frame in his first inning of work. His only baserunner reached on a walk in the ninth before his third strikeout and a fly out ended game one.

Zack Potts earned the win in the second game, improving to a 4-0 record on the year. He matched his season-long outing from last Saturday, going 6.0 innings to start. He and Owen Pierce combined to allow a season-best zero walks.

Pierce was perfect, retiring all nine batters he faced in order to earn his fourth save of the season, notching four strikeouts in the process. 

Josiah Seguin, reigning CAA Rookie of the Week, went 3-3 with a run in the second game, leading the Tribe on the day. Luca Trigiani, Kevin Francella and Witt Scafidi also picked up multi-hit games.
 
Game One
Shifting from the noisy offensive production which was the storyline behind the Tribe's first five games of their win streak, Friday's first game shaped up to be a pitcher's duel, with both the Seawolves and the Tribe going hitless through the first four frames. 

Knowles made his eighth start on the season, allowing one batter to reach in the first inning on a HBP and then retiring the next ten Seawolves to take the Tribe through four no-hit innings. In the fifth inning, the lone Stony Brook run of the contest crossed, aided by a Tribe error.

The entirety of the scoring in the contest, for both teams, occurred in the fifth inning as the Tribe loudly answered the Seawolves' first run of the contest with a six-spot in the bottom of the frame. 

Seguin was hit by the first pitch he saw and rounded the bases on a Lucas Carmichael single, a Stony Brook error and a wild pitch to knot up the game at 1-1, marking the Tribe's first run of conference play.

Ben Parker notched his 25^th RBI on the season with a double that drove in Carmichael to take what would prove to be the deciding lead in the contest.

As head's up baserunning have been a theme for the outfielder duo of Parker and Joe Delossantos, a double steal put the pair in scoring position. Henry Jackson and Nate Goranson were hit by pitches back-to-back, the latter notching an RBI. 

Trigiani went opposite field, dropping a single to score two, as Jackson and pinch runner Christian Rush came home to give the Tribe a 5-1 lead.

Francella, in his first of two hits, singled in Goranson for the Green & Gold's final run of the contest. 

Resuming the stellar pitching performances by both teams, each team only added one more hit in the contest. Lovasz closed the door on the first win of the day with three strikeouts in his 2.0 IP.
 
Game Two
In contrast to game one, the scoring was scattered throughout the second contest for the Tribe as the performance on the mound continued to be the backbone in the first pair of conference wins. 

Rush laced a standing double down the third base line to get on base first for W&M and scored on a Seawolves' wild pitch.

Stony Brook got their only run of the game to tie the score at 1-1 in the third, as three singles allowed shortstop Matt Miceli to cross the plate. Barring a Tribe error in the sixth, which produced a baserunner, Potts went three scoreless innings of no-hit ball to finish his outing.

Jakob Cohn laid a perfect first-pitch bunt down the third baseline in the bottom of the sixth and advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt by the Stony Brook pitcher. Scafidi's second hit of the day was a go-ahead single to score Cohn, giving the Tribe the 2-1 lead.

The final run of the contest crossed as the bases loaded on Seguin's second HBP of the day, a full-count walk drawn by Jerry Barnes III and the intentional walk of Delossantos, before Cohn was hit by the next pitch for an RBI.

The 3-1 ballgame remained as Pierce made his sixth scoreless and third no-hit outing of the year.
 
Up Next
Mimicking the first meetings between the two teams last year, William & Mary clinched the series with wins in the first two games. Now, 4-1 in the all-time series, the Tribe looks to complete the weekend sweep as the series finale gets off to a 1 p.m. start at Plumeri Park on Sunday, March 24.
 
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