WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary baseball (23-10, 6-3 CAA) returns to Plumeri Park for Alumni Weekend as it hosts North Carolina A&T (18-14, 3-6 CAA) for just the second conference weekend at home, welcoming the Aggies to Williamsburg for the first time in the series' short history.
The Tribe is coming off a historic midweek victory at No. 6 Duke on Tuesday, as they will look to extend their winning streak.
The Tribe Sports Network will air on FloBaseball for all CAA home games. The Tribe's complete FloBaseball schedule is available
here. Coverage begins approximately 10 minutes prior to scheduled first pitch with insights from Head Coach
Mike McRae and his staff.
Single-game tickets can be purchased at
TribeAthletics.com.
On Sundays, following W&M games at Plumeri Park, kids can run the bases! To sign up your child to run the bases,
click here.
Last Time Out
The Tribe took down No. 6 Duke in their most recent game, powering to a 4-2 victory on a pair of home runs and another strong performance on the mound. The win was the highest-ranked victory recorded in program history.
Trey Christman barreled a go-ahead, three-run homer to left field in the second inning and
Henry Jackson followed suit in the third inning with a solo shot of his own. The pair each recorded just the second home runs of their careers against the top-10 Blue Devils.
The lead held throughout the contest, with only one more Duke run scoring after the first frame.
Nate Knowles (4),
Travis Garnett (2),
Brendan Kelly (1) and
Mark Hindy (5) combined to strike out 12 Blue Devils to become just the fourth team to do so this season. The Tribe also held Duke to just a pair of runs, which only two other teams have managed this year.
W&M's second victory in a row revived their winning streak, which was a theme early in the season as the team posted an eight- and seven-game streak in the same season for the second time in program history. After trading wins over the previous seven contests, going 4-3, the Tribe remained in the win column Tuesday.
Record Ranked Win
The 2024 Tribe continues to reach new heights and Head Coach
Mike McRae and his squad achieved the highest-ranked win in program history with the road victory at Duke.
Before Tuesday, the most recent win over a ranked team was a year earlier when the Tribe took down now-CAA opponent Campbell, who was No. 15. Prior to that, the Tribe had not defeated a ranked opponent since Virginia in the 2016 Charlottesville Regional.
National Numbers
On the Mound
The W&M pitching staff, which finished the 2023 season with a ninth-ranked ERA (4.17) in the nation, has continued its impressive campaign. Sitting just outside of the top 10, the Tribe's team ERA is 11
th overall at 3.77 heading into the fourth week of conference play.
In addition to ERA, the Tribe have earned top-25 marks with 7.57 hits allowed per nine innings (No. 14), 1.30 WHIP (No. 19) and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings (No. 20), all CAA-leading numbers. Sitting at 30
th nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio, the Tribe also pace the CAA with a 2.54 mark.
At the Plate
With 219 total walks, the Tribe remain at No. 4 in the nation in the statistic. The trio of
Ben Parker (31),
Joe Delossantos (27) and
Nate Goranson (27) account for nearly 40% of the team walks, Parker's 31 walks rank in the top 30 in the country. Goranson's 1.04 walks per game is a top-25 mark, landing at No. 22.
Also remaining in the top 25 are the Tribe's 68 HBPs, coming in at 18
th.
Jerry Barnes III paces the team, accounting for 13 of those.
Streak Watch
Outfielder Delossantos leads the team with a 32-game on-base streak, reaching safely in every game he has played, and a nine-game hitting streak, marking a season long for the fifth year. Parker and
Witt Scafidi each have 10-game on-base streaks of their own.
Parker leads all qualified hitters with a .494 on-base percentage, reaching that mark with 43 hits, 31 walks and 6 HBP. Batting second and getting on base nearly 50% of the time has allowed the grad student to come around for a team-leading 45 runs, a statistic which ranks 13
th in the country.
Milestone Meter
Delossantos moved into fifth all-time in W&M history in stolen bases with 52 and has scratched the top 10 in home runs, tying for 10
th with 26 in his career.
Goranson has thrown out 12 runners in 2024, tying for 7
th in program history in the category with 28.
Carter Lovasz earned his second save of the year to tie for second in W&M history with 14 career saves. The righty sits just four saves behind the program-record 18, achieved by Joseph Gaouette in 2013-16.
Parker is on pace to land in the top 10 in single-season on-base percentage. His current mark, .494 through 33 games, would be the seventh highest.
CAA Standings
With the Tribe's 6-3 record, taking each of the first three CAA series against Stony Brook at home and Delaware and Monmouth on the road, they sit third in the conference standing, tying Charleston's record.
The pair trail only Northeastern and UNCW's 7-2 records through three weeks.
The Series
The Tribe have only played the NC A&T three times in program history. In the Aggies' first year in the CAA, the teams faced off for the first time as conference opponents in a three-game series in 2023. Played in Greensboro, N.C., the series was swept by the host team, leaving the Tribe 0-3 all-time against the Aggies.
W&M looks to continue the trend of home-team victories, as all three games have been won by the host team.
Two of the three games have been decided by a one-run margin, the first pair of meetings ending in 2-1 and 8-7 Aggies victories.
Up Next
The Tribe will remain at home for a midweek matchup against their third ranked opponent of the year as they welcome No. 10 East Carolina to Plumeri Park at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16. Then, W&M will go back on the road for a CAA series at Charleston on Friday-Sunday, April 19-21.
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