WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Coming up a run short of a late comeback over the top-25 visitors, William & Mary baseball (25-17, 8-8 CAA) fell to No. 24 UNCW (27-15, 13-3 CAA) at Plumeri Park, 5-4, Friday night in the conference series opener. 

The Seahawks scattered six hits throughout the contest as they slowly built the slight edge over the Tribe in game one, despite a strong performance on the mound.

Nate Knowles and Mark Hindy combined to strike out 16 Seahawks, eclipsing the previous season-high mark of 15 which had been achieved three times. This marked the most in a game since six arms combined to fan 17 against Old Dominion in March 2021.

The combined 16 strikeouts brought the pitching staff's total to 425 on the year, jumping to seventh-most in a single season in recorded program history. 

Knowles' nine punchouts set a new career high for the junior and marked the first nine-plus strikeout game by any Tribe pitcher since Jason Inghram tossed 10 in May 2013.

Nate Goranson belted a pair of hits for the third time in the last six games, extending his hitting streak to three games while notching an RBI. Parker also had a two-hit night to record his 19^th multi-hit game of the season.

The game got off to a slow start for both offenses as Knowles and Seahawks starter RJ Sales each tossed a pair of scoreless innings to start.

UNCW got on the board first with an RBI double, the team's first hit of the game, that scratched one across in the third frame. 

In the fourth inning, Knowles recorded every out to the tune of a strikeout for the second time in the game, stranding the leadoff Seahawk to hold the score at 1-0, UNCW.

A small-ball response gave the Tribe the lead in the fourth, as a four-hit inning saw Parker and Joe Delossantos score while Goranson and Rush each tallied RBI. A double play ended the inning, but the Tribe had taken a 2-1 lead.

In the sixth and seventh frames UNCW took back the advantage in the contest, pressing to plate four runs.

As has been a strength all season long, the Tribe capitalized on free passes, making them count late in the contest. 

Trey Christman and Jerry Barnes III were hit by pitches back-to-back to lead off the seventh inning, bringing the season total to 82, tying the 2019 Tribe for fifth-most in a season. The 14^th of the season for Barnes landed him on the single-season leaderbooard, tying a trio of Tribe alum for 14^th-most HBPs in a year. 

Henry Jackson followed, drawing a walk to load the bases, to allow a Ben Parker sacrifice fly to get one back for the Green & Gold. Jackson's walk was one of three in the game, on the lower end in walks drawn for the host team, but enough to overtake 1999 for 3^rd-place all-time in single season base on balls with 266 on the year. Lucas Carmichael and Christian Rush accounted for the other pair.

Following the Seahawks' lone run in the seventh, Hindy sat the next eight seahawks down in order, striking out seven of them to give the Tribe one final inning at the plate. 

Unable to come away with a run to tie up the game, the Tribe fell in its sixth-straight game. 

W&M will return for game two against the Seahawks at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 27 as it looks to even the series and return to the win column following a difficult stretch.
 
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