WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary baseball (25-15, 8-7 CAA) hosts Towson (13-36, 3-17 CAA) in an eventful final home weekend of the 2024 season on Friday-Sunday, May 10-12.
Friday, the Tribe will celebrate the 25
th anniversary of the dedication of Plumeri Park with a pre-game ceremony featuring Joe Plumeri, Director of Athletics Brian Mann and University President Katherine A. Rowe. The series opener is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.
Pregame festivities on Saturday will honor the accomplishments and contributions of 2024 graduating class members
Lucas Carmichael,
Nate Goranson,
Mark Hindy and
Ethan Snyder. Saturday's contest is scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
The Tribe will conclude its home slate at 1 p.m. Sunday for the series finale. Only a pair of CAA Tournament berths have been clinched (UNCW and Northeastern) with two weeks of play remaining as the Tribe is vying for one of the final four playoff spots.
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 commanding 20-1 victory in its final game at Elon over the weekend, tying the season high in runs.
Christian Rush hit for the cycle in his first career four-hit game. Belting his first career triple just a day earlier, Rush doubled his career total on Saturday to complete the cycle in the ninth inning.
Joe Delossantos had his first career two-home run game, also completing the feat in the final inning. The outfielder pulled his second of the afternoon for an exclamation point grand slam as he came across for the team's 20
th run of the game.
A Record Strike Three
Carter Lovasz fanned four batters as he closed the series finale at Elon. The final out, a looking strikeout, marked the team's 471
st punchout of the year as the pitching staff moved into sole possession of second-place all-time in program history in the statistic. The only team to ever strike out more is the program-record-holding 2004 Tribe, who fanned 475.
Lovasz also secured his 17
th career save with his fifth of the year, climbing closer to the program-record mark of 18.
Walk It Out
The Tribe set a program record on the road at Elon, eclipsing the 300-walk mark for the first time in W&M baseball history. The previous record, set in 2023 was 299, was surpassed as the team drew 22 walks over three games at Elon last weekend. With 10 in the final game, three by shortstop
Luca Trigiani, the Tribe overtook the program record.
Ben Parker's team-leading 45 walks ties teammate
Lucas Carmichael's 2023 total at third-most on the single-season leaderboard. Ryan Brown's 47 walks in 2010 is second in program history and Brian Rogers owns the program record at 54 in a single season, a mark which Parker only trails by nine.
Outstanding Outfield
As D1Baseball rolls out their player power rankings by position following weekend 12 of play, the Tribe saw duo of
Ben Parker and
Joe Delossantos rise among outfielders.
Parker moved to No. 51, moving up four spots from his previous ranking after breaking into the list at No. 55 following week six. Jumping 20 places, Delossantos ranks at No. 80 after touching No. 100 in the release six weeks earlier.
The duo leads the Tribe in a slew of offensive categories, sitting at top two in batting average, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, total bases and slugging percentage.
League Leading
Starters
Nate Knowles and
Zack Potts own the top two spots in the CAA in ERA, hits allowed and runs allowed.
Knowles' 1.91 ERA is No. 4 nationally, climbing to match his highest ranking in the statistic from earlier in the season. Through 12 weeks of play, Knowles has put together an astounding junior campaign. His .171 opponent average is among the lowest in the NCAA and 85 strikeouts is a top-25 mark in the nation.
Potts, in his first season in the Green & Gold, leads the Tribe with just 1.61 walks allowed per nine innings, ranked No. 23 in the NCAA in the mark. His 1.04 WHIP leads the Tribe and sits at No. 34 nationally while his 4.82 strikeout-to-walk ratio is 35
th in Division I.
Midseason Recognition
Sophomore reliever
Owen Pierce was one of 59 NCAA DI pitchers named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Stopper of the Year midseason watch list.
The righty has had an impressive sophomore campaign, tied for the team lead with five saves. He touts a 2.88 ERA, allowing 11 earned runs over 34.1 innings of work. Pierce has struck out 34 while giving up 29 hits. In his 15 appearances, he has posted nine scoreless outings, three of them without allowing a hit.
At Elon, the Fairfax, Va., product made his first start of the year, going a season-long 4.0 innings allowing just a pair of hits and one run.
Seeing Double (Digits)
Delossantos and Parker have each belted double-digit home runs on the year, leading the Tribe. Delossantos' 13
th home run, a grand slam at Elon, landed him on the single-season program leaderboard tied at 11. Only nine individual players have ever reached that mark.
Parker's 10 nears his single-season best of 15, which he achieved in 2023 as a senior at Whitman College, a mark which ranked No. 15 in NCAA DIII.
The Series
In the all-time series, the Tribe leads 45-23 dating back to the first game in 1976. As conference opponents, the Tribe holds a 39-18 lead over the Tigers.
The most recent meeting, a 9-5 Tigers victory, snapped a six-game winnings streak that stretched back to 2021. W&M has gone 8-2 over the past 10 matchups against the Tigers.
Strong in matchups as a home team, the Tribe have won every weekend series in Williamsburg dating back to the 2007 season, including three weekend sweeps.
Currently, in league standings, the Tigers are in last place with a 3-17 conference record and 13-36 overall record on the season.
Up Next
The Tribe will hit the road for its final week of regular season play, starting the away slate with a midweek at George Mason at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14.
Wrapping up CAA play, W&M will head to Campbell to compete as conference opponents for the first time in program history. The final three-game weekend series will begin Thursday, May 16, and is set to conclude Saturday, May 18.
The CAA Championships will take place on Wednesday-Saturday, May 22-25 for the top six teams in the league standings. Heading into the weekend vs. Towson, the Tribe sit at 6
th, vying to remain in playoff contention.
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