Baseball fell to William and Mary on the road Tuesday in a tight battle where GW struggled to gain momentum at the plate.
The Colonials (15-27, 6-6 A-10) suffered a 5-2 loss against the Tribe (25-17) in a lone nonconference game wedged between Atlantic 10 matchups. GW got on the board first in the top of the third inning, but the home team quickly responded with two runs of their own before extending their lead over GW to three by the bottom of the fifth, which they held for the rest of the game.
After a scoreless first two innings, Colonials sophomore outfielder Sam Gates walked on a full count and quickly advanced to second base when senior utility player Steve DiTomaso singled to center field on the next at-bat. Tribe sophomore pitcher Nate Knowles hit junior utility player Eddie Micheletti Jr. with a wild pitch, sending him to first and loading the bases with two outs.
The next at-bat, graduate student utility player Michael Kohn hit a line-drive single to second base, recording his 37th RBI on the year, which knocked in Gates and gave the Colonials a 1-0 advantage, their only lead of the game.
William and Mary then responded in the third inning with two runs of their own, the first coming when senior infielder Ben Williamson homered to left-center field off freshman pitcher Max Haug. Haug then walked William and Mary junior catcher Nate Goranson, who preceded to steal second and then advance to third on a wild pitch. With runners on first and third, freshman outfielder Tank Yaghoubi singled to right field, scoring in Goranson to give the Tribe a 2-1 lead.
Huang’s night ended shortly after, with Head Coach Gregg Ritchie pulling him from the mound in favor of freshman utility player Cade Davis.
Davis has pitched just 12.1 innings this season but earned a nonconference win in his first start against Towson on April 11.
Two flyouts and a popout resulted in a scoreless top of the fourth for the Colonials offense. In the bottom half of the frame, freshman infielder Corey Adams singled to center field on Davis’s first pitch of the game, and moved to second when sophomore outfielder Lucas Carmichael walked. Adams advanced to third on a wild pitch, then crossed the plate when Williamson grounded out to second, giving Williamson his second RBI of the game to push William and Mary’s lead to 3-1.
The Colonials gave up their second dinger in the bottom of the fifth when graduate student and infielder Cole Ragone took Davis deep left on a 3-1 count.
GW finally notched their second run in the sixth inning. Senior infielder Robby Wacker reached first on a fielding error at shortstop before reaching second on a passed ball. Then sophomore catcher Tim Nicholson snuck a hit past the second baseman, advancing Wacker to third before junior infielder Bryan Belo scored him in on a sac-fly to right field, cutting the deficit to two runs at 4-2.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, William and Mary scored their fifth and final run of the game after the Tribe’s Adams flew one to center field, allowing senior outfielder Joe Delossantos to score on a sacrifice fly.
The Colonials were unable to claw their way back in the final two innings. Tribe pitcher Carter Lovasz closed the game with a pair of strikeouts, catching Gates and DiTomaso swinging. Despite notching a single in the top of the seventh, extending his hitting streak to a team-best 11 games, Micheletti lined out to left field in the top of the ninth, leaving Belo stranded on first. GW recorded seven hits to the Tribe’s nine but failed to connect for any extra-base hits.
The Colonials will host the Davidson Wildcats this weekend for a three-game series in their fifth A-10 matchup. The first game is set for 3 p.m. Friday at Tucker Field.