WILLIAMSBURG, Va. ? While taking advantage of eight walks and three errors, William & Mary (15-20, 5-9) evened its Colonial Athletic Association weekend series against the Tigers (17-18, 5-6) with a 14-3 win over the Tigers in the second game of their three-game weekend series at Plumeri Park on Saturday afternoon, The Tigers had won the series opener on Friday evening by a 10-4 margin.
Junior righthander Kevin Landry led the Tribe to the victory as he picked up his first win of the season. Landry, who is now 1-5 on the year, pitched seven strong innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with three walks and 11 strikeouts. Most importantly, he shut out the Tigers on one hit over the final four innings after the Tigers had taken a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning.
William & Mary took a 1-0 lead in the second inning against sophomore righthander Drew Permison, who suffered his first loss of the season. Senior rightfielder Rob Nickle led off the inning with a single and went to second base when freshman Tadd Bower drew a walk. When freshman catcher Chris Forsten drew a walk, the Tribe had the bases loaded with no outs. After Permison struck out senior Brett Conner for the first out, senior second baseman James Williamson drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly. Permison escaped with no further damage when he retired Lanny Stanfield on an infield grounder.
In their half of the third inning, the Tigers wasted little time tying the score. Leading off the inning, junior centerfielder Kevin Collins belted his ninth home run of the season down the rightfield line to make it a 1-1 game. The Tigers proceeded to load the bases on an infield single by junior third baseman Steve Yarsinsky and back-to-back walks to senior first baseman Matt Collins and sophomore second baseman Chris Wychock. Senior catcher Jason Stifler gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead when he lined a two-run double down the rightfield line.
However, Landry regrouped at that point. He struck out senior Aaron Gabrielian, sophomore Austin Harclerode and freshman Ben Winter to end the inning.
From that point on, Landry shut out the Tigers on one base hit.
The Tribe scored a pair of unearned runs in the third inning to tie the game at 3-3. Senior Jeff Jones led off the inning and reached base on catcher's interference. With one out, senior Tyler Stampone reached on an error by Yarsinsky. Then, Jones and Stampone pulled off a double steal to put two runners in scoring position. When Nickle grounded out to shortstop, Jones scored to cut the deficit to 3-2. Then, an infield single by Bower enabled Stampone to score the tying run. Permison retired the side when he got Conner on a fly ball to right.
Leading off the fourth inning, Williamson gave the Tribe a 4-3 lead when he smashed a solo home run down the right field line. In the fifth inning, the Tribe extended its lead to 7-3. After Stampone singled to lead off the inning, Nickle blasted a two-run homer to left centerfield, upping the margin to 6-3. After Forsten reached on an error by Wychock, he stole second base and went to third base on an infield out. An infield single by Williamson enabled Forsten to score, giving the Tribe a 7-3 advantage.
William & Mary took advantage of junior lefthander Wes Shifflett's control problems to break the game open in the sixth inning. Shifflett walked the first three batters he faced to load the bases with no outs. After Nickle's RBI single made it an 8-3 lead, Shifflett struck Bower. Then, he walked Forsten with bases loaded to force in the second run of the inning.
Freshman righthander Sean Bertrand came in from the bullpen and retired Connor on an infield popup for the second out of the inning. However, Williamson lined a single to left field, driving in two runs for an 11-3 advantage. Stanfield's RBI single to right gave the Tribe a 12-3 lead before Jones capped off the seven-run inning with a two-run single.
After Landry left the game in the seventh inning, freshman righthander Jay McCarthy pitched two scoreless innings to nail down the win.
“Looking back, the third inning was probably the turning point,” said Coach Mike Gottlieb. “After Stifler's double, we had runners on second and third and no outs. We should have scored more runs that inning. But, their pitcher rose to the challenge and struck out the side to keep our lead at 3-1. After the third, Landry pitched even better and we stopped hitting.”
Led by Williamson, who had three hits and five RBI's, William & Mary outhit Towson, 13-7. Nickle also went 3-for-4 with four RBI's.
Winter led the Tigers by going 2-for-4 in the loss.
Permison, who gave up four earned runs on eight hits in five innings of work, suffered the first loss of his college career. He posted a 6-0 record as a freshman and was 1-0 coming into the game.
Towson and William & Mary will play the third and deciding game of their weekend CAA series on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
