GREENSBORO – William & Mary overcame North Carolina A&T's fast start on Friday night during the first game of a three-game Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) baseball series at War Memorial Stadium.
After overcoming its early deficit, the Tribe pulled away late to defeat the Aggies 14-5. The loss drops the Aggies to 11-29 overall and 3-16 in league play. Senior
Andrew Tinsley led the Aggies with a 3-for-4 night. He had three RBIs, a run scored, and a home run. The Tribe received multiple RBI games from three players. Witt Scafidi led the way with three RBIs. They improved to 17-23 overall and 8-11 in the CAA.
A&T opened the night with junior right-hander
Agyei Quinichett (L, 1-3) on the mound. He retired the Tribe in order, leading to the Aggies' half of the first, where they posted four runs. The fun started against RHP Jack Pye, who walked A&T leadoff man
Nick DiCarlo on four straight pitches. Sophomore
Bruce Wyche quickly brought DiCarlo home with an RBI triple. After Pye earned a strikeout, junior
Marcus Bradshaw delivered an RBI single to score Wyche, giving the Aggies a 2-0 lead.
Tinsley followed with his team-leading fifth home run of the season. It was a two-run blast over the left-field wall, giving A&T a four-run advantage. Pye escaped the inning with two consecutive A&T groundouts. WMU scored its first run in the second, as Louie Bartletti hit a solo home run. The visitors tied the game in the third with a three-run inning.
WMU's third inning included a two-run home run from Jamie Laskofski. Matthew Kosuda added an RBI triple to tie the game 4-4. A&T reclaimed the lead in the home third. Sophomore
JT Taylor led off with an infield single. Taylor moved to third on a Bradshaw groundout and scored on a Tinsley RBI single for a 5-4 Aggie lead. But the Tribe took the lead for good in the fifth.
Sam Kaczmarek tied the game on an RBI single. Kaczmarek's hit led to RHP Jason Johnsoon entering the game for A&T. An error put runners on first and third for the Tribe, leading to Kaczmarek and Charlie Iriotakis scoring on an error for a 7-5 lead. WMU's four-run inning concluded with an RBI single from Kevin Francella. WMU added four more runs in the sixth and another two runs in the eighth.
That was more than enough for WMU RHP Jack Weight (W, 4-1). He entered the game in relief in the fourth inning. Weight pitched the final 5.1 innings for the Tribe. He gave up no runs on three hits, struck out four, and walked no one. Freshman
Adrian Gonzalez added a 2-for-3 night for the Aggies.
Game 2 of the series is 2 p.m., Saturday at The War.
