W&M USES LONG BALL TO ROLL PAST DELAWARE, 11-4
Rob Washburn
Boxscore | Highlights
WILMINGTON, N.C. (May 22, 2014) – Freshman shortstop Tim Hoehn belted two of top-seeded William & Mary’s four home runs as the Tribe rolled to an 11-4 victory over #4 Delaware in Game 4 of the 2014 CAA Baseball Championship on Thursday afternoon at Brooks Field.
William & Mary (33-20) advances to Friday’s Noon winner’s bracket game against either #2 College of Charleston or #3 UNCW. The Blue Hens (25-26) will be back in action at 7 p.m. tonight in an elimination game against #5 Northeastern.
Hoehn finished 2-for-4 with four RBI’s and sophomore outfielder Josh Smith also drove in four thanks to a seventh-inning grand slam. The Tribe’s Ryan Hissey had a big day at the plate as well, going 4-for-5 with a double, homer, three runs scored and a pair of RBI’s. Ten of W&M’s 11 runs came via the long ball.
Delaware out-hit the Tribe 14-11 in the contest, but left nine runners on base. Six of the Blue Hens’ nine starters had two hits, including second baseman Zach Lopes and first baseman Jake Clark who each contributed a pair of RBI’s.
Junior left-hander Jason Inghram (10-2) picked up the victory for W&M despite allowing 14 hits over seven innings. He was able to consistently work his way out of jams, stranding Blue Hens’ runners in scoring position in five of his seven frames. Tribe freshman Nick Brown retired all six batters he faced to close the game.
Delaware jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. The Blue Hens’ Joe Giacchino opened the game with a single and EJ Stoltzfus followed with a double to left. Clark brought them both in with a two-out double to the gap in left-center. The Tribe quickly answered in the bottom of the first. Nick Thompson drew a walk and scored on a two-out homer to center by Hissey. It was the eighth homer of the year for the sophomore All-CAA catcher.
W&M used the long ball again to extend its lead in the second. After back-to-back walks to Derek Lowe and Kevin Casey, Hoehn launched a three-run homer to left that made it 5-2.
Delaware trimmed the deficit to 5-4 in the top of the third. Following a one-out single by Norm Donkin, Lopes smacked his first home run of the season over the fence in left. The Tribe got one of the runs back in the bottom of the frame. Hissey singled with one out, moved to second on a Charley Gould single and came around to score when the Blue Hens committed a throwing error while trying to turn a double play.
Hoehn, who entered the game with two homers in 51 games this season, hit his second of the afternoon in the sixth and increased the Tribe advantage to 7-4. W&M blew the game open in the seventh as Smith belted the first grand slam of his career to left.
Freshman Chad Martin (5-5) suffered the loss for UD after giving up seven runs on nine hits over 5.1 frames.