W&M's Charles Ameer drove in four runs against CofC.
W&M Tops CofC, 10-3, To Reach CAA Title Game
Rob Washburn
Box Score
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. (May 27, 2016) – William & Mary advanced to the title game of the CAA Baseball Championship for the third time in the past four years following a 10-3 triumph over College of Charleston on Friday night at the Ballpark at Patriots Point.
The second-seeded Tribe improved to 27-29 after winning its second game of the day, while the sixth-seeded Cougars fell to 31-26-1. William & Mary faces top-seeded UNCW at 10 a.m. on Saturday, a start time that has been moved up due to impending weather in the Charleston area. The Tribe would need to defeat the Seahawks twice to claim their first CAA championship since 2001.
Designated hitter Ryder Miconi went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI to pace W&M’s 10-hit attack, while outfielder Charles Ameer drove in four runs and scored twice. Tribe freshman left-hander Bodie Sheehan (5-4) earned the victory after giving up six hits and three runs over 5.1 innings. Reliever Robert White allowed only one hit over 2.2 frames and Charlie Fletcher tossed a scoreless ninth.
For CofC, third baseman Tommy Richter was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI’s. Cougars’ starting pitcher Nathan Ocker (4-1) suffered his first loss of the year despite allowing only two earned runs and four hits in 6.0 innings of work.
For the second straight game, W&M grabbed an early 3-0 advantage. Charley Gould doubled down the left-field line to open the second inning and scored on a one-out double by Josh Smith. A three-base error on Kyle Wrighte’s fly ball to left brought Smith home, and Wrighte came across on a well-executed bunt by Ameer.
The Cougars got on the board in the bottom of the second when Richter connected on his second homer of the season to left.
W&M upped its lead to 4-1 in the fifth on Miconi’s RBI double, but CofC rallied back in the sixth. After a Bradley Dixon walk, the Cougars strung together three consecutive hits to trim the deficit to one. Morgan Phillips and Richter provided run-scoring singles during the stretch, but White came out of the bullpen and was able to end the threat by inducing an inning-ending double play.
The Tribe tacked on a run in the seventh on Ryan Hall’s sacrifice fly and then broke it open with a four-run eighth. Ameer delivered the big blow with a three-run double to left that made it 8-3. Zach Pearson followed with an RBI double that plated Ameer and Cullen Large contributed a run-scoring double in the eighth.