Delaware Uses Fast Start To Roll Over William & Mary, 18-8
Rob Washburn
Box Score
WILMINGTON, N.C. (May 24, 2024) – Fourth-seeded Delaware scored 13 runs in the first two innings and rolled over #5 William & Mary, 18-8, in an elimination game at the CAA Baseball Championship on Friday night at Brooks Field.
The Blue Hens (31-25) will be back in action at 3 p.m. on Saturday against the loser of Saturday morning’s winner’s bracket contest between top-seeded Charleston and #2 UNCW. William & Mary, which was playing its second game of the day, ended its season with a 32-26 mark.
Delaware finished with 14 hits and took advantage of seven walks and seven hit batters to tally its most runs ever in a CAA Tournament game. Aiden Stewart was 2-for-4 with four RBI’s, Tyler Leach was 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBI’s and Aidan Kane went 2-for-4 and drove in three.
For William & Mary, Trey Christman was 2-for-4 with a double and three runs scored, while Joe Delossantos belted a three-run homer and finished with four RBI’s.
Ethan Shaub (4-2) earned the victory for the Blue Hens after limiting the Tribe to one run on three hits over 6.0 innings and striking out five.
Following a four-hour weather delay, Delaware got off to a fast start. The Blue Hens loaded the bases on a single and two hit batters, and Stewart drove in two with a base hit. Run-scoring singles from Leach and Kane made it 4-0 at the end of the first.
Delaware blew the game open in the second, sending 14 batters to the plate and scoring nine times. The Blue Hens benefitted from an error, two walks and two hit batters to go up 7-0, and Stewart followed with a two-run single. With the bases loaded, Bryce Greenly tripled off the wall in right-center to make it 12-0 and then came home on Eric Ludman’s base hit.
The Blue Hens tacked on a solo homer from Leach and a two-run shot from pinch hitter Tyler August.
Christman doubled in the third and scored on a Ben Parker sacrifice fly. Delossantos contributed a sacrifice fly in the seventh before smacking a three-run homer in his final collegiate at-bat in the eighth.