WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (April 10, 2001) -- Old Dominion broke a 3-3 tie withthree runs in the eighth inning and then held off William & Mary in theTribe's final two at-bats to take a 6-5 non-conference baseball win atPlumeri Park tonight. Old Dominion improved to 15-22 with the win, whileWilliam & Mary dropped its third straight to fall to 21-15.
William & Mary drew first blood in the game, striking for three runs in thebottom of the fourth. With one out, Brendan Harris (Queensbury, N.Y.)walked, stole second and came home on Trey Wakfield's (Dallas, Texas)bouncer up the middle. Michael Brown (Richmond, Va.) blasted his secondhome run in as many games later in the inning, a two-run shot, to give theTribe a 3-0 lead.
Old Dominion came right back, however, answering with three runs to tiethe game in the top of the fifth. After a double and a single put twoaboard to start the inning, Jeff Eure (Pillow, Pa.) singled to rightscoring one run. Another run scored when Eure's hit got past Brown in rightfor an error. Eure, who took second on the miscue, was then sacrificed tothird and then scored on John Ohler's single off the Tribe first baseman'sglove.
The Monarchs pushed ahead with another three-spot in the eighth. TravisSilver (Weaverville, NC) walked to lead off the inning and moved to secondon a passed ball. Ross Robertson(Chesapeake, Va.) singled to left, withSilver scoring when the throw in from the outfield eluded the Tribeinfielders. Allen Strick (Glen Burnie, Md.)added an RBI single and MattMoye(Beaver Falls, PA.)a sac fly to score two more for ODU.
William & Mary came up with two in the bottom half of the inning whenRicky Stephenson (Chesapeake, Va.) singled up the middle with runners onsecond and third with two out. The Tribe challenged again in the ninth,getting runners on first and second with two outs, but ODU reliever KevinEvans (Shamong, NJ.) got Wakefield to ground out to short to end the game,giving Evans his fourth save of the year.
Jonathan Tinkham picked up with win in relief, throwing 1.1 innings,striking out three, to improve to 3-1. Mark Harris (Cincinnati, Ohio) wastagged with the loss, giving up three runs, one earned, in 2.1 innings tofall to 3-2. Ken Brumfield started for ODU, going 6.2 innings and allowingthree runs on five hits while striking out five.
Wakefield and Brown each had a pair of hits to lead William & Mary,while Strick and Eure each had three hits to pace Old Dominion. Old Dominion will host N.C. State tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.