Baseball's Big Dance

The William & Mary baseball team’s magical two-week ride to the Colonial Athletic Association Championship and through the Charlottesville Regional came to an end with an 8-4 defeat to East Carolina in the Regional Final back in June. With the loss, the Tribe concluded the season 31-31.

The Tribe faced elimination in seven consecutive games, winning six. William & Mary defeated Northeastern, College of Charleston and UNCW on its way to its second-ever CAA Championship. W&M then beat Bryant and the University of Virginia in the Charlottesville Regional.

William & Mary advanced to the regional championship game with a win over top-seeded Virginia, to whom they lost by 13 runs in the opening contest of regional play. In the bottom of the seventh, Charles Ameer ’17 launched the second pitch of the inning deep over the right field wall. His eighth homer of the season lifted W&M to a 5-4 advantage, the eventual final score.

This was the Tribe’s second NCAA Regional in the last four seasons and the fourth in program history. In 2013, W&M advanced to the Raleigh Regional final, before bowing out to host N.C. State.

W&M had three players honored on the Charlottesville Regional Team following the tournament. Ryan Hall ’18, Ryder Miconi ’17 and Nick Brown ’17 all received the honor.

Tribe players were also represented on the All-CAA Tournament team, with senior Josh Smith earning Most Outstanding Player. Smith launched a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning in the championship game against UNCW. With the 14-9 win over the regular-season champions, the Tribe earned the program’s first CAA Tournament title since 2001. Smith was joined on the all-tournament team by Ameer, Daniel Powers ’17 and Hunter Smith ’19.