Box Score
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Tyler Stampone led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a walk-off solo home run to give host William & Mary a 10-9, come-from-behind win over Norfolk State on Wednesday night at Plumeri Park.
The win capped the Tribe's rally from an 8-2, seventh-inning deficit. It marked the third loss in a row, all by one run, for NSU (4-9), which has not beaten W&M since 1992.
The loss also spoiled a career night for NSU freshman Jermaine Berry (Suffolk, Va.), who was 2-for-3 with a home run and a career-high five RBI.
NSU got off to a slow start. The Tribe (7-13) took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second on an RBI groundout by Chris Jensen and a run-scoring double by Tyler Truxell off Spartan right hander Jason Barker (Chesapeake, Va.)
But the Spartans' offense woke up in the middle innings. Berry got the Spartans on the board with a sacrifice fly in fourth. Patrick Hall (Virginia Beach, Va.) tied the game with an RBI single in the top of the fifth.
NSU then scored three runs in each of its next two times up to bat. Berry belted a three-run home run in the sixth, his second round-tripper of the year. Berry and TiQuan Griffin (Florence, S.C.) each hit an RBI single in the sixth, sandwiched around a run-scoring double by John Lynch (Newport News, Va.), to give NSU an 8-2 lead.
The Tribe started a rally of its own with a four-run seventh. Brett Conner hit a two-run homer to chase Barker from the game, and Jeff Jones added a two-run single to bring W&M within 8-6.
NSU made it 9-6 in the eighth thanks to a two-out W&M error which allowed Spartan catcher Cameron Parsons (Chesapeake, Va.) to score. But W&M drew within 9-8 on RBI singles by Truxell and Lanny Stanfield in the bottom of the eighth.
W&M tied it in the bottom of the ninth off left hander Chase Davenport (Wooster, Ohio), the Spartans' fourth pitcher of the night. Rob Nickle doubled to lead off the frame, went to third on a wild pitch by Davenport and scored on James Williamson's sac fly.
After a scoreless 10th inning and top of the 11th, Stampone ended it in the bottom of the 11th with a homer to left-center off a 2-1 pitch by Davenport.
Tim Norton (1-2) got the win for W&M, pitching three scoreless innings. Davenport (1-1) took the loss, allowing two earned runs in two-plus innings of work.
Barker earned the no-decision despite a solid start. He allowed six hits and four runs, three earned, in six-plus innings.
Parsons, Andrew Suttmiller (Chesapeake, Va.) and Chris Joyce (Chesapeake, Va.) joined Berry with two hits apiece for NSU, which out-hit W&M 12-11. Eight of NSU's nine hitters in the lineup had at least one base hit. Parsons and Andrew Suttmiller (Chesapeake, Va.) scored two runs each.
Jones, Nickle and Truxell had two hits each for the Tribe.
NSU returns to action this weekend with a three-game set at Coppin State. The teams play a doubleheader Saturday and a single game on Sunday in Baltimore.
