Generals Face W&J in the Afternoon

SALISBURY, Md. --- The eighth-seeded Washington and Lee baseball team fell, 3-2, to top-seeded and third ranked Salisbury on the opening day of South Region play in the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.

W&L grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning on a two-run single off the bat of junior catcher Will Lewis (Columbia, S.C./A.C. Flora) that scored junior third baseman Jim Plantholt (Pylesville, Md./North Harford) and senior centerfielder Terrence McKelvey (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip).

After loading the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the third, the Sea Gulls (38-6) managed to plate a pair of runs in tying the game at 2-2 before taking a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning on an RBI double by senior rightfielder Cody Collins.

W&L (22-14) outhit the Sea Gulls 7-2 and limited the NCAA's most prolific offense to just two runs. Salisbury had entered the tournament scoring an average of 10.8 runs per game.

McKelvey led W&L, going 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles and a run scored. Lewis finished 1-for-3 with a pair of RBI and Plantholt was 1-for-3 with a run scored. Junior righthander Chuck Davidson (Winnetka, Ill/New Trier) started for W&L and took the loss (6-3). He allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits with two walks in eight innings, while striking out four.

Salisbury's Eric Wiley earned the win (10-3) as he allowed just two runs on seven hits in nine innings of work. He walked one and struck out five. Collins and sophomore catcher Andrew Miller recorded the only Sea Gull hits.

The Generals return to action on Thursday as they take on fifth-seeded Washington and Jefferson (33-13) at 10:00 am.

This release is courtesy of the Washington and Lee University sports information department.