Tribe Defeats St. Joseph's, 9-4, in Season Opener

02/23/08 5:00PM

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Junior right fielder Robbie Nickle went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI to help William & Mary earn a 9-4 victory in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Plumeri Park.

Pete Vernon, the senior pitcher who has served as a workhorse for the Tribe the last two seasons, started for W&M and pitched a solid six innings, giving up three earned runs and striking out two. Jeremy Neustifter, a junior newcomer to the staff who transferred from McCook Community College, pitched the final three innings, allowing only one earned run and striking out two to record the save.

In addition to Nickle’s impressive performance, a number of other Tribe hitters started out hot at the batter’s box. Mike Sheridan went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, Tim Park went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, Greg Maliniak went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Ben Guez scored two runs.

St. Joseph’s took a 1-0 lead after Jeremy Jakubowski led off the game with a single, and Mike Blahusch immediately brought him in with a double. However, the Tribe responded in the fourth inning. Park started the inning with a double and scored on a double by Nickle. Maliniak then drove in Nickle with a single to give the College a 2-1 advantage.

W&M added three runs the following inning. Guez reached on an error to lead off the inning and later scored on a throwing error by the Hawks’ catcher after stealing third. Sheridan and Park followed with singles, and Sheridan scored on another double by Nickle. A Maliniak grounder to short scored Park to complete the three-run inning.

After giving up two runs to St. Joseph’s on a single by first basemen Dewey Oriente, the Tribe answered with a run of their own. Nickle provided the spark with an RBI single, giving the Tribe a 6-3 lead after six innings.

Although St. Joe’s tallied another run in the eighth off another single by Oriente, W&M tacked on three more runs in the bottom half of the frame. Sheridan drove in the initial run with a triple, and he later scored on a double steal. A single by Maliniak brought home Nickle to cap off the frame.

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