Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

WILLIAMSBURG, VA -- After the University of Delaware baseball team cut its deficit down to one in the seventh, William & Mary's Paul Juliano crushed a grand slam to put the game out-of-reach as the Tribe downed the Hens, 9-4, in the final game of their Colonial Athletic Association series on Sunday afternoon at Plumeri Park.

During the game, Adam Tsakonas hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season and Alex Buchholz (at right) went 3-for-4 with a double, but Delaware (8-16, 3-6 CAA) could not overcome Juliano's five-RBI game.

After the Hens fought back from a three-run deficit to pull within one entering the bottom of the seventh, William & Mary (18-10, 9-6) loaded the bases with one out after Greg Maliniak reached on an error by Buchholz, Jeff Jones singled, and Cole Franklin walked. That set up Juliano's grand slam to right which put the Tribe up by five and allowed the team to cruise to its second straight win over Delaware.

As they did in the second game of the series, the Blue Hens jumped out to an early lead after plating one run in each of the first two innings. In the first, Tsakonas, who saw his career-best 16-game hitting streak snapped yesterday, got back on track by crushing a solo home run to left field.

Pat Dameron then highlighted the team's second-inning score after reaching on an error, stealing second, and coming home on an RBI single by Kyle Davis.

William & Mary quickly responded to Delaware's early lead with a two-run second. After Brian Rorick got the first two outs of the inning, the Tribe loaded the bases following singles by Lanny Stanfield and Derrick Osteen along with a walk to Juliano. Tyler Stampone then roped a shot to shortstop which Davis could not handle. Eventually, both Stanfield and Osteen came around to score on the error.

With the game knotted at two, the Tribe pulled ahead with three runs in the third. Maliniak had the biggest blow of the inning with a two-run home run that brought home Tim Park, who had earlier singled. Four batters later, Juliano laced an RBI single off reliever Matt Harden to stretch the team's lead to 5-2.

Following three unsuccessful trips to the plate, the Hen lineup broke through again in the sixth. Scott Shockley led off with a walk, advanced to second on a ground out by Jared Olson, and scored on a ringing double to right center by Ryan Reed. Seemingly primed for a bigger rally after Pat Dameron worked a walk which put two on with just one out, Delaware was silenced after Chris Nehl struck out swinging and Reed was gunned down trying to swipe third.

One inning later, the Hens cut into their deficit again after Tsakonas walked and Buchholz doubled to left before Bill Merkler roped an RBI groundout to second that brought in Delaware's fourth and final run of the game.

Rorick (1-4), who was making his first start in over two weeks, suffered his fourth loss of the season after allowing five runs, including three earned, in his 2.2 innings of work. Tim Norton (4-1) earned the win after allowing three runs on six hits in 5.1 innings. Sean Grieve notched his fourth save of the season after holding the Hens to just one run over the final 3.2 innings of play.

Delaware will return to action on Tuesday for a 3 p.m. match-up with Lafayette during the second round of the Liberty Bell Classic in Easton. The winner of that contest will face the survivor of the Temple-Lehigh semifinal game at Citizens Bank Park on April 8th at 8 p.m.

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