W&M ‘still a work in progress’ despite milestones early in the season: A 33-run game, coach’s 500 career wins.

While William & Mary head baseball coach Mike McRae may think his team is “still a work in progress,” the Tribe has already hit two big milestones 10 games into the season.

The team is 6-4 after its second one-run loss to Old Dominion this year on Wednesday.

“Like most years, there are some pleasant surprises and there are some definite disappointments, things that no matter how much you prepared for, you just didn’t expect,” McRae said. “There are some guys that we had tremendously high expectations for, and maybe that’s not fair, that just as of yet have not lived up to them. We still believe in them and still need to stand behind them and help them in their growth and maturation.”

Last weekend, W&M scored 59 runs against Marist in three games.

In Sunday’s matchup the Tribe defeated Marist 33-5 — marking the team’s first 30-run performance since 2014. when W&M beat Iona 31-1. It was also the most runs scored in the NCAA so far this year.

“I’ve played against Marist for a lot of years,” McRae said. “They are not as bad as the score looked this weekend, nor are we as good as the score looked — and that’s the fact of it.”

The Tribe offense didn’t necessarily overpower Marist’s pitching staff, rather W&M capitalized on mistakes the Red Foxes made.

“We took advantage of a ton of free bases,” McRae said. “I think on Sunday they had 15 walks and 10 hit by pitches. Now, I will also speak that that’s part of our offense, that’s a legitimate part of our offense. We work and preach every day about managing a strike zone, hitting with a plan, and that can be the result of that.”

William & Mary did in fact have 15 walks and eight batters who were hit by pitches 10 different times. The Tribe lineup also put together 23 hits.

Of those 23 hits, only one was a home run, something McRae said is partially due to the youth of his lineup that is competing in what he called an old game.

“Two years from now, when they’re a 21-year-old junior, that’s going to change,” McRae said. “That’s part of the whole college baseball world that we exist in. We need those guys to understand their limitations and be the type of hitter that can allow them to be successful, and to function in our offense.”

Playing small ball has become the Tribe’s identity so far this season. William & Mary (6-4) was tied for fourth in the country with 111 hits before Friday’s scheduled 3 p.m. game against West Virginia at Plumeri Park. The Tribe hosts Fairfield on Saturday (2 p.m.) and Canisius (1 p.m.) on Sunday.

“We’re just trying to win baseball games and we need to do whatever it takes. If the wind’s blowing out and we get into a slugfest, then we need to outslug. If the wind’s blowing in and they’ve got a dude on the mound, then we need to find a way to manufacture and we need to pitch the heck out of it that day. I’ve always argued that great teams in college baseball cannot be one-dimensional. They cannot. Eventually it’ll bite you, it’ll catch up with you.”

Before his team as a whole was setting new program marks Sunday, McRae himself was hitting a historic milestone Saturday.

The Tribe’s 10-1 win over Marist marked McRae’s 500th win as a head coach.

It’s just McRae’s second year in Williamsburg, but he’s compiled an impressive number of wins in his almost 20 years as a head coach. He said he figured he was close to the milestone, but wasn’t thinking too much of it.

“I knew when I left Canisius six years ago that I was within striking distance — I didn’t know the definitive number actually,” McRae said. “It just means I’ve been in this for a long time. You know, it’s a nice goal, but there are way more important things right now in both the short and the long term that we need to take care of.”

While McRae is proud of the mark, he’ll take a championship over it any day.

“I want to watch these guys, at some point, jump on a pile,” McRae said. “That to me has got way more meaning and value than a game milestone.”