It wasn’t a football score -- just a college baseball game gone wild.
The final? Rhode Island 36, William & Mary 22.
In the end, the 10-run mercy rule that was applied at the end of the seventh inning proved far more effective at stopping the scoring than either team’s pitching staff. It also might have prevented a record from being broken.
With 58 combined runs between the two teams, Sunday’s contest tied for the fourth-highest-scoring game in NCAA Division I Baseball history. The all-time record of 62 runs was set on May 13, 1968, with a 33-29 Denver win over Air Force.
Rhode Island plated 17 runs in the top of the fifth inning alone, sending 23 men to the plate -- tied for the fourth most in a single half-inning in DI history. The Rams scored at least one run in all seven innings, going 24-for-44 (.545) with seven home runs on the day. Eight Rhode Island players had multiple hits, eight scored three or more runs and four had five or more RBIs.
Amazingly, Rhode Island wasn’t the only team to score 36 runs on Sunday. Indiana State also did so in a 36-6 win over Wagner.