MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – College of Charleston took advantage of an eighth-inning throwing error to take the lead, and Davis Aiken slammed the door shut in the ninth as the Cougars downed William & Mary, 7-6, in the opening game of a key CAA series at Patriots Point.

Charleston (26-10, 10-3 CAA) extended its winning streak to six and won for the 12th time its past 13 games. The Cougars have also captured nine of their last 10 conference games to assume sole possession of second place, one game behind UNCW, which defeated Northeastern on Friday.

The Huskies dropped to third in the CAA at 9-4 followed by William & Mary in fourth at 8-5.

Trotter Harlan was hit by a pitch to lead off the eighth, and Cole Mathis drew a one-out walk. Cole Singsank hit a grounder to first and Mathis was forced at second, but the relay to the pitcher covering at first went awry to allow Harlan to score the go-ahead run.

Aiken retired the Tribe in order to pick up his conference-leading seventh save of the year. Freshman Hayden Thomas earned his first career win with two innings of one-hit shutout ball and four strikeouts.

William &  Mary took a 2-0 lead in the first before Charleston scored the next four runs including solo homers by Avery Neaves in the third and Kevin Madden in the fourth. Madden extended his hitting streak to nine games, homered for the fifth time in his past five contests and has at least one RBI in seven straight games.

The Tribe took the lead with four in the top of the seventh, but the Cougars responded with a two-run single by Madden to tie it at 6 in the bottom of the frame.

The teams continue the series on Saturday at 2 p.m.