April 12, 2015 Final Stats
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy baseball team earned an important doubleheader sweep over Lafayette on Sunday afternoon at Max Bishop Stadium to win its second Patriot League series in three weekends. The Mids (26-13, 8-4 PL) won a 12-inning game one that was televised nationally on CBS Sports Network by a score of 3-2 before  coming back and securing the series win with an 8-6 outcome over the Leopards (7-18, 5-7 PL) in game two.
"Whenever you can sweep a quality team and do it in the fashion we did, that's really big for you," remarked head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "Hats off to the team, they hung in there, played hard and we were able to get out of today with a couple of wins."
On the day, eight Mids recorded at least two hits with Robert Currie (Jr., Atlanta, Ga.) leading the way with four hits. Sean Trent (Jr., Sorrento, Fla.), Adrian Chinnery (So., Wilmington, Del.) and Currie all drove in multiple runs during the doubleheader.
Pitching-wise, Stephen Moore (Sr., Marietta, Ga.) hurled 8.1 innings of two-run ball in game one before getting relieved by Jett Meenach (So., Flower Mound, Texas). The side-arm pitcher threw the final 3.2 innings of the contest and allowed just one hit on the way to his team-high seventh victory of the season. In game two, Kyle Condry (So., Highland Village, Texas) earned his first win of the year by pitching into the sixth inning and leaving with an 8-4 lead. Sam Sorenson (Jr., Etters, Pa.) recorded his third save of 2015 with two innings of scoreless relief over the eighth and ninth innings.
 "Steve had a little bit of a rough start in game one," said Kostacopoulos. "He didn't quite have the feel for his changeup early, but then he got in the middle innings and he really did a good job from that point on until we took him out. Then we gave the ball to Jett and he's done what he has done all season and that was perform in pressure situations and put up zeros. That's a testament to him and his consistency. He's been in so many tight ball games for us this year."
"In the second game, we jumped out to an early lead, but we weren't quite able to stretch it out. We weren't really sharp on the mound, but at the same time Sam did a nice job finishing it out and getting out of a little jam there in the eighth. I think getting out of that situation kind of deflated them a bit and that helped him do a good job in the ninth."
Similar to yesterday's first game, the pitchers were in control throughout the majority of the contest. Each team was able to touch up the opposing starter slightly over the early innings as Lafayette recorded four hits and two runs off of Moore over the first three frames, while Navy got two hits off of the Leopards' Toby Schwartz.
After falling behind 2-0 in the third inning, Moore buckled down and retired 15 of 17 batters at one point between the fourth and eighth innings.
With Lafayette's offense failing to gain traction, it was up to Navy's bats to get themselves back in the game. In the fifth inning the Mids did just that. With one out, Logan Knowles (Fr., Port Orchard, Wash.) was hit by a pitch to start the rally. After getting bunted into scoring position by Travis Blue (So., Orange, Calif.), the next two Mids, Currie and Brad Borosak (Sr., Jupiter, Fla.) went back-to-back with run-scoring hits; Currie a triple to the left-center field gap and Borosak a single to right field.
Moore and Schwartz both commanded the nationally televised game well beyond the regulation seven innings. The game would crisply move into the ninth at 2-2.
In the ninth, Lafayette threatened to score the go-ahead run, but a quick, defensive pick up and fastball throw to second base by Moore cut down the Leopards attempt to bunt Tyler Hudson into scoring position before Chinnery followed up his teammate's plus-defensive play with one of his own, a pick off of Parker Hills at first base.
With Meenach keeping Lafayette scoreless over the 10th, 11th and 12th frames, Navy finally came through in the bottom of the 12th with a leadoff single by Ben McGrath (Fr., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and a sacrifice fly by Currie to earn the walk-off 3-2 win.
In the game, Navy outhit Lafayette, 10-8. Currie was the Mids' team leader with a trio of hits and two RBIs.
The script from Saturday's doubleheader was nearly replicated in that a pitchers' duel was followed up by an offensive slugfest.
After Lafayette jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an Alex Woinski home run, Navy responded an inning later with two runs in the bottom of the second. Chinnery drove in McGrath for the Mids' first run before the sophomore catcher eventually came into score on an errant throw from the Leopards' catcher Parker Hills.
Lafayette attempted to get on the scoreboard again off of Condry in the third and fourth innings with runners on base, but the Texan skirted danger and held onto the 2-1 lead until the bottom of the fourth when his teammates batted around and scored six runs. Off the seven hits that came off of Lafayette's Mitch Leeds and Cory Spera, Connor Deneen (Jr., Tustin, Calif.) had two doubles and Trent had a three-RBI triple.
Up 8-1, the Mids were able to withstand a pesky comeback attempt by the Leopards as the visitors scored one run in the fifth, two in the sixth and two more in the eighth to tighten it to an 8-6 margin.
Sorenson came on to extinguish the comeback with two straight outs with runners on second and third. The righty struck out Lafayette's cleanup hitter before forcing a fly ball to center field to escape the jam. In the ninth inning, Sorenson retired the Leopards in order to hold onto the 8-6 win that clinched the series by a 3-1 count for Navy.
In the game, Lafayette outhit Navy, 13-11. Deneen, Chinnery and Knowles all had two hits and eight of the nine Mids that started the game had at least one hit.
"In playing so many close games and so many extra-inning contest this year I never sense any panic in our team," said Kostacopoulos. "One thing that you see us do so well in close games is handle small-ball plays, like bunts, and cut down lead runners."
For the series, the two teams recorded nearly identical statistical outputs with Navy outhitting Lafayette, .304 to .298 and outscoring their opponent, 21-20. Lafayette had a 14-12 edge in extra-base hits. Both teams pitching staffs had similar strikeout-to-walk ratios as the Mids turned in a 23:5 ratio, while the Leopards were 21:4.
"I don't think I've ever seen a series that is so statistically tight have one team come away with an outright series victory," said Kostacopoulos. "Outside of game two, our fans saw two very good teams going after it every inning and trying to just find that one play to put them ahead. I'm proud of our team to earn three wins this weekend."
Navy will step away from Patriot League action for a mid-week tilt at Delaware State on Wednesday. The Mids and Hornets are slated for a 3 p.m. first pitch in Dover, Del.
