Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. - The Navy baseball team saw its unbeaten streak end at 10 games (9-0-1) on Wednesday night at UMBC. Taking on a relentless Retriever (7-10) baseball club, the Mids (15-5-1) fell victim to a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the host team a 5-4 victory at their home park, Alumni Field.

Scott Koscho (Fr., Trafford, Pa.), Sean Trent (Sr., Sorrento, Fla.) and Kyle Condry (Jr., Highland Village, Texas) highlighted Navy's effort during the mid-week contest as Koscho recorded a team-high two hits, while Trent plated two of the Mids' four runs with an RBI double. On the mound, Condry hurled three scoreless innings and held the Retrievers to just one hit over his brief 25-pitch start.

"This was another tight ball game," remarked head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "It was back-and-forth the whole game. They were constantly pressing us and it paid off for them in the end. We made the plays and pitches that we needed to, but give credit to them, they fought and had at least six two-strike hits.

"I was happy to see the way we came back late. That continues to be a positive trend with the team this year. We really believe that we can come back at any time regardless of the situation. Today it was a two-out, top of the ninth comeback started by Robert Currie. This attribute will be key to rest of our season as we will without a doubt be in some tight games over the second half of the season and looking for those clutch performances."

After a scoreless first inning, Koscho was the first Midshipman to square up the Retrievers' starting pitcher Jacob Christian as he lined a double deep off the center field wall in the top of the second inning. Though Koscho was stranded in that frame, Navy's offense was onto something versus Christian as in the third inning it plated the first two runs of the game. After Logan Knowles (So., Port Orchard, Wash.) got on with a single, a walk to Robert Currie (Sr., Atlanta, Ga.) put two Midshipmen runners on base for Trent. The senior left-fielder laced a double to the foot of the left field wall to score both.

Up 2-0, Condry closed out his predetermined short start with a three-up, three-down third inning. In a makeup for his missed start on Sunday, he finished with a final line of 3.0 innings, one hit, no runs and one strikeout.

"Kyle did a really good job today," said Kostacopoulos. "He missed his turn over the weekend due to weather, but he got back in the groove with a really crisp, efficient appearance. We look to slot him right back into the weekend rotation on Sunday."

Navy threatened to extended its lead in the top of the fourth inning as Koscho and Nick Paglialonga (Jr., Lake Forest, Calif.) singled and Knowles walked to load the bases, but the Retrievers' new reliever Cory Callahan got out of the two-out jam with a fly out.

UMBC chipped away on Navy's two-run lead with a single run in the bottom of the fifth. One inning later in the sixth, the hosts completed the comeback with another solo run to tie the contest at 2-2.

The game didn't stay tied for long as the Mids played small ball in the top of the seventh with a walk and two sacrifice bunts setting up Matthew Wilcox (Fr., Los Gatos, Calif.) to scamper in on a passed ball charged to UMBC's catcher.

For the third straight inning the Retrievers scored off of the Midshipmen's bullpen. In the bottom of the seventh, a leadoff double by A.J. Wright set up UMBC to re-tie the game at 3-3.

After Navy was held off the scoreboard in the top of the eighth, UMBC took its first lead in the bottom half of the inning. The Retrievers recorded their go-ahead run on two singles and a sacrifice bunt.

Down 4-3 going into the ninth, the Mids called on their bench with back-to-back pinch-hit appearances, but the change in the lineup had little result as the Retrievers' pitcher Jonny Dierks struck out the first two batters. With two outs, Currie sparked a Navy rally with a well-hit ball that crossed up UMBC's right-fielder Anthony Gatto for a three-base error off his glove. The next batter, Travis Blue (Jr., Orange, Calif.) drove in Currie to tie the game at 4-4.

In the bottom of the ninth, the momentum that UMBC had been building inning-by-inning culminated with three singles and Gatto ultimately notching the game-winning walk-off RBI.

For the game, UMBC outhit Navy 14-6.

The Mids will ramp up their preparation for Patriot League play with their annual four-game set with the Tigers of Princeton University. In a Patriot League formatted series, the teams will play doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday. The first pitch on both days is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.