Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€" The Navy baseball team came out on Wednesday afternoon and received solid efforts from all three facets of its squad that resulted in an 11-2 victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore (4-8). Behind strong pitching from a trio of underclassmen and hits from eight of its nine offensive starters, the Mids (7-4) earned their second home win of the year at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.

"We got a really good start from a pitching standpoint with Colin [Brady]; six innings, two hits and two walks; that's a quality start," remarked Paul Kostacopoulos, Navy's head coach. "Then you add in that we had a good collective offensive approach where we pretty much got something from every one in the lineup. That's good to see. It was a fairly complete day in terms of how we played."

On the mound, Colin Brady (So., Seneca, S.C.) headlined a three-headed pitching attack that held UMES to just three hits and two total runs. Brady threw the first six innings for Navy and struck out five before giving way to Noah Song (Fr., Claremont, Calif.) and Jackson Zoch (Fr., San Juan Capistrano, Calif.), who shut out the Hawks over the final three frames. The freshmen duo struck out four and allowed one hit.

"Our pitchers threw strikes today," said Kostacopoulos. "I think we got back a little closer to our ratio with nine strikeouts and two walks. That's what we need to do because that helps take some pressure off the defense when you strike out guys. It was a good overall effort from all of our pitchers."

Offensively, ten different Navy batters registered hits with Robert Currie (Sr., Atlanta, Ga.) and Sean Trent (Sr., Sorrento, Fla.) leading the way with three base knocks each. Currie, the Mids' leadoff hitter also tied for the team lead with two RBIs. Sophomore DH Stephen Born (Strafford, Pa.) also drove in two runs on the afternoon. Christian Hodge (Fr., Winder, Ga.) capped off Navy's day at the plate with a solo home run; the first of his collegiate career.

"When you get eight hits out of the top three hitters in your lineup, that's what you want to see," said Kostacopoulos. "Though we did get solid contributions from other people in our lineup so that gave us good balance to our attack."

After UMES jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, Navy responded in the second with three runs on four hits and two walks. A leadoff walk to Born and then an RBI triple to the right field corner by Leland Saile (Jr., Land O'Lakes, Fla.) got the inning started for the Mids. Two batters later, Saile came into score the team's second run on a single to left field by Matthew Wilcox (Fr., Los Gatos, Calif.). Logan Knowles (So., Port Orchard, Wash.) netted Navy its third run when he crossed home following a double by Currie.

With the score 3-1, the Mids tacked on another three-spot on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth as team sent nine men to the plate and connected off Hawk pitching for three hits. After drawing a one-out walk, Knowles worked his way around the base path before coming in on a two-out single by Trent. Born drove in Navy's final two runs of the frame with a single to plate Currie and Trent.

Fronted a 6-1 lead after four, Brady closed out his longest collegiate appearance with two more innings of pitching. After a three-up, three-down fifth, a leadoff walk to UMES' Joseph NiCastro in the sixth proved troublesome as the Hawks' left fielder eventually crossed home for the visitors' final run of the game on a wild pitch. Brady departed the game after completing his sixth inning on the mound. His final line was 6.0 innings, two hits, two runs, two walks and five strikeouts. Both his innings pitched and strikeout totals were career-highs for the sophomore.

Up four runs at 6-2, the Mids squared up Hawk relief pitching over the seventh and eighth innings to the tune of five runs and seven hits. In the seventh inning, Knowles, Currie, Blue and Ben McGrath (So., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) all recorded RBI singles, while a deep fly ball over the left field fence for a solo home run by Hodge in the eighth inning completed Navy's day offensively.

Song hurled hitless seventh and eighth innings before Zoch took the ball from him in the ninth and retired all three UMES hitters via strikeouts.

For the game, Navy outhit UMES, 18-3. 10 Mids recorded hits and six had two or more. Led by Hodges' home run, Navy had five total extra-base hits with triples coming off the bats of Born, Saile and Wilcox and a double from Currie.

Navy will be home again at Max Bishop Stadium this weekend with a four-game series against Yale. The teams will face off in the Patriot League style of doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday. The first pitch of Saturday's twinbill will be at 11 a.m., while Sunday kicks off at 12 p.m.