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EASTON, Pa. - The Navy baseball team closed out its four-game road series with Lafayette on Monday with a doubleheader split. The Mids' offense was cruising on all cylinders in game one to the tune of a 19-6 win before dropping a back-and-forth game two, 7-5. Navy (25-9-1. 5-3 PL) combined for 30 hits off of Leopard (10-20, 4-4 PL) pitching over the doubleheader at Lafayette's Kamine Stadium.

"Today we had two distinctively different games," remarked head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "We were able to get out to a pretty big lead in the first game, while the second game was back-and-forth throughout. They did a good job at the end of the game of getting to our bullpen and that was where the game was decided."

For the day, Connor Deneen (Sr., Tustin, Calif.), Adrian Chinnery (Jr., Wilmington, Del.) and Leland Saile (Jr., Land O'Lakes, Fla.) led the Mids at the plate with a combined 14 hits, six of the extra-base variety and 12 RBIs. Deneen's standout doubleheader consisted of three singles, one double and two triples to go along with four RBIs over his nine at bats. Chinnery went 4-for-7 with a double, home run, five runs scored and four RBIs, while Saile went 4-for-5 with a double and four RBIs. Over the 16 innings on Monday, Navy tallied 12 extra-base hits: eight doubles, three triples and a home run.

On the mound, Kyle Condry (Jr., Highland Village, Texas) and Noah Song (Fr., Claremont, Calif.) turned in two solid starts and gave the Mids a chance to win both ball games. Each starter hurled five innings, with Condry giving up four runs and striking out seven over his game one outing and Song holding the Leopards to three runs (two earned) on four hits.

Carrying over the the momentum of an explosive day of offense on Sunday, the Mids came out in game one on Monday and started connecting off of Leopard pitching from their first at bat when Robert Currie (Sr., Atlanta, Ga.) led off the contest with a triple to the right-center field gap. Two batters later, the senior captain came into score on an RBI single by Chinnery. Chinnery's hit was the first of five straight versus Lafayette's starter John Cain. By the time the dust had settled after Navy's initial offensive strike, the score was 4-0 in favor of the Mids. Saile drove in runs number two and three before Deneen plated the fourth run.

Down 4-0, the host Leopards responded in the bottom of the first with two runs of their own off of Condry. The punch, counter-punch action for each of the next three half innings continued with Navy scoring one run in the top of the second and Lafayette one in the bottom of the second. Chinnery doubled in Travis Blue (Jr., Orange, Calif.) for the Mids' fifth run of the game.

In the top of the third, Navy blew the contest open and turned a 5-3 game into an 11-3 game with six runs on five hits. After the first batter of the frame was retired eight of the next nine Midshipmen reached. Blue, Sean Trent (Sr., Sorrento, Fla.), Saile and Deneen notched RBIs, while two other runs came in via a wild pitch and passed ball.

Navy continued having its way at the plate as the team scored for its fourth straight inning when Logan Knowles (So., Port Orchard, Wash.) came in when Blue grounded out into a double play.

After Lafayette plated one run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 12-4, Navy came out in the top of the fifth and sent 12 men to the plate with seven crossing home plate. Trent started a run of five straight batters reaching as he led off the frame with a single to right field. In the fifth inning alone, the Mids recorded three doubles (Saile, Knowles and Blue). All seven of Navy's runs came off of RBIs as Knowles had two, while Saile, Blue, Chinnery, Stephen Born (So., Strafford, Pa.) and Ben McGrath (So., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) all drove in single runs.

With the score 19-4, Condry departed after five full innings on the mound. The right-hander from Texas left after striking out seven Lafayette batters. The total matched his previous season-high that he set last weekend versus Holy Cross. His line for the game was 5.0 innings, nine hits, four runs, no walks and seven strikeouts.

The host Leopards pushed across two runs in the bottom of the seventh to complete the game with a score of 19-6.

In the Mids' win they outhit the Leopards, 21-11. The quartet of Chinnery, Deneen, Saile and Trent all provided Navy with three hits each. Currie, Knowles and Matthew Wilcox (Fr., Los Gatos, Calif.) each had two hits. In total, 10 different Mids collected base hits in Navy's most productive offensive game in terms of hits since April 18, 2015 when it scored 21 runs on 21 hits at Lehigh.

Game two was a complete different type of matchup as Lafayette was the more aggressive team out of the game. After both starting pitchers, Trevor Houck for the Leopards and Song for the Mids put up matching zeroes in the first inning, Lafayette took its first lead of the series with two runs in the bottom of the second. The host squad quickly increased its advantage to three in the bottom of the third.

Unfazed and confident in their ability to get right back into the game, Navy calmly scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning. Chinnery got the rally going with a one-out solo home run over the left field wall. After reaching on a fielding error, Born came into score two batters later on an RBI double down the right field line by Deneen. A pair of Lafayette miscues, a wild pitch and throwing error on the catcher quickly allowed Deneen to score and knot the game at 3-3.

Song kept the game at that margin through the fifth inning before exiting the contest. The freshman's final line was 5.0 innings, four hits, three runs (two earned), one walk and two strikeouts.

After a three-pitch bottom of the sixth inning, by Navy's new reliever, Andrew Bartek (Sr., Jefferson, Ga.), the Mids took their first lead of the game in the top of the seventh. Nick Paglialonga (Jr., Lake Forest, Calif.) led off the inning with a double to deep center field. Paglialonga was then pinch-run for by Andrew Lowry (Fr., El Cajon, Calif.), who crossed home on a sacrifice fly by Knowles.

Lafayette's offense also re-awoke in the seventh, as the Leopards responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning to go up 6-4.

The back-and-forth action continued into the eighth as Chinnery scored on an RBI triple by Deneen. The three-base hit was the third straight extra-base hit for Deneen and second consecutive triple.

With the score tightened to 6-5. Lafayette added an important insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning with a Jackson Kramer solo home run.

Navy tried to mount one final comeback attempt in the ninth, but a one-out pinch-hit single by Saile went for naught as Lafayette's Ryan Callanan locked down the save in the 7-5 contest.

For the game, Navy and Lafayette tied in total hits with nine each. Deneen led the Midshipmen's charge with a three-for-four showing at the plate. All three of his hits were for extra bases.

Bartek took the loss for Navy with 1.1 innings pitched and two runs allowed on two hits.

For the weekend, Navy won the four-game series, three games to one. Offensively, the Mids outhit the Leopards .377 to .258. Navy players recorded 58 hits with 15 doubles, four triples and a home run amongst the total. The Mids outscored their opposition, 39-17.

"We swung the bats really well," said Kostacopoulos about Navy's weekend at the plate. "We had a lot guys with really good weekends. Connor Deneen was excellent, Stephen Born was really good, Adrian Chinnery had a strong weekend and Leland Saile was hitting it well too. We had great efforts from our supporting cast, as well this weekend with a whole bunch of guys getting five or six hits over the series. We had a lot of people with strong contributions to our offense this weekend."

Over 16 at bats, Deneen led the Mids with nine base hits, four of which were for extra bases (one double and three triples). Deneen, Chinnery and Born all drove in six runs, while Saile and Knowles were right behind with respective totals of five and four.

On the mound, Navy turned in a 4.65 ERA versus a 9.28 mark for Lafayette. Eight Midshipmen pitchers saw action and together they combined for a 21:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 31 innings.

"You'd always like to win the fourth game and carry over that momentum, but at the same time we did win three out of four on the road," remarked Kostacopoulos. "Offensively, we started to swing the bat better this weekend and sometimes that's an indicator of positive things to come."

With Saturday's rainout pushing everything back schedule-wise, Navy will have a quick turnaround before hitting the road to Delaware State for a non-conference midweek game on Wednesday. First pitch between the Mids and Hornets is set for 3 p.m. in Dover, Del.