Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy baseball team captured its third straight win with a 10-4 victory over Rider University on Friday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The Mids (10-4) used a consistent offense attack and solid pitching from a trio of pitchers to lead 5-1 after two innings and eventually pull away from the Broncs (4-8) over the span of the contest.

Offensively, eight of the nine starters in Navy's lineup either reached base safely at least once or drove in a run on Friday. Zach Biggers (So., Walhalla, S.C.) and Liam Lowery (Jr., Williamsburg, Va.) highlighted the Mids' effort as the duo combined for five hits, three for doubles, and four RBIs. Biggers had a game-hit three hits and two RBIs, while Lowery went 2-for-4 with an important two-out two-RBI single in the fifth inning.

On the mound, the trio of Noah Song (Jr., Claremont, Calif.), Colin Brady (Sr., Seneca, S.C.) and Jack Ferguson (Atlanta, Ga.) held Rider fairly in check with just two earned runs allowed over nine innings. Led by Song's eight strikeouts over 6.0 innings, the trio totaled 11 strikeouts of Rider batters.

"We got a good start by Noah, it wasn't dominant, but he pitched out of some jams and got big outs when we needed it," remarked head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "He did a nice job of giving us some chances to add to our lead, which we did. Colin came in and did his job and the same with Jack. Overall, we got some good pitching today.

"Offensively, we got some timely hitting and continued to get on base, which is good. We did a good job of drawing walks and not striking out much. We made their pitchers pitch to us. We didn't chase those tough pitchers' pitches, we were okay taking them for a strike. We're doing a good job of that over the last couple of games. Overall this was a good performance by the team."

The game began with Song mowing down the top of Rider's offense, one, two, three with a pair of strikeouts in the top of the first inning. Immediately building off that fast start Navy took advantage of a Rider error in the bottom of the frame to take an early 1-0 lead. After a two-base error put Logan Knowles (Sr., Port Orchard, Wash.) on second to lead off the game, the senior team captain quickly came around two batters later via a Biggers single to left field.

Down 1-0, The visitors responded in the top of the second with an unearned tally of their own to knot the game at 1-1. The back-and-forth open to the game continued in the bottom of the second as Navy re-took the lead with four runs on three hits, two errors and a walk. A leadoff base on balls to Christian Hodge (Jr., Winder, Ga.) eventually netted the Mids their first run of the inning as the first baseman advanced to third on a Lowery double and came into score on a sacrifice fly by Alex Smith (So., Stafford, Va.). A pair of errors by the Broncs helped Lowery scored the second run before Stephen Born (Sr., Strafford, Pa.) and Biggers went back-to-back with two-out RBIs.

Spotted a 5-1 lead, Song held Rider off the scoreboard with three strikeouts, three ground outs, two fly outs and two hits scattered over the next 10 batters. A two-out walk in the top of the fifth was problematic for the right-handed pitcher as the Broncs' promptly made him pay with an RBI double to make it 5-2.

The three-run margin was short lived as Navy came back in the bottom of the fifth with three runs of its own. Biggers was the catalyst as he stroked a one-out double to center field. After advancing to third base on a fly out, consecutive walks with two outs loaded the bases. A passed ball registered the first run before Lowery shot a single to right field that plated two.

Up 8-2, Song's final inning of work was the top of the sixth. The California native pitched around a trio of singles to come out unscathed. He punctuated his outing with his eighth strikeout of the game.

After a quiet top of the seventh due to quality relief work by the newly-inserted Colin Brady, the Mids tacked on two more insurance runs in the bottom half of the stanza. A leadoff walk to Evan Lowery (So., Williamsburg, Va.) immediately turned into Navy's ninth run of the game as Hodge took the first pitch he saw from Timothy Stephan into the right-center field gap for an RBI double. A two-out single by Aaron Ahn (Fr., Marlboro, N.J.) closed the book on the Mids' offensive run production as he drove in Hodge for run number 10.

Two runs over the eighth and ninth innings, one of which that was unearned, narrowed Rider's eight run deficit to six for a final of 10-4.

For the game, Rider outhit Navy, 11-10. Biggers (3), Born (2) and L.Lowery (2) all recorded multiple hits for the victorious Mids.

On the mound, Song improved his record to 3-1 in 2018 with a line of 6.0 innings, seven hits, two runs (one earned), two walks and eight strikeouts. Over four starts and 24.0 innings this season, Song has now struck out 38 batters, while posting a 1.12 ERA and .205 opposing batting average.

"Zach continues to collect a lot of hits and Liam does his job of coming through with big hits," said Kostacopoulos. "I thought Liam's single in the fifth was the biggest of the day for us, it helped extend our lead from 6-2 to 8-2. That was a big hit, it came with two outs and was well struck. In the flow of the game, that was followed up in the top of the sixth with Noah getting out of a bases loaded jam. Those are two back-to-back innings, one on offense and one on defense that stretched the game out."

Navy and Rider will pick up its three-game series on Saturday with a 1 p.m. tilt at Max Bishop Stadium.