ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy baseball (2-5) continues its home slate this weekend as it hosts Central Connecticut State (0-1) and Massachusetts (1-0) Friday through Sunday at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
The Midshipmen begin the weekend against Central Connecticut State at 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon. Navy then takes on the Minutemen at 2 p.m. on Saturday, before finishing the weekend with its second game against the Blue Devils at 2 p.m. Central Connecticut State and UMass will faceoff in a pair of neutral site games on Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
Coming into the weekend, Navy holds a record of 2-5 after rallying for a 5-3 victory over Coppin State on Wednesday afternoon. The Midshipmen scored five unanswered and held the Eagles hitless for six innings to come from behind and grab the midweek victory.
On the season, Navy's pitching staff has compiled a 3.86 ERA where the starting pitchers and bullpen have both notched matching 3.86 ERAs to start the season.
Noah Song leads the nation with 26 strikeouts and a 20.06 strikeout per nine inning mark. He and
Jackson Zoch recorded the first two wins for the Midshipmen as the pair of seniors have yet to allow a run. Zoch threw 3-2/3 innings on Wednesday against Coppin State and did not allow a run or a hit. In 4-2/3 innings this season, Zoch has struck out five batters and walked one without allowing a hit.
Charlie Connolly has logged the most innings for the Midshipmen to start the year with 13 innings pitched in three appearances. He suffered a loss at Gardner-Webb after allowing one run in seven innings and he then notched a save against Air Force. Connolly threw five innings against Coppin State earlier this week in a no-decision.
Navy's offense racked up nine hits in the midweek win over Coppin State to move its average up to .229, but the Midshipmen left 16 runners on base. Senior captain
Christian Hodge leads Navy with a .385 batting average and 10 hits. Hodge has recorded a hit in each game this season to pace the offense. Of Navy's seven extra-base hits,
Jacob Williamson has three of them with a double and the team's only two home runs this season, while
Evan Lowery leads the team with a pair of doubles.
Liam Lowery and his brother
Evan Lowery are first and second on the team with five and four RBIs, respectively.
Central Connecticut State and UMass were slated to have a three-game series against each other to start its schedules last week, but the two teams only got one of the three games in. The Minutemen won on the road against the Blue Devils, 2-1. Massachusetts had eight hits in the win with three players recording multi-hit games. Luke Oliphant went 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the team to the victory.
On the mound for the Minutemen, Justin Lasko got the start allowing three hits and one run but struck out 11 batters in 5-2/3 innings. Brad Collins earned the win and Casey Aubin picked up the save. Collins and Aubin each tossed 1-2/3 innings out of the bullpen and did not give up a hit in their outings.
The Blue Devils mustered up just three hits in the game with three different players recording a hit. Brandon Fox started on the mound for Central Connecticut State and threw five innings of shutout baseball allowing four hits. Jared Gallagher pitched 1-2/3 innings in the loss.
In the all-time series between Navy and Central Connecticut State, the Midshipmen have a narrow 13-12 lead over the Blue Devils, including winning the last two. Against UMass, Navy has both meetings against the Minutemen. The first contest between the two programs took place in 2009 with the last meeting taking place in 2011.
Navy takes on Central Connecticut State at 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon and then hosts UMass on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Midshipmen finish out their home weekend against the Blue Devils at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Prior to Navy's games on Saturday and Sunday, Central Connecticut and Massachusetts will play a pair of neutral site games at 10:30 a.m. each day.
