ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy baseball team (8-7) won the rubber match against Cornell (1-8) on Sunday afternoon, 5-1, to clinch the weekend series over the Big Red at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
The Midshipmen's freshmen duo of Wilson Ayers (Fr., Ashburn, Va.) and Trent Topping (Fr., Temecula, Calif.) sparked Navy to the win after the two pitchers only allowed Cornell to score one run on six hits in the contest. Liam Lowery (Sr., Williamsburg, Va.) and Zach Biggers (Jr., Walhalla, S.C.) had a pair of multi-hit games to lead the offense, while Lowery drove in three runs for the Midshipmen.
 
"I think Wilson [Ayers] and Trent [Topping] had a feel for their off-speed pitches and Cornell was a little mistimed on it," head coach Paul Kostacopoulos commented on his two freshmen pitchers. "We kind of kept going to it and they kept getting some outs on those off-speed pitches. We adjusted well in holding guys on today and collected some outs with Cornell on the base paths. Overall, defensively we did a good job and had a couple of good plays in the outfield as well.
 
"We bunched some hits together," Kostacopoulos mentioned about his team's offense late in the game. "It is such a critical piece of baseball to bunch hits together. Michael [Coritz] did a nice job in the eighth on a breaking ball to stay in there and get a single. Zach [Biggers] just battled and got on base, then Liam [Lowery] had the big hit. That is how we are going to have to score. It is not going to come in these big bunches. Even in the first inning, I thought we did a good job at bunching hits together and that is what we have to do to score."
 
After Ayers kept the Big Red off the scoreboard in the first inning, which included back-to-back strikeouts to start the game, Navy's offense got going right out the gate with two runs in the home half of the first inning. Evan Lowery (Jr., Williamsburg, Va.) doubled down the right-field line to leadoff the game and he moved up to third base on a ground out by Michael Coritz (Jr., Clifton, Va.). Biggers followed up with an RBI double down the right-field line to score Evan Lowery and put himself in scoring position. Biggers advanced to third base on a passed ball and Liam Lowery drove in his first run of the game with a ground out to push Navy ahead, 2-0, after the first inning.
 
Cornell struggled to get its offense going as it had just three hits over the first six innings. On the other side, the Midshipmen had just one hit over their next five at-bats following their two-run first inning.
 
Both teams pushed across a run in the seventh inning to keep it a two-run game with two innings to play. The Big Red finally got on the board with two outs in the seventh inning with Josh Arndt sneaking a home run just inside the right-field foul pole to make it a 2-1 ballgame. However, in the bottom of the seventh inning, Liam Lowery double to centerfield to start the frame and two pitches later, Christian Hodge (Sr., Winder, Ga.) drove him in with a single back up the middle and put Navy back on top by two runs, 3-1. 
 
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Midshipmen grabbed a pair of insurance runs to take a four-run advantage into the final stanza. After back-to-back outs to start the inning, Coritz singled to centerfield and Biggers chopped a single just behind the pitcher to put two runners on base. Liam Lowery delivered the big hit in the inning with a two-RBI triple to the gap in left-center field. Cornell's Jason Apostle tried to make a diving catch, but he missed the ball and it rolled all the way to the wall allowing Coritz and Biggers to score on the play, which extended Navy's advantage to 5-1.
 
Topping worked a perfect bottom of the ninth inning to complete the four-inning save for the Midshipmen and seal the 5-1 victory and the series win for Navy.
 
Ayers (1-2) earned his first collegiate win on Sunday afternoon after shutting out the Big Red in his five-inning start. Ayers allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out three batters. Topping tossed the final four innings for his first collegiate save allowing a run on three hits.
 
Seth Urbon (0-3) got the start for Cornell and pitched seven innings. He allowed three runs -- two earned -- on five hits, to go along with five strikeouts. 
 
Navy now hits the road on Tuesday for a midweek contest against Villanova starting at 3:30 p.m. in Plymouth Meeting, Pa.