ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy baseball team (12-7, 2-0 Patriot League) started the Patriot League season with a pair of wins over Bucknell (4-12, 0-2 Patriot League), 9-4 and 15-2, on Saturday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
The Midshipmen racked up 24 runs on 23 hits over the two wins on Saturday, which included a season-high 15 runs in the second half of the doubleheader. Over the two games, 10 different players recorded a hit for Navy with the trio of Zach Stevens (Fr., Lexington, Mass.), Christian Hodge (Sr., Winder, Ga.) and Zach Biggers (Jr., Walhalla, S.C.) each recording four hits on the day. Biggers also finished with six RBIs during the two games. The Midshipmen pitching staff also struck out a combined 24 hitters on Saturday. 
 
"We got off to a good start on offense. In the first inning of game one, we scrapped to get three guys on then we had a grand slam from Jacob Williamson and the flow kept going from there," head coach Paul Kostacopoulos commented on Navy's offense on Saturday. "We played pretty solid baseball today. We made the plays in the field, I thought we put together some good at-bats, we did not chance too many pitches and we also had some two-out hits. Both games were complete team efforts today."
 
Navy 9, Bucknell 4
 
For the third-straight game, the Midshipmen fell behind early in the contest after Bucknell plated a run off of a sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning. However, like the previous two times, Navy fell behind earlier this week, it countered in the next half inning to take the lead. In the home half of the first inning, Jacob Williamson (Jr., Sims, N.C.) delivered a two-out grand slam -- the Midshipmen's second of the week -- to give Navy a 4-1 lead after the first inning. 
 
The Midshipmen extended their lead to five runs in the second inning with two runs on two hits. After leading off the inning with a double, Ryan Duffey (So., Duxbury, Mass.) scored a wild pitch with one out. Michael Coritz (Jr., Clifton, Va.) scored on an RBI double from Biggers -- one of his six RBIs on the day -- to make it a 6-1 ballgame after two innings.
 
Following a scoreless third inning, Navy and Bucknell combined for another five-run inning in the fourth. Ben Smith drove in a pair of runs on a double to the gap in left-center field to cut the Midshipmen's deficit to three runs. However, Navy had another answer for the Bison offense with three runs in the home half of the frame. Biggers drove in Evan Lowery (Jr., Williamsburg, Va.) with a sacrifice fly and Hodge pushed Navy ahead, 9-3, with a two-RBI single. The Midshipmen looked to add on to their lead in the fourth inning but left the bases loaded.
 
Bucknell's final run of the game and last run of the first game came from a Tyler Wincig solo home run with one out in the top of the fifth inning.
 
In Navy's 9-4 victory, Noah Song (Sr., Claremont, Calif.) earned a victory in his second-straight start to move to 3-0 on the year. Song also went the distance in his second-consecutive outing after allowing four runs on five hits and two walks in seven innings. Despite allowing the four runs, Song struck out 13 batters to move his season total up to 65 and career total to 332, which is 15 strikeouts away from tying Chuck Davis for most career strikeouts in program history.
 
Jeff Gottesman (1-4) allowed nine runs -- five earned -- in five innings of work to start the game for the Bison. He gave up eight hits and four walks while striking out three batters.
 
Navy 15, Bucknell 2
 
Navy's offense picked up right where it left in game two with another fast start on offense and the Midshipmen scored a run in each of the first three innings. Hodge drove Navy's first run of the second game with two outs after singling home Coritz.
 
In the second inning, Navy plated four runs on four hits. Coritz brought home a run on a sacrifice fly and Biggers followed with one of his two triples in the game to score Duffey and Matt Wolff (Fr., Fishers, Ind.). Hodge knocked in his second run in as many innings with a double to centerfield after the Bison centerfielder lost track of the ball on a windy and sunny day in Annapolis.
 
With the 5-0 lead at the start of the third inning, the Midshipmen would score three more runs to push their lead to eight. Navy's 1-2-3 hitters all drove in runs on consecutive plays in the frame. With one out, Lowery singled to right field driving in Stevens. Coritz almost reached on a bunt, but he was able to score Wolff and move up Lowery on the sacrifice. Biggers' second triple of the afternoon scored Lowery and gave Navy an 8-0 lead after three innings of play.
 
After a quiet fourth and fifth inning, the Midshipmen put up a seven spot on the Bison in the bottom of the sixth inning to break the game open and jump ahead 15-0. Navy's seven runs came on four hits and two errors. Stevens, Lowery, Biggers, and Stephen Thompson (So., Rock Hill, S.C.) all tallied an RBI in the inning. Navy also scored a run off a balk, a wild pitch and an error. 
 
In the seventh inning, Bucknell spoiled the shutout for Navy with two runs against the Midshipmen bullpen on three hits, but Navy completed the sweep after the 15-2 victory in the second half of the doubleheader.
 
Jared Leins (So., Raleigh, N.C.) moved to 1-0 on the year in his fifth start of the season after tossing six shutout innings. Leins held the Bison hitless through the first 4-1/3 innings and allowed just two hits in his start. He finished the day with six strikeouts. The trio of Leins, Jackson Zoch (Sr., San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Tommy Goodridge (So., San Diego, Calif.) combined for 11 strikeouts in game two.
 
Jack Grabek (1-3) suffered the loss after giving up eight runs on 11 hits in five innings of work.
 
Navy and Bucknell round out the weekend series with a doubleheader on Sunday starting at noon at Max Bishop Stadium.