ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy baseball team (14-7) carries a seven-game winning streak into its midweek contest against Mount St. Mary's (6-8). The Midshipmen host the Mountaineers on Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
Navy is set to cap off a home stretch of 13 of its last 15 games at home and the Midshipmen have won 13 of their last 15 games coming into the week.
This past weekend, the Midshipmen swept its first Patriot League series of the season with four victories over Bucknell. Navy won all six of its games last week after also earning its first two roads at Villanova in the midweek.
On offense, the Midshipmen are hitting .267 as a team during the first 21 games of the season. In 14 appearances this year,
Zach Stevens has a .389 batting average and 10 RBIs, which helped him earn Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors for the second time this season.
Christian Hodge hit .435 at the plate this past week and drove in 11 runs to move his average to .321 and now has a team-best 17 RBIs this year. Hodge was also selected as the Patriot League Player of the Week for Navy's first player of the week nod this season.
Navy's pitching staff has a 3.35 ERA this season and has struck out 206 batters in 177-1/3 innings.
Noah Song leads the team with a 3-0 record this year and has a 1.38 ERA and leads the nation with 65 strikeouts in 32-2/3 innings of work. As a staff, the Midshipmen have limited the opposition to a .222 batting average. Navy completed the sweep of the league awards this week after
Jared Leins was named the Patriot League Pitcher of the Week. On the season, Leins is 1-0 with a 3.04 ERA and in 26-2/3 innings of work he has struck out 23 batters.
Mount St. Mary's carries a 6-8 record into the week after dropping two of three games against Wagner to start NEC play last weekend. Over the last five games, the Mountaineers have just one win, which came in the series opener against Wagner. Ryan Fisher has paced Mount St. Mary's with a .441 batting average as the team is hitting .260 as a whole. Zack Costello has driven in 12 runs and posted six extra-base hits.
The Mountaineer pitchers have compiled a 6.45 ERA with Noah Smith leading them out of the bullpen with a 0.73 ERA. Michael Kuypers is 2-1 on the year with two saves and 1.90 ERA. Overall, the Mountaineers have surrendered just 47 walks and struck out 109 batters.
Navy and Mount St. Mary's are set to meet for the first time since 2012. The Midshipmen lead the all-time series with 11 wins in 18 meetings, but the Mountaineers have won the last three contests. In the last meeting in 2012, Navy dropped a 10-6 decision at home against Mount St. Mary's.
First pitch on Wednesday afternoon is set for 3 p.m. from Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
