ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy baseball's (18-9, 6-2 Patriot League) eight-game road stretch comes to an end this weekend with a three-game series at Lafayette (7-15, 3-1 Patriot League). The series is set to begin at noon on Saturday afternoon from Kamine Field in Easton, Pa., with a doubleheader. The weekend series concludes on Sunday with a single game starting at 1 p.m.
Navy and Lafayette are currently sitting atop the Patriot League standings with .750 winning percentages in the early portion of the league season. The Midshipmen hold a record of 6-2 after sweeping four games against Bucknell and splitting its road doubleheaders at Army and Holy Cross. The Leopards started their league slate winning three of four games on road against Lehigh last weekend.
Coming into the weekend, Navy notched a 12-3 win at Georgetown on Wednesday afternoon. The Midshipmen recorded 15 hits in the game and only allowed the Hoyas to compile four hits in the first eight innings of the ballgame. During its conference slate last week, Navy won the opening games on the road against Army and Holy in a Sunday-Monday series, but the Midshipmen were unable to sweep either doubleheader after losing the second game on each day.
Overall, Navy is leading the Patriot League with a .275 batting average.
Zach Stevens leads the league with a .396 batting average and he has driven in 15 runs in his 20 games played.
Liam Lowery and
Christian Hodge are tied for the team lead and second in the Patriot League with 23 RBIs. Lowery is hitting .337 at the plate and has a .516 slugging percentage, while Hodge has a .308 average to go along with four home runs this season.
On the mound, the Midshipmen also lead the league with a 3.36 ERA through 27 games. Five different pitchers -- all with double-digit innings -- have ERAs below 3.00 this season.
Noah Song has guided the pitching staff with a 1.59 ERA in 39-2/3 innings of work. Song also leads the country with 78 strikeouts, which is 12 more than any other pitcher in the nation. Song sits just two strikeouts away from joining Chuck Davis atop the Navy baseball record books for career strikeouts. Coming into the weekend, Song has totaled 345 strikeouts with the Midshipmen and Davis finished his career with 347.
As a team, Navy has compiled 257 strikeouts and are allowing the opposition to his just .220. Song leads the effort in opponent batting average with a .145 mark -- which also leads the Patriot League.
Lafayette is set to start its home schedule on the final two days of March with the three-game series this weekend. The Leopards have started the season 7-15, but are 3-1 in the league. After an eight-game skid, Lafayette has won four of its last five games. The Leopards won three of four games at Lehigh this past weekend and they then won a 3-1 contest on the road against St. Joseph's to start the Liberty Bell Classic.
Leading Lafayette's offense to a .221 average has been Justin Johnson with a .349 average with 29 hits and 10 doubles. Last week, Trey Durrah racked up 15 RBIs to be named Patriot League Player of the Week and he now leads the team with 23 RBIs. On the mound, the Leopards round out the league with a 7.70 ERA and have an opponent batting average of .302. Connor James leads the bullpen for Lafayette with an ERA of 4.76. Six different pitchers have recorded a win for the Leopards with David Giusti leading the team with a 2-0 record in 10 relief appearances.
In the all-time series between Lafayette and Navy, the Midshipmen lead the Leopards, 87-42-2. The 87 wins for Navy are the most against one opponent besides Army. Navy has won nine-straight games against Lafayette with the last win for the Leopards coming in 2016 in the final game of a four-game set. Last season, Navy swept the five-game season series over Lafayette winning all three games at home and sweeping a Sunday doubleheader on the road last year.
First pitch of the series is set for noon on Saturday afternoon from Easton, Pa., with a doubleheader. The final game of the weekend will take place on Sunday starting at 1 p.m.
