EASTON, Pa. – The Navy baseball team (20-9, 8-2 Patriot League) racked up 10 home runs in the two games on Saturday against Lafayette (7-17, 3-3 Patriot League) to sweep the doubleheader, 10-1 and 24-13, at Kamine Stadium.
 
Christian Hodge (Sr., Winder, Ga.) led the charge for the Midshipmen with four home runs – two in each game – and Liam Lowery (Jr., Williamsburg, Va.) hit three home runs in the doubleheader. Hodge finished with nine RBIs on the day and Liam Lowery had six.
 
"Today was one of those days where everyone hit for us," head coach Paul Kostacopoulos mentioned. "Christian Hodge had four home runs and Liam Lowery had three. Everyone swung the bat today. The wind was blowing out and we did a good job on sitting on some fastballs and getting ahead counts.
 
"Every day is a new day," Kostacopoulos said about carrying the momentum into Sunday. "It depends on who is on the mound that day. We did a good job of getting after some guys early and getting into their bullpen today. Tomorrow is a new day, it starts out 0-0 and we will go from there."
 
Navy 10, Lafayette 1
 
After a slow start to the doubleheader, Navy broke the game open with 10 runs in the fourth inning. The Midshipmen used the long ball throughout the day to pace the offense. With one on and one out, Hodge belted his first home run of the day to break the scoreless affair in the fourth inning. Liam Lowery followed with his first of three home runs on the day to make it a 3-0 contest. Two batters later, Jacob Williamson (Jr., Sims, N.C.) launched a solo home run and made it a 4-0 ballgame.
 
Following a pair of singles and a walk, Michael Coritz (Jr., Clifton, Va.) notched a two-RBI single with the bases loaded. The Midshipmen then loaded the bases again and Hodge delivered his second home run of the fourth inning with a grand slam to cap off Navy's 10-run fourth inning.
 
Noah Song (Sr., Claremont, Calif.) was rolling through five innings with just two hits allowed and he struck out eight batters through five innings. With a strikeout in the second inning, Song became the all-time leader in career strikeouts surpassing Chuck Davis' 347 strikeouts during his time at Navy from 1959 to 1961. Song now has 357 strikeouts in his career at Navy.
 
Lafayette got on the board in the sixth inning with a run on three hits to spoil the shutout for Song.
 
Outside of the fourth inning, Navy only tallied one hit in the remaining six innings as Christian Policelli (Fr., Walkersville, Md.) notched a two-out single in the seventh inning.
 
Song (5-0) finished with 12 strikeouts in his seven-inning, complete-game victory. He allowed one run on six hits and three walks. 
 
JP Woodward (1-5) suffered the loss in 3-2/3 innings allowing 10 runs on eight hits and four walks.
 
Navy 24, Lafayette 13
 
In the second game of the doubleheader, the offense and the long ball were clicking for both teams. After a scoreless first inning, Navy scored in the final eight innings to post 24 runs on 22 hits. 
 
In the second inning, the Midshipmen scored twice on a single and an error. Zach Stevens (Fr., Lexington, Mass.) drove in a run on single and Evan Lowery (Jr., Williamsburg, Va.) made it 2-0 following a sacrifice fly. With one out in the third inning, Hodge belted his third home run of the day to extend Navy's lead to three runs. For the second-straight inning, Stevens drove in run with a double to the gap in left-center field.
 
The long ball also helped the Leopards with a three-run home run that brought the score to 4-3 after the first third of the contest.
 
Joe Simourian (Fr., Andover, Mass.) got in on the home run parade with a leadoff home run in the fourth inning for his first career home run.
 
With a 5-3 lead at the start of the fifth inning, the Midshipmen broke the game open with a seven-run inning to grab a 12-3 lead. Hodge started the inning with his fourth and final home run of the day. Policelli hit a three-run home run to give Navy a 9-3 advantage. Navy rounded out the frame with three bases-loaded walks to take a 12-3 lead at the halfway point in the second game.
 
A pair of solo home runs in the bottom of the fifth inning brought Lafayette's deficit to seven runs after five innings. 
 
Three runs came into score in the sixth inning on two hits and an error for the Midshipmen as they grabbed a 10-run lead. The double-digit was cut down after a two-run frame from the Leopards, where they did not record a hit. 
 
The offensive blows from both teams continued to come over the final three innings as Navy plated four runs in the seventh inning and Lafayette answered with one. In the eighth inning, after Navy scored a run to take a 20-8 lead, the Leopards hung their first crooked number of the day with a five-run eighth inning to cut Navy's lead to 20-13.
 
However, the Midshipmen answered back with four runs in the ninth inning, which was capped off by Liam Lowery's three-run home run home to seal Navy's 24-13 victory.
 
The last time the Midshipmen surpassed the 20-run benchmark was on March 31 last year at home against Lafayette in a 20-9 game. After hitting 16 home runs all of last season, Navy now has 22 home runs through the first 29 games this year.
 
With rain in the area on Sunday morning, first pitch in the weekend finale between Navy and Lafayette is now set for 3 p.m. from Kamine Stadium in Easton, Pa.