EMMITSBURG, Md. – Navy baseball (25-11) used the long ball on Wednesday afternoon to beat out Mount St. Mary's (11-20). The Midshipmen hit three home runs to grab an 8-4 road win over the Mountaineers at E.T. Straw Family Stadium.
 
Navy got home runs from Zach Stevens (Fr., Lexington, Mass.), Michael Coritz (Jr., Clifton, Va.) and Christian Hodge (Sr., Winder, Ga.) to lead the offense. Both Stevens and Coritz each had two hits in the game, while Hodge recorded three RBIs on Wednesday.
 
"We got our runs in a couple of different ways today," head coach Paul Kostacopoulos said after the win. "We bunched some hits together in the third inning to score our first four runs and then scored our final four runs of the game off of home runs. Today was another day where we had good defense to limit Mount St. Mary's runs and not extend their innings."
 
The Mountaineers got ahead early and retired the side in order in the first inning. Then, Mount St. Mary's grabbed an early 2-0 lead over the Midshipmen after recording four hits in the bottom half of the opening frame.
 
After being held without a hit over the first two innings, Navy's offense got rolling in the third inning with four runs on five hits. Stevens started the inning with a double and then Ryan Duffey (So., Duxbury, Mass.) placed runners on the corners with a single up the middle. The string of four-straight hits to start the inning continued with an RBI single from Joe Simourian (Fr., Andover, Mass.) and then Evan Lowery (Jr., Williamsburg, Va.) plated a run with a single.
 
With the game tied a two, Coritz pushed two runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt and Zach Biggers (Jr., Walhalla, S.C.) drove in the go-ahead run with a single. Hodge recorded his first of three RBIs with a sacrifice fly out to centerfield that scored Simourian and gave the Midshipmen a 4-2 advantage after the top of the third inning.
 
Mount St. Mary's had three more hits in their first four plate appearances of the bottom of the third inning to pull within a run, but Sante Grossi (So., Riverside, Calif.) left runners on second and third base to end the inning and keep Navy on top by a run.
 
The long ball then came alive for Navy in the fourth inning with Stevens hitting his second home run of the season to double the lead for the Midshipmen. In the fifth inning, Coritz belted his first career home run over the left-field fence to give Navy a 6-3 advantage through the first half of the ballgame.
 
Hodge capped off the home run barrage for the Midshipmen in the seventh inning with a two-run blast to extend their lead to 8-3 with just two innings to play. Hodge's home run pushes him to nine this season, which is fourth-most in program history for home runs in a single season. The senior captain is also up to 19 home runs in his career, which is also fourth-most all-time.
 
Following three runs in the first three innings from the Mountaineers, the Navy bullpen kept them off the scoreboard for the next five innings. However, in the ninth inning, Mount St. Mary's tried to rally with a run on two hits before the first out was recorded. Tommy Goodridge (So., San Diego, Calif.) regrouped in the inning and struck out three of the next four batters to secure the 8-4 win for the Midshipmen on the road.
 
Wilson Ayers (Fr., Ashburn, Va.) got the start and went 2-1/3 innings allowing three runs on eight hits. Grossi (3-0) pitched a perfect 2-2/3 innings for Navy to earn the win. Trent Topping (Fr., Temecula, Calif.) allowed three hits and no runs in his two-inning appearance while Goodridge finished with a game-high four strikeouts in two innings.
 
Ryan Florio (0-4) suffered the loss after allowing five hits and four runs in an inning of work.
 
Navy hits the road again this weekend for a three-game Patriot League series at Lehigh on Friday and Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa.