BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Navy baseball (27-11, 13-3 Patriot League) allowed Lehigh (14-20, 3-9 Patriot League) to score just one run in 17 innings of baseball to sweep Saturday's doubleheader. Christian Hodge (Sr., Winder, Ga.) had just one hit in the second half of the doubleheader, but his hit was a three-run home run in the 10th inning to break a scoreless draw in extra frames and lead the Midshipmen to a 3-0 victory in game two.
 
On the day, Navy's pitching allowed just nine hits in 17 innings on Saturday. The Midshipmen also tossed their first shutout of the season in game two. Navy took the first half of the doubleheader, 4-1, where Lehigh scored its one run off of a sacrifice fly.
 
The series finale between Navy and Lehigh has been moved up to a 10 a.m. first pitch on Sunday morning.
 
"I thought our guys did a really good job with poise on the mound today," head coach Paul Kostacopoulos said after the doubleheader. "Lehigh had runners on base and we were able to make pitches to get the third out of the innings. Most of our guys on the mound did that today and that was the key to today's game, all of our guys pitched well in the clutch.
 
"Our defense played well today," Kostacopoulos continued. "Not only did we not add to Lehigh's offense but we also took away some potential hits. We played well as a unit today as far as our defense goes." 
 
Navy 4, Lehigh 1
 
Navy jumped ahead to an early 1-0 lead against Lehigh with a run in the first inning. The Midshipmen loaded the bases with one out in the first inning and with two outs in the frame and a 3-2 count, Liam Lowery (Sr., Williamsburg, Va.) drove in a run with an infield single to score Evan Lowery (Jr., Williamsburg, Va.) and put Navy on top by a run.
 
After the first inning run, both starting pitchers settled in and no runs were scored over the next four frames. Noah Song (Sr., Claremont, Calif.) retired 10-straight batters from the second inning into the fifth inning and during that span, he struck out seven batters.
 
Still holding a 1-0 lead, the Midshipmen found some insurance runs in the sixth inning with three runs on three hits. Navy tallied all three runs with two outs in the inning. Evan Lowery drove in the first two runs with a triple out to right-center field. With Evan Lowery on third base, Michael Coritz (Jr., Clifton, Va.) singled through the left side of the infield to drive in a run and give the Midshipmen a 4-0 advantage.
 
Lehigh got a run back in the bottom of the sixth inning after the Mountain Hawks started the frame with a single and a walk. Following a groundout and sacrifice fly, Lehigh pulled within three runs but Song retired the final three batters in order to strand a runner on third base and keep Navy ahead, 4-1, heading into the seventh inning.
 
In the seventh inning, Lehigh tried to rally with one out as it got three-straight baserunners to load the bases. Trey Braithwaite (So., Winchester, Va.) came out of the bullpen a retired the next two batters to leave the bases loaded and secure Navy's 4-1 victory.
 
Song (7-0) went 6-1/3 innings allowing one run on five hits and four walks. Song struck out 11 batters to move his season total to 110 strikeouts and he is the first pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball to surpass 100 strikeouts this season. Braithwaite secured his seventh save of the season retiring two batters and striking out one. 
 
Ethan Frohman (3-1) suffered the loss in 5-2/3 innings allowing four runs on eight hits.
 
Navy 3, Lehigh 0
 
A pitcher's duel broke out in game two with Navy having to make a last-minute adjustment on the mound. Colin Taeschner (Fr., Port Republic, Md.) was pushed into the starting role just before first pitch and he shutout Lehigh in his 2-1/3 innings to start allowing just three hits.
 
Jackson Zoch (Sr., San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) came out of the bullpen and kept throwing up zeros for the Midshipmen and did not allow a baserunner in his first five innings out of the bullpen. Zoch came in with the bases loaded in the third inning and got out of the jam recording two outs and keeping the game scoreless.
 
On the other side, Levi Stoudt pitched seven innings of shutout baseball allowing just six hits as the game was deadlocked at zero through seven innings.
 
The Midshipmen had hits in all but the second and fourth innings, but could not push across run through their first eight at-bats.
 
After five innings without a baserunner, the Mountain Hawks drew a one-out walk in the eighth inning, but Zoch worked around the baserunner and left the runner stranded on third base to end the eighth inning and keep the game knotted at zero.
 
With the game still looking for its first run heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Mountain Hawks started the inning with a bloop single to left field, which was their first hit since a leadoff single in the third inning. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner up to second base but left two runners on base as the second game of the doubleheader went into extra innings.
 
In the 10th inning, Coritz and Zach Biggers (Jr., Walhalla, S.C.) reached base with one out to start a rally for the Midshipmen. On a 3-2 pitch, Hodge turned on the ball and belted his 10th home run of the season to put Navy on top 3-0. 
 
Braithwaite came on in the bottom of the 10th inning looking for his second save of the day and he worked a perfect frame to seal the Midshipmen's 3-0 victory and the doubleheader sweep on Saturday.
 
Sante Grossi (So., Riverside, Calif.) picked the win to move to 4-0 on the year after recording the final two outs in the ninth inning. Braithwaite moved his save total to eight on the year after two saves on Saturday. This was also the second time in as many weeks Braithwaite earned two saves in a day after grabbing a pair of saves last Saturday at home against Holy Cross.
 
Jason Reynolds (2-5) suffered the loss in three innings of relief allowing three runs on four hits.
 
With his home run on Saturday, Hodge now has 10 on the season to move into a tie for second-place all-time in the program record books for most home runs in a season. Braithwaite is now tied for third all-time for saves in a single season with eight.
 
With rain forecasted on Sunday afternoon, first pitch of the series finale between Navy and Lehigh has been moved up to 10 a.m. on Sunday morning from Bethlehem, Pa.