LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Navy baseball team (29-12, 14-4 Patriot League) used stellar defensive plays to take away hits and runs from Bucknell (10-28, 3-15 Patriot League) and the Midshipmen grabbed a 3-1 road win on Wednesday afternoon at Depew Field.
 
The Navy pitching staff and defense only allowed the Bison to record three hits in the game and the Midshipmen only walked one batter. On offense, Zach Stevens (Fr., Lexington, Mass.) was the only hitter in the game with multiple hits as he went 2-for-4. Liam Lowery (Sr., Williamsburg, Va.) had the big hit in the game for Navy with a two-run home run.
 
"We made some really good plays on defense today," head coach Paul Kostacopoulos commented after the win. "Jacob Williamson took away a double and turned it into an out. Michael Coritz and Zach Biggers made a huge play to turn a double play and Zach took another hit away in the 3-4 hole and we just played really well on defense. The pitchers were also outstanding today. They stayed with the game plan, only walked one guy and pitched to contact. We played a really good baseball game on that side of the ball."
 
After a scoreless first inning, Navy grabbed an early lead with a run on one hit in the second inning. Stevens recorded a one-out single and then after back-to-back walks Navy loaded the bases. Evan Lowery (Jr., Williamsburg, Va.) recorded his nation-leading 10th sacrifice fly to score Stevens and give the Midshipmen a 1-0 lead.
 
In the third inning, Christian Hodge (Sr., Winder, Ga.) flirted with his 11th home run of the season but the ball hit off the top of the wall in left field and Hodge reached base with a double. After Hodge just missed a home run out to left field, Liam Lowery was able to put a ball over the left-field fence and give the Midshipmen a 3-0 advantage after the third inning.
 
Making his first start of the season, Tommy Goodridge (So., San Diego, Calif.) allowed a leadoff single in the first inning, but faced 11 batters and recorded 11 outs before giving up his second hit of the day with a two-out single to Tyler Wincig in the fourth inning. Of his first 11 outs, Goodridge struck out the side in the second inning to keep the momentum with the Midshipmen after their run in the second inning.
 
Bucknell got on the board in the fifth inning with the first two batters reaching base to place two runners in scoring position. Goodridge then retired three-straight batters to limit the damage and allowed just one run to score as Navy took a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning.
 
Stevens started the eighth inning with a double out to right field looking for another insurance run for the Midshipmen. However, after a sacrifice bunt from Matt Wolff (Fr., Fishers, Ind.) moved Stevens to third base, he was stranded 90 feet away from home after back-to-back strikeouts from Hunter Robichaux.
 
Navy had base runners in all nine innings with hits in all but the first and sixth innings. However, the Midshipmen left 11 runners on base throughout the game.
 
Trey Braithwaite (So., Winchester, Va.) came into the game in the bottom of the ninth for Navy looking for his ninth save of the season. The sophomore worked a perfect final frame to pick up the save and secure the Midshipmen's 3-1 victory. 
 
Goodridge (3-0) went five innings and allowed just one run on three hits, where the sophomore also struck out four batters in his start.
 
Jack Simpson (1-6) suffered the loss after allowing three runs on three hits and three walks in three innings of work.
 
With the victory, Navy completed the regular-season sweep of Bucknell and won all five games against the Bison.
 
The Midshipmen are back at home this weekend to host a three-game series against Army in the 2019 baseball Star Series on Saturday and Sunday at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.