ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Postseason competition begins for the Navy baseball team (36-15) this weekend in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals as the Midshipmen host Lafayette (19-31) at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium on Saturday and Sunday.
The semifinal is a best-of-three series with the first game taking place on Saturday at 1 p.m. Game two is slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday with the if necessary to follow on Sunday at approximately 4 p.m. Navy enters the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the tournament and Lafayette is the No. 4 seed overall.
Coming into the weekend, the Midshipmen are on a three-game winning streak after beating Longwood twice last weekend and completing the Patriot League regular season with a 3-1 win over Lafayette two weeks ago.
In the postseason league awards,
Christian Hodge was named the Player of the Year,
Noah Song was selected as the Pitcher of the Year and head coach
Paul Kostacopoulos was voted as the Coach of the Year. Navy also had four First-Team All-Patriot League honorees in Hodge, Song,
Zach Biggers and
Trey Braithwaite. On the second team, the Midshipmen were represented by
Zach Stevens and
Liam Lowery.
Navy leads the Patriot League in batting average and ERA this season. The Midshipmen are hitting .276 for the season and are the lone team in the league slugging over .400 with a .405 mark. Stevens leads Navy with a .333 batting average and is slugging .553 for the year. During 25 Patriot League games, Stevens is slugging .613 to pace all hitters in the league. Hodge is hitting .307 for the season and leads the Patriot League with 12 home runs and is second with 51 RBIs. Biggers is second in the Patriot League with 61 hits this season and his 40 RBIs are second on the team.
On the mound, Song has guided the pitching to staff to a 3.95 ERA this season, along with a program record 475 strikeouts. Song has a 1.14 ERA in 79 innings of work this season. He ranks third in the country in ERA and leads the nation with a 10-0 record and 141 strikeouts. Braithwaite has anchored the Navy bullpen with nine saves and a 2.92 ERA. In 24-2/3 innings of work, Braithwaite has struck out 29 batters to rank second among Navy relievers.
Trent Topping has the lowest ERA for the Midshipmen out of the bullpen with a 2.62 ERA in 34-1/3 innings and 20 appearances, to go along with three saves.
Lafayette is making its first appearance in the Patriot League Tournament since the 2015 season when it faced Navy in the semifinals in Annapolis. On the season, the Leopards are 19-31 and dropped its last regular season game on the road to Monmouth, 5-4. During the Patriot League season, Lafayette went 12-13 to earn the No. 4 seed in the tournament. Lafayette is hitting .247 for the season but it led all league teams in Patriot League games with a .429 slugging percentage. Justin Johnson -- who named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year -- leads the way on offense with a .294 batting average and 16 doubles.
The Leopards' pitching staff has recorded a 7.06 ERA overall and notched a 7.18 ERA in the league this season. Brett Kreyer leads the staff with a 4.76 ERA and his four wins rank second on the team. JP Woodward has a team-leading five wins this year and has a 6.21 ERA in 11 starts and 62-1/3 innings. Woodward also leads the staff with 67 strikeouts as the team has totaled 318 strikeouts but walked 296 batters.
During the five regular-season meetings between Navy and Lafayette, the Midshipmen picked up four victories to win the season series. In the three-game series at Lafayette, Navy swept the weekend and outscored the Leopards 45-23 over the three games. The Midshipmen tallied at least 10 runs in each game, highlighted by a 24-run output in the second game of the weekend in a 24-13 win. Navy also racked up 10 home runs during the three-game series. In a doubleheader in Annapolis two weeks ago, the Leopards snapped a 12-game skid to the Midshipmen with a three-run seventh inning to win 5-2 during the first game. In a pitcher's duel in game two of the doubleheader, Navy rebounded with a 3-1 victory to split the doubleheader and the Midshipmen secured their fifth-straight Patriot League Regular Season Championship during the doubleheader against Lafayette.
In the second semifinal in the league tournament, second-seeded Holy Cross hosts third-seeded Army in Worcester, Mass. Both teams finished at 15-10 during the Patriot League regular season but the Crusaders won the tiebreaker after winning three of the five matchups during the year. Holy Cross and Army will play a doubleheader on Saturday and the if necessary game on Sunday.
First pitch between Navy and Lafayette in the Patriot League Semifinals is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon from Max Bishop Stadium. Game two is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. with the if necessary contest slated for Sunday at 4 p.m.
