ANNAPOLIS, Md. – For the second-straight season, the Navy baseball team (38-15) will host service academy rival Army (32-23) for the Patriot League Championship. Army and Navy will begin the best-of-three series at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium on Friday night at 7 p.m. The second game of the series will take place on Saturday at 2 p.m., with the if necessary game three on Sunday at 2 p.m.
 
The Midshipmen are the No. 1 seed in the tournament after finishing at 18-7 in the league for the second-consecutive year. The Black Knights finished second in the league at 15-10 but lost the tiebreaker to Holy Cross -- who Army beat last weekend in the semifinals -- and are the No. 3 seed in the tournament field.
 
Last weekend, Navy earned its first sweep of a best-of-three Patriot League Semifinal after beating fourth-seeded Lafayette. The Midshipmen won the first game 3-0 and then used an eight-run 12th inning in the game two to win the game, 10-2, and clinch the series. Against the Leopards last weekend, the Midshipmen hit .254 at the plate and drew 11 walks over the two games. On the mound, Navy's pitching staff recorded a 0.86 ERA where it struck out 25 batters and walked four.
 
On the season, Navy is hitting .275 overall and has posted a .400 slugging percentage. Zach Stevens leads the team in both categories with a .324 mark and a .534 slugging percentage. During his freshman campaign, Stevens has also reached base at .420 clip and have driven in 28 runs. Christian Hodge has guided the team with 12 home runs and 52 RBIs. His 12 long balls tie him for most in a single-season in program history and his 52 RBIs are fifth-most in program history. The Midshipmen have six hitters in their starting lineup with averages of at least .300 on the year.
 
Navy's pitching staff has lowered its ERA to 3.81 after allowing just two runs in 21 innings of baseball last weekend. Noah Song highlights the group with a 1.03 ERA and 11 wins on the season. Song -- who leads the country in wins -- also leads the nation with 150 strikeouts in 87 innings of work this season. In his 13 starts in 2019, he has notched a .156 opponent batting average. The Midshipmen pitching staff also set the program record for strikeouts in a season as they have become the first team in program history with 500 strikeouts this year.
 
Army comes into the weekend after beating Holy Cross in the semifinals. The Black Knights won the first game against the Crusaders, 5-1, but dropped game two, 6-4. In the if necessary game, Army scored the first five runs to hold off Holy Cross in a 5-3 victory to advance to the final for the second-straight season.
 
The Black Knights offense is just behind Navy with a .274 batting average and Army is the only Patriot League team with an on-base mark of .400. Jacob Hurtubise leads the way for the Black Knights with a .363 average and a .536 on-base percentage to rank third in the country. Hurtubise also has 40 stolen bases to lead Army to 115 as a team. Anthony Giachin leads the Patriot League with 61 RBIs this season and his batting .330 with 22 doubles to go along with a .531 slugging percentage.
 
On the mound, Army has compiled a 3.96 team ERA with Daniel Burggraaf pacing the team with 78 strikeouts and has a 2.96 ERA to lead all starting pitchers. Tyler Giovinco guides the team with eight wins on the year and has a 3.29 ERA and 63 strikeouts. The Black Knights bullpen has been led by Cam Opp and Harry Flannery who have combined for eight of the teams 10 saves during the season.
 
Army and Navy met in the 2018 Patriot League Championship where the Black Knights won the first two games of the series to sweep the Midshipmen. Navy only led once over the two games, 3-2 after six innings in game two, but Army rallied to complete the sweep and upend Navy at Max Bishop Stadium. The tournament title was Army's first since 2013, which was also the last time a team repeated as league champions after the Black Knights also won the title in 2012.
 
This season, Army won the regular-season series against Navy for the first time in four years after it won three of the five meetings this season. The Black Knights and Midshipmen traded results to start the series, but Army won the last two meetings in Annapolis to win the season series, 3-2.
 
In the all-time series between Army and Navy, the Midshipmen hold a 125-116 edge over the Black Knights with Navy also holding a slight advantage in home games against Army, 59-55.
 
A fan shuttle will available during all three days of the series for additional parking at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Parking at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is $5 and the shuttle will run every 10 minutes starting one hour prior to first pitch all three days. The shuttle will run from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m.-5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Fans 18 and over need a government-issued photo ID. Enter Gate 5 off Taylor Ave. to park at the stadium.
 
First pitch of the championship series is set for 7 p.m. on Friday night from Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. Game two begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday and the if necessary game is slated for Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.