FARMVILLE, Va. – The Navy baseball team (35-15) started its final weekend of the regular season with an 8-2 road victory over Longwood (10-35) on Saturday evening. The Midshipmen scored four runs in the third inning and then added three runs in the sixth inning to upend the Lancers. 
 
Michael Coritz (Jr., Clifton, Va.) finished the game going 3-for-5 with three RBIs, while Zach Stevens (Fr., Lexington, Mass.) and Liam Lowery (Sr., Williamsburg, Va.) finished with two RBIs apiece. Noah Song (Sr., Claremont, Calif.) earned his 10th victory of the season to become the only pitcher in the nation with a record of 10-0.
 
"I thought we played a really solid game today," head coach Paul Kostacopoulos said. "We got some really timely hits, Michael Coritz was really good for us tonight and came up with some big hits. Liam Lowery had a big home run and it was an 8-2 game as far as the score goes but it did not play like that. I thought it was a crisp game by both teams and we put the pitching together with the hitting and we played very good defense."
 
After back-to-back scoreless innings from both teams, Navy put together a four-run third inning to create some separation for the Midshipmen. With one out in the third inning, Navy strung three-straight base hits together to grab a 2-0 lead. Stevens drove in the first two runs of the game with a double to the gap in left-center field. Then with two outs in the inning, Liam Lowery hit a two-run home run to the opposite field to double the Midshipmen's lead to 4-0 after the top of the third inning. 
 
Following a two-out single in the first and second innings for Longwood, Song settled in and retired 10-straight batters with seven strikeouts over that span to keep Navy's lead through five innings.
 
The Midshipmen tacked on three runs in the sixth inning to grab a 7-0 lead with three innings to play. Navy scored all three runs in the frame with two outs. Coritz tripled down the right-field line to plate two runs and then Zach Biggers (Jr., Walhalla, S.C.) followed with an RBI single to score Navy's third run of the inning. 
 
With the 7-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Lancers ended Song's run of consecutive batters retired at 12 following a two-out single. Through the first six innings, Longwood had three hits all coming with two outs.
 
Longwood tried to rally against the Navy bullpen with back-to-back singles to start the seventh inning, but Trent Topping (Fr., Temecula, Calif.) worked out of the jam and stranded runners on the corners to keep Navy's seven-run lead intact.
 
In the eighth inning, the Midshipmen increased its lead with Coritz driving in another run with a single up the middle to give Navy an 8-0 lead. 
 
Longwood spoiled Navy's shutout late in the game with a run in the eighth inning and another run in the ninth inning, but the Midshipmen walked away with an 8-2 victory to start the weekend series.
 
Song (10-0) became the first pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball to reach 10 wins on the year, which also sets a new career best. In his start, Song went six innings allowing just three hits and no runs while striking out eight and walking none. Song's eight strikeouts on Saturday pushed his season total to 141, which set a new single-season program record for strikeouts in a season. Song breaks Chuck Davis' record of 140 strikeouts during the 1960 season. 
 
Topping pitched an inning and allowed two hits and one walk, to go along with a strikeout. Jackson Zoch (Sr., San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) pitched the final two stanzas and gave up two runs on three hits.
 
Andrew Melnyk (0-4) suffered the loss after allowing five runs on six hits in 5-1/3 innings. 
 
Navy is back in action on Sunday afternoon to round out the two-game series against Longwood with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.