ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Our Sunday Salute series continues this week with Navy baseball whose season was cut short just 15 games into their season due to the coronavirus.
 
Navy's senior quartet of Michael Coritz (Clifton, Va.), Zach Biggers (Walhalla, S.C.), Evan Lowery (Williamsburg, Va.) and Jacob Williamson (Sims, N.C.) paced the Midshipmen to a 14-1 mark to start the year, which was capped off by Navy winning its last 14 games of the year. The 14-1 start for the Midshipmen is their best start in program history since 1961 and the 14-straight wins are the program's second-longest single-season winning streak.
 
Along with Navy's Class of 2020 leading the program to a 14-1 start, the Midshipmen's seniors helped Navy to three-straight Patriot League regular-season titles heading into this season and back-to-back appearances in the Patriot League Championship Series. Through three-plus seasons, Coritz, Biggers, Lowery and Williamson have helped Navy to a total of 128 victories including a pair of Star Series wins over Army.
 
Biggers earned a pair of First Team All-Patriot League honors during his four years at Navy while also being selected as the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year and Second Team All-American in 2018. As freshmen, Biggers and Williamson were selected as Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-Americans. Williamson was also named to the Patriot League All-Tournament Team in 2019 and also earned the Academic Honor Roll in the same season. During Williamson's time at Navy, he was also selected as the Patriot League Player of the Week and the Rookie of the Week once each.
 
Coritz captained the Midshipmen during the 2020 season en route to a historic start. In his career at Navy, he was named to the Second Team All-Patriot League in 2018 while earning CoSIDA Academic All-District in 2019. Coritz also was selected to the Academic All-Patriot League Team in 2018 and 2019. Lowery paced Navy as a senior with a .500 on-base percentage and bolstered a .341 average to go along with a .477 slugging mark. Lowery also garnered Patriot League Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week accolades during his freshman campaign with the Midshipmen.
 
During the 2020 season, Navy also posted a 10-0 record at home and also led the Patriot League in average (.275), RBIs (84), slugging percentage (.404), on-base percentage (.398), fielding percentage (.989), ERA (3.07), saves (7), strikeouts (131) and opponent batting average (.212). Freshman Alex Smith (Laguna Hills, Calif.) also made Patriot League history for the Midshipmen after he became the first player in league history to be selected as the Patriot League Player and Rookie of the Week during the same week.
 
Heading into the season, Biggers, Jared Leins (Jr., Raleigh, N.C.) and Trey Braithwaite (Jr., Winchester, Va.) were selected to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team and Braithwaite was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List.
 
Navy Baseball Class of 2020
Zach Biggers – Walhalla, S.C. – Major: Mechanical Engineering – Service Selection: Marine Corps Pilot
Michael Coritz – Clifton, Va. – Major: Quantitative Economics – Service Selection: Navy Pilot
Evan Lowery – Williamsburg, Va. – Major: Quantitative Economics – Service Selection: Navy Pilot
Jacob Williamson – Sims, N.C. – Major: Mathematics with Economics – Service Selection: Supply