ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy baseball (4-0) swept its first doubleheader of the 2021 season to run its winning streak to 18 games going back to last season. The Midshipmen started the day with a 7-3 win over George Mason (0-2) and then held on for a 3-2 win in game two on Saturday from Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
Navy's winning streak is the longest active streak in the nation and is the longest in program history since the 1960-61 seasons when Navy won 20-straight games over two campaigns.
 
On Saturday, the Midshipmen got a combined 10 shutout innings from its two starting pitchers, Charlie Connolly (Sr., Wayne, Pa.) and Tommy Goodridge (Sr., San Diego, Calif.). Each senior tossed five innings in their starts where Connolly struck out seven hitters in his outing and Goodridge fanned three.
 
"Charlie was very good today and I thought we did a good job almost in all facets of the game," head coach Paul Kostacopoulos commented. "We played good defense, we pitched well, we were much better in the zone and pitching on the edges today. We also did the little things right on offense. We were able to run the bases pretty well, we were able to take advantage of a couple of walks and we got some big hits. That was the day, we had 11 hits on the day and that was enough to win today."
 
Navy 7, George Mason 3
 
After falling behind in the first inning of the first two games of the season, the Midshipmen held the Patriots scoreless in the opening stanza and Navy scored first with a run in the third inning of the opening game. Zane Raba (Fr., San Antonio, Texas) reached base on a one-out walk to get the Navy offense going in the third inning. Then after he stole second base, Joe Simourian (Jr., Andover, Mass.) drove Raba in with a single to left-center field.
 
Through his five innings of work, Connolly only had multiple bases runners aboard in the top of the fourth inning where the Patriots loaded the bases with one out. However, Connolly got out of the jam with an inning-ending double play that sparked a Navy offensive run.
 
With the 1-0 lead, the Midshipmen broke the game open with a six-spot in the bottom of the fourth inning. Zach Stevens (Jr., Lexington, Mass.) and Colin Smith (So., Wilmington, Del.) started the frame with back-to-back singles and then Ryan Duffey (Sr., Duxbury, Mass.) moved both runners up 90 feet with a sacrifice bunt. Kiel Brenczewski (So., Fishers, Ind.) gave Navy a 3-0 advantage following an RBI double down the left-field line. Nico Valdez (Jr., Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) then drove in Brenczewski with a single to left field.
 
After Navy took a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning, George Mason lost command of the strike zone and loaded the bases with back-to-back walks. Eduardo Diaz (Fr., Miami, Fla.) registered an RBI on a bases-loaded walk and then Raba scored for the second time on the day off of a wild pitch. Logan Keller (Fr., Longwood, Fla.) gave Navy the 7-0 edge and capped off the scoring in the fourth inning with an RBI groundout to the shortstop.
 
George Mason tried to put together a late run of its own as it registered three hits and one run in the sixth inning against Dalton Baker (Jr., Sebring, Fla.) to get on the board. Then in the seventh inning, the Patriots pushed two more runs across on three hits, but Baker limited the damage and sealed the 7-3 win for the Midshipmen.
 
Connolly (2-0) only surrendered three hits and two walks in his five-inning start, where he posted a season-high seven punchouts and was four away from his career-high.
 
Jared Lyons (0-1) suffered the loss for George Mason after allowing six runs on five hits in 3-1/3 innings. Lyons recorded all three strikeouts for the Patriots and the pitching staff gave up eight walks over the six innings.
 
Navy 3, George Mason 2
 
Navy struck first once again in the second half of the doubleheader and scored a run in the second inning. After the Midshipmen went down in order in the first frame, Stevens started the second with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Smith drove in the first run of the game for Navy following a groundout to the shortstop.
 
George Mason got a runner on base in each of its first three at-bats and loaded the bases in the third inning but Goodridge got out of each inning unscathed. Then in his final inning of work, Goodridge tossed a 1-2-3 inning that was bookended by strikeouts to keep Navy ahead, 1-0.
 
In the home half of the fifth inning, following a pitching change for the Patriots, the Midshipmen tallied two runs on two hits. After being hit by a pitch with one out in the inning, Brenczewski – who was running on the pitch – moved up to third base on a single from Valdez. Brenczewski came in to score two pitches later on a wild pitch from George Mason's James Beasley. Valdez moved up to third after the wild pitch and a flyout, where he scored on a single from Simourian – for his second RBI of the day. The Midshipmen were unable to take advantage of a two-out walk and left two runners on base.
 
Navy's pitching started to control the middle innings and after Goodridge's perfect fifth inning, Reece Early (So., Reisterstown, Md.) followed with a perfect sixth and seventh inning. However, the Patriots found some more late-game scoring as Peter Nielsen recorded a two-RBI triple with two outs in the eighth inning, but Trey Braithwaite (Sr., Winchester, Va.) got out of the inning with the Midshipmen holding a one-run lead.
 
After Navy could not add any insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Braithwaite retired the side in order in the ninth inning as the Midshipmen walked away with a 3-2 win in game two to sweep the doubleheader on Saturday.
 
Goodridge (1-0) finished the day with three strikeouts against one walk but did hit three batters and allowed three hits in his five innings of work. Braithwaite (1) allowed one hit in 1-2/3 innings of relief where he struck out two batters. Braithwaite's save on Saturday now moves him to 15 career saves, just one behind Joel Rinehart for second-most in school history and two behind JD Melton for most saves in program history.
 
Ryan Stoudemire (0-1) tossed four innings for the Patriots and only allowed one run on two hits and struck out one hitter on just 38 pitches. James Beasley posted a game-high six strikeouts and allowed two runs on four hits in four innings of relief.
 
Navy continues its homestand to start the 2021 season on Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. against Towson.