ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy baseball (7-2, 3-2 Patriot League, 3-2 PL South Division) won the second half of a Saturday doubleheader against Lehigh (8-7, 5-2 Patriot League, 3-2 PL South Division), 4-3, to salvage a split after the Mountain Hawks took game one, 5-1, at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
The Midshipmen's pitching staff racked up 23 strikeouts over the two games and despite suffering the loss in the game one
Charlie Connolly (Sr., Wayne, Pa.) tied his career-high with 11 strikeouts and
Trey Braithwaite (Sr., Winchester, Va.) set a new personal best with seven punchouts in game two.
"I think Charlie was outstanding today," head coach
Paul Kostacopoulos said. "Give him [Andrew Nole] credit, he hit a couple of home runs, but Charlie threw the ball really well. He dinged up his ankle early but stayed out there for us and gave us a quality start. Tommy was also outstanding in the second game, everything was down and everything was on the edges. We just were not scoring, we did not swing the bat very well. The pitchers gave us a chance today. Going into tomorrow, we have to cut down our swings. That is unlike us with 18 strikeouts over the two games, which way too much. We are going to have to clean that up before tomorrow."
Lehigh 5, Navy 1
After a scoreless opening frame, Navy and Lehigh traded runs in the second inning as Nole hit his first home run of the game to start the inning but the Midshipmen bounced back with a run of their own. With no outs in the inning and a runner on base,
Ryan Duffey (Sr., Duxbury, Mass.) hit a flyball out to centerfield that was dropped, which allowed
Christian Policelli (Jr., Walkersville, Md.) score from second base and Duffey moved up to third base on the play to knot the score at one run apiece.
The pitchers' duel commenced as Connolly worked a clean third, fourth and fifth innings until Nole belted a two-run home run in the sixth inning to give Lehigh a 3-1 edge. Navy tried to answer back in the home of the frame but left two runners in scoring position. Lehigh added two more runs in the seventh inning to win the opening game, 5-1.
Connolly (3-1) finished the game with 11 strikeouts and allowed three runs on five hits and a pair of walks.
Trent Topping (Jr., Temecula, Calif.) allowed two runs on three hits in his inning of work.
Mason Black (3-1) earned the win after allowing an unearned run in seven innings where he struck out 10 batters while walking two and giving up four hits.
Navy 4, Lehigh 3
Game two carried a similar tune to game one, where the starting pitchers took over the game early. However, unlike game one, Navy struck first with a run in the opening inning. After being hit by a pitch to start the game,
Joe Simourian (Jr., Andover, Mass.) scored without Navy getting a hit as he moved up to second base a groundout from
Logan Keller (Fr., Longwood, Fla.). Then with
Alex Smith (So., Laguna Hills, Calif.) at the dish, a pair of wild pitches allowed Simourian to come home to give the Midshipmen a 1-0 advantage.
Both teams were held scoreless over the next five innings, where Navy left six runners on base over that span and Lehigh left four players aboard.
Navy and Lehigh both had two-out magic in the seventh inning with each team scoring twice when down to their final outs. Eric Cichocki drove in two runs in the top of the seventh to get the Mountain Hawks on the board and give them a 2-1 lead. However, Navy got its own rally going in the bottom of the inning.
Eduardo Diaz (Fr., Miami, Fla.) started the frame with a single, and Simourian followed with a bunt single to get two runners on base with no outs. After a pair of strikeouts,
Zach Stevens (Jr., Lexington, Mass.) worked a walk to load the bases, then Policelli delivered the two-out single to score Diaz and Simourian and regain the lead for the Midshipmen, 3-2, after seven innings.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Navy added an insurance run with an RBI fielder's choice from Keller to give the Midshipmen a 4-2 advantage. The insurance run proved to be the deciding run as Lehigh worked a two-out walk with the bases loaded to pull within a run, but Braithwaite got out of the jam with a strikeout to seal the 4-3 win for Navy.
Braithwaite (1-0) earned the victory after tossing 2-2/3 innings out of the bullpen where he allowed one run on two hits but struck out a career-high seven batters.
Tommy Goodridge (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) started the game for the Midshipmen and surrendered two runs on two hits while striking out three in 6-1/3 innings.
Luke Rettig (1-2) was tagged with the loss after he allowed two runs on two hits and four walks in his two-inning relief outing.
Navy and Lehigh conclude the weekend series on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. from Bethlehem, Pa.
