ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In its final home game of the regular season, Navy (14-12, 9-11 Patriot League) used its senior pitching staff to beat Lehigh (18-15, 14-9 Patriot League), 7-2, on Senior Day. The trio of
Charlie Connolly (Sr., Wayne, Pa.),
Jared Leins (Sr., Raleigh, N.C.) and
Trey Braithwaite (Sr., Winchester, Va.) limited the Mountain Hawks to just two runs on Sunday at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
Along with strong pitching from their seniors, the Midshipmen pounded out 11 hits on the day with juniors
Nico Valdez (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) and
Christian Policelli (Walkersville, Md.) leading the way with multi-hit games, while
Zane Raba (Fr., San Antonio, Texas) also finished with two hits and scored three runs.
"It is really great when you get a start and we got a really nice start, and actually all three of our seniors that threw today did a great job in the sense of competing and not giving up runs," head coach
Paul Kostacopoulos said. "Charlie got us off to a good start, Jared hung in there and Trey did a nice job finishing. It was good to see that.
"It is important for them to do that," Kostacopoulos said about the seniors performing well on Senior Day. "Plus it was a big game for us. It still keeps us in the hunt for the playoffs and gives us a little momentum going into Army. You grow to rely on your seniors here and whether they are pitchers or position players, you rely on them so much to help the team be successful."
After Connolly worked a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, Raba got the Midshipmen's offense going right away with a leadoff triple to start the home half of the inning. On the next pitch, Raba scored on a groundout by
Colin Smith (So., Wilmington, Del.) to give Navy an early 1-0 lead.
However, Lehigh answered back with a two-out run in the second inning to tie the game at a run apiece.
With the game tied at one, the Midshipmen scored the next six runs over the next three innings to take a 7-1 lead. In the third inning, Navy placed two runners in scoring position with one out and Policelli singled out to right field to plate
Eduardo Diaz (Fr., Miami, Fla.) and then
Zach Stevens (Jr., Lexington, Mass.) brought in Raba on a fielder's choice to push the Midshipmen ahead by two runs.
Following a scoreless fourth inning, Navy created some separation with a four-run fifth inning. Policelli drove in his second run of the game on his second hit, which brought in Raba for his third run of the contest. Following an error by the Mountain Hawks,
Logan Keller (Fr., Longwood, Fla.) doubled out to right-center field to score Policelli and Stevens, which ran Navy's lead up to five runs. Valdez gave Navy the 7-1 advantage with a single to the gap in left-center field, which plated Keller. The Midshipmen tried to add on to its lead in the inning but left the bases loaded.
Navy's pitching staff kept the Lehigh offense at bay and only allowed it to score a run in the ninth inning as the Midshipmen secured the 7-2 victory to close out its regular-season slate at home.
Connolly returned to the mound at tossed four innings allowing four hits and just one run while punching out three hitters in the win. Leins threw 2-2/3 innings allowing only one hit without surrendering a run. Braithwaite closed the door on Lehigh over the final 2-1/3 innings allowing a run on three hits and striking out three.
Matt Stamford suffered the loss after allowing three runs on five hits in three innings of work.
Following a cancelation with Towson – who is making up a game against Northeastern during the midweek, Navy now finishes its regular-season schedule this weekend with a four-game series against Army at Palisades Credit Union Park in Pomona, N.Y.
