WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Navy baseball team (17-22, 8-13 Patriot League) dropped both games of its series-opening twin bill against Army (20-17, 13-4 Patriot League) Saturday at the Black Knights' Johnson Stadium. The doubleheader sweep secured a series victory and the Star for Army, who earned a 9-3 decision over the Midshipmen in game one, followed by a 9-1 win in the nightcap. The twin bill opened a three-game set that is part of the overall Army-Navy Star Series, presented by USAA.
The Navy offense, which was limited to just four runs on 10 hits over the two games, was paced by
Christian Policelli (Sr., Walkersville, Md.) who combined to go 3-for-6 with a run scored and an RBI. The trio of
Nick Burch (Jr., Hollywood, Md.),
Logan Keller (So., Longwood, Fla.) and
Colin Smith (Jr., Wilmington, Del.) rounded out the top performers on offense for the Mids Saturday by tallying two hits apiece.
Nate Mitchell (Jr., Parker, Colo.) took the loss on the mound in game one, allowing nine runs over 5.1 innings of work before giving way to
Owen Beisty (Fr., Wayne, Pa.) who allowed just one hit over two-thirds of an inning.
Liam Golden (Fr., Springfield, Va.) got the start in game two for Navy, allowing four runs on six hits in 3.2 innings before giving way to
Colin Jones (Sr., Collierville, Tenn.) who went four innings, allowing four runs on four hits. Beisty made his second appearance of the afternoon in relief of Jones, allowing a run on two hits in a third of an inning.
"I thought their (Army) starting pitcher (Connelly Early) in the first game did an excellent job," said head coach
Paul Kostacopoulos. "He did a great job executing, throwing fastballs arm side and glove side, it allowed him to stay ahead of everybody. Just really kind of dominated the game from the mound, credit to him as far as that goes. In the second game, I thought our at-bats just weren't where they needed to be. We had some pitches to hit, but chased out of the zone and things kind of snowballed on us."
Game One: Army 9, Navy 3 (Seven Innings)
The Black Knights parlayed a nine-run, 16-hit effort on offense with a complete-game, three-run showing on the mound by Connelly Early (4-3) to secure a 9-3 victory over the Midshipmen in Saturday's series opener.
Army opened its scoring effort in the bottom of the first, tallying three runs on six hits against Mitchell (1-3) to secure an early 3-0 lead. Following the three-run frame from his offense, Early went retired 15 of the next 16 batters he faced to hold the lead for the Black Knights.
The lone blemish for the left-hander over the five-inning span came in the top of the fifth, as
Zach Stevens (Sr., Lexington, Mass.) launched his second home run of the season and fifth in his career against the Black Knights.
On the back of the effort by Early on the mound, the Army offense continued to add to its lead by scoring a run in each of the next four innings, along with a two-run effort in the bottom of the sixth that brought the Black Knights' advantage to 9-1.
Navy came to life on offense in the top of the seventh, tallying two runs on three hits to bring its deficit to six runs. However, Early was able to finish the inning without further damage, forcing a fly out to cement the 9-3 decision in favor of Army.
Game Two: Army 9, Navy 1
After allowing a run in the first that gave the Black Knights an early 1-0 advantage, Golden (3-6) settled in over the next two frames by retiring three of four batters in the second and working out of a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the third.
Despite the valiant effort to keep the Army offense at bay, the freshman would yield three runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth before giving way to Jones with two outs in the inning. The senior left-hander escaped the frame without allowing further damage to hold the Navy deficit at four runs.
The Midshipmen offense attempted to rally against Army starting pitcher Robbie Buecker (1-3), but saw their efforts come up short by stranding two runners on base in both the fourth and fifth innings.
After foiling the Navy comeback efforts in the middle frames, Buecker gave way to Steven Graver who limited the Mids to just one hit over his two innings of work. Graver then yielded to Sean Dennehy, who allowed an RBI single to Policelli in the eighth that reduced the Army lead to eight runs.
However, the run-scoring single provided the lone run of the contest for Navy, as Tanner Greshman pitched a clean top of the ninth to secure a 9-1 victory for the Black Knights and a sweep of the doubleheader over the Midshipmen.
Sam Ruta led the way for the Army offense over the two games, combining to go 6-for-8 with a double, two home runs, four runs scored and five RBI. Cam Cerruto added a 4-for-7 showing with a home run, two runs scored and two RBI to round out the Black Knights' top performers on offense Saturday.
UP NEXT
The two service academies are set to conclude the three-game series with a single, nine-inning game on Sunday. First pitch from West Point is scheduled for 1 p.m.
