ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A career-high five RBI from junior Logan Keller powered the Navy baseball team (3-5) to a 10-2 win over Coppin State (3-5) on Wednesday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium, as the Midshipmen picked up their first home victory of the season.
 
Keller finished the day with a double and triple to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Along with Keller, senior Nick Burch put together a two-hit performance on top of three walks and two stolen bases, while Coppin State's Josh Hankins tallied three of the Eagles' four hits.
 
After stranding a pair of runners in the first inning, Navy found its groove in the bottom of the second when senior backstop Alex Smith led off the frame by putting a home run over the left-field wall. Sophomore Ivan Aguirre, Burch and junior Eduardo Diaz all reached base safely later in the inning before Keller legged out a bases-clearing triple on a ball to the right-center gap, pulling the Mids out in front, 4-0.
 
A walk to Brett Curran and a Hankins double in the top of the third set up Anthony Divittorio for a groundout to Keller, allowing Curran to cross home for Coppin State' first run of the contest, while Hankins briefly made it a 4-2 game in the next inning when he singled to plate Mike Dorcean.
 
Navy responded in the home half of the third, as junior Zane Raba and Burch walked and Diaz followed with a hit-by-pitch, bringing up Keller with the bases full again. Keller grounded out to score Raba, while a single from freshman Brock Murtha brought in Burch and a fielder's choice off the bat of senior Colin Smith allowed Diaz to scoot home to cap a three-run inning.
 
Entering to start the fifth, junior right-hander Nolan Jorgenson kept the Eagles' batters in check for 2.2 innings before handing the ball off to senior righty Reece Early for 1.1 frames and freshman Jackson Beattie for the ninth, as the last three Navy relievers combined to shut out Coppin State over the final five innings.
 
With Jorgenson and the rest of the bullpen holding the Eagles off the scoreboard, Navy tacked on another run in the sixth when Burch raced home from first base on a Keller double to the left-center fence, while the Mids scored their ninth and 10th runs of the game in the seventh via a Burch single up the middle and a Diaz double down the left-field line.
 
Getting the win for Navy was sophomore righty Liam Golden, who went three innings in his first start of the season and limited CSU to one hit and one run while recording one strikeout. Junior Zach Powers followed in his 2023 debut when he tossed one inning, while Jorgenson surrendered just one hit in his 2.2 innings of work. Early struck out three of his six batters faced over 1.1 innings and Beattie notched one strikeout and one hit allowed in his one frame to close out the win.
 
Coppin State starter Juan Pablo Hernandez suffered the loss after giving up four runs despite five strikeouts in two innings of work, while Giovanni Canales posted a team-high three innings in relief, allowing three runs on just one hit. Clay Thompson, Tyler Nichol and Rashad Ruff all tallied an inning of relief for the Eagles, with Ruff being the lone CSU pitcher to not allow a run on Wednesday.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Post-Game Comments
"It was kind of a strange game. We really took advantage of some breaks, Logan came up big with five RBIs and that big three-run triple that he had got us going. We were able to hang in there today and I thought we played good defense again and that's always something that you want to start seeing happen at this time of the year after you've been through a few games. We subtly played some really good defense, made some good defensive plays. Offensively, we didn't do a great job of situational hitting as we had a couple chances with less than two outs and guys on third and we didn't really get them in, but, at the same time, we did what we had to today."
 
"I thought we did a good job on the mound. It's good to see Goldie have a good outing, that was a step forward for him. Obviously, Nolan did a good job, Reece did a good job, but we got to be careful about those walks. We walked seven guys today and we got to be better with that. We only gave up four hits, but that's not a normal college game, so we've got to minimize the walks a little bit better. Overall, they hung in there and there were no big innings, which was something that really victimized the first weekend."
 
Game Notes
• Keller has now tallied a double in three of his last four games, and has notched a multi-hit contest in four of the Mids' eight games.
• Wednesday marked Jorgenson's first multi-inning outing and first scoreless outing of 2023, as the righty had 10 scoreless multi-inning appearances last season.
• Burch's three walks are a personal career high and a Navy individual game high this season, while Wednesday marked his first time swiping multiple bases in a contest.
• Keller's five RBI are the most by a Midshipman since Colin Smith tallied seven RBI at Holy Cross in the first game of an April 10 doubleheader.
• Alex Smith's homer was his first since the home finale last season against Lafayette on May 1.
• Early has recorded more than three outs in all three of his appearances this season, and has recorded multiple strikeouts in each of those three outings.
• Navy is now 25-8-1 all-time against Coppin State.
 
Up Next
Navy will have its first home series of the season when it hosts UMass for three games on March 4-5. Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader is set for a 1 p.m. first pitch, while Sunday's series finale is also scheduled for a 1 p.m. start. Sunday's contest will be streamed on ESPN+ with Scott Wykoff on the call.