ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Led by its senior starting pitchers, the Navy baseball team came away with the doubleheader sweep over Princeton on Saturday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium, as the Midshipmen defeated the Tigers, 3-1, in the series opener before pulling of a 5-3 win in the nightcap.
 
Navy moved to 6-8 overall with the pair of wins, as the Mids are now 6-4 in their last 10 contests, while Princeton slipped to 2-7 on the season.
 
Game One Recap
Right-hander Nate Mitchell was brilliant on the bump, tossing a seven-inning complete game for Navy with five strikeouts and limiting Princeton to one run and three hits, while rookie Henry Mitchell led the Mids' offense with a pair of hits and two RBI in the 3-1 opening win.
 
After a Nick Burch double play on a Scott Bandura lineout ended the top of the second, Navy capitalized on the momentum in the bottom of the frame when Alex Smith and Brock Murtha reached base to set up Henry Mitchell's two-run single into the left-center gap, giving the Mids an early 2-0 lead.
 
With Nate Mitchell retiring 12-straight batters into the sixth inning, Navy tacked on another run in the fourth when Henry Mitchell tripled off the top of the right-field wall and later came into score on a wild pitch by Jackson Emus.
 
Princeton threatened in the sixth inning when Eric Marasheski tripled with one down and Brendan Cumming singled one pitch later to plate Marasheski and cut the Navy edge to 3-1, but Nate Mitchell coaxed a pair of flyouts to end the frame before sitting down the Tigers in order to close out the game in the seventh.
 
Nate Mitchell (2-1) went the distance to get his second win of the campaign, as the righty threw seven-or-more innings for the just the second time in his career, while Saturday marked his third-straight start with five-or-more punchouts. On the Princeton side, Emus (0-2) was handed the loss as the right-hander gave up three runs on seven hits and one walk despite piling up five strikeouts over six innings.
 
Game Two Recap
In the second half of the twinbill, Reece Early went four innings and allowed just one run in his first start of the season, as three Navy relievers combined to hold Princeton to just four hits over the final five frames to finish off a 5-3 nightcap victory, while Hudson Lehnertz's three-hit game was the highlight offensively for the Mids.
 
With both teams being held off the board in the first, Navy broke through in the home half of the second when Alex Smith doubled down the right-field line and Lehnertz knocked him in on the next at-bat with a single over Marasheski's head at shortstop.
 
Princeton tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third when Marasheski and Cumming hit back-to-back one-out doubles to bring Marasheski across home, but Navy retook the lead the next inning when a bases-loaded RBI single by Colin Smith brought Alex Smith in and Nick Burch's walk with the bases still full two batters latter advanced Lehnertz home for the Mids' third run of the contest.
 
After back-to-back hit-by-pitches loaded the bases for the Tigers in the fifth, Matt Scannell shaved the Navy lead to 3-2 when he lifted a sacrifice fly to score Caden Shapiro. The Mids answered quickly in the bottom of the inning courtesy of a bases-loaded fielder's choice off the bat of Colin Smith, plating Logan Keller for an insurance run.
 
Another Navy run came across in the seventh after Keller drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on an Alex Smith sacrifice bunt, coming in to make it 5-2 on Brock Murtha's two-out single up the middle.
 
With Navy closer Landon Kruer entering for a six-out save, the Tigers cut the score to 5-3 when Scannell doubled and eventually scooted home on a wild pitch, but Kruer retired six of the next eight batters he faced to earn his second save of the year and seal the Saturday sweep for the Mids.
 
Early (1-0) notched four strikeouts over a season-high four frames of work and issued no walks for his first win of 2023, while Evan Hamill followed by recording one out before giving way to Jackson Beattie, who tossed 2.2 scoreless innings and held the Tigers to two hits. Kruer finished the second six-out save of his career with two strikeouts, surrendering just two hits and one walk.
 
Princeton's Tom Chmielewski (0-3) got the loss after allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits in four innings, while Justin Kim followed by giving up two runs in three frames of relief and Jacob Faulkner worked a scoreless eighth inning for the Tigers.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Postgame Comments
"In game one, we got just an outstanding start from Nate Mitchell. Throwing about 70 pitches, I bet he threw 75-percent of them for strikes and was in command the whole day. With Henry Mitchell, he was our offense in that first game and it's good to see a young guy come back after a long injury and be able to contribute. I thought game two was just as good because we had to do a few things. We had to execute some offensive stuff, we grinded better at the plate and did what we had to do. Our pitching was solid, as the biggest point of game two was with bases loaded and one out when Jackson came in. He got out of it relatively clean, as they had the sacrifice fly, but that was it. That was the key to the game right there. It allowed us to come back, get another run and get our feet under us."
 
"I think the offense showed more life today than it probably has in the last 10 days or so. I thought our at-bats were better, we competed better and that's how we have to play. We're going to have to be able to do that on a more regular basis. Overall, our offense was good and we played good defense today, too. We didn't really get ourselves into any problems on the defensive side. So, it was a good day."
 
"The message for tomorrow was 'this is how we can play and this is how we have to play' so it wasn't really a complicated message, but going out and doing it and seeing that it does work gives you some confidence moving forward."
 
Game Notes
• Navy now leads the all-time series with Princeton at 69-52.
• Lehnertz's three hits in the nightcap was his first multi-hit performance of 2023 and matched a career high from April 10, 2022 at Holy Cross.
• Navy starting pitchers have gone four innings-or-longer in nine of the Mids' last 10 games.
• Nate Mitchell's seven-inning complete game is the first for Navy since Liam Golden tossed a six-inning complete game on April 4, 2022 at Lafayette.
• Henry Mitchell has now reached base in each of his first five collegiate games.
• Saturday marks Navy's first doubleheader sweep since a two-win day on April 10, 2022 at Holy Cross.
 
Up Next
Navy closes its series with Princeton on Sunday, as the Mids and Tigers are slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch.