ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With each member of the starting lineup registering a hit, the Navy baseball team (8-9) out-slugged Bucknell (5-10) in an 8-6 win to open its Patriot League schedule on Friday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
Led by two hits from Logan Keller and Kyle Rausch's four RBI in his first game back from injury, the Midshipmen had half of their ten hits go for extra bases, while Bucknell's Kyle Lyons led the Bison offense by registering three of his team's 11 hits.
 
Bucknell got the hit-fest started in the top of the first inning, as two singles to start the game led to Sean Keys scoring both runners on a double deep into the left-center gap, while a Jacob Terwilliger grounder late in the frame brought in Keys.
 
Navy's offense was up to the challenge in the bottom of the first, as Hudson Lehnertz, Eduardo Diaz and Keller got free passes before Rausch cleared the bases, tying the game with a double into left field in his first at-bat since March 5. A Colin Smith double and a Brock Murtha groundout then scored Rausch to hand Navy a 4-3 lead.
 
The two sides traded runs again in the second and third innings, as Jake Wortman led off the second frame with a single and eventually came around on a Jacob Corson base knock, while Henry Mitchell's lead-off single in the home half of the second put him on-base to score a few batters later when Alex Smith singled him in from second base. The third inning saw Tyler Dunn score in the visiting half of the frame after a Terwilliger double and a Billy Kender groundball, but the Mids put themselves back in front, 6-5, courtesy of a Nick Burch triple and an ensuing sacrifice fly from Mitchell.
 
Navy tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth when Keller doubled in Lehnertz and a Rausch flyball allowed Diaz to scoot home from third base two batters late, while Bucknell cut the lead to 8-6 in the eighth frame when Grant Voytovich hit a comebacker that deflected off Navy reliever Reece Early with two on base, allowing Lyons to round third base and come home.
 
After Early gathered himself and induced a pair of flyballs to end the frame, Landon Kruer entered in the ninth and retired three straight Bison batters to close out the Navy win and secure his third save of the season.
 
Navy starter Nate Mitchell battled through a tough beginning to go 5.1 innings and earn the win, allowing five runs on nine hits and striking out four Bison hitters before giving the ball to Early, who himself tallied two strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work and only issued one run on two hits.
 
Taking the loss for Bucknell was starter Chris DiFiore, who tossed five frames but allowed six runs on six hits and five walks, while Nikhil Patel lasted four batters and recorded one out before giving way to Theo Farynick, who shut out Navy over the the final 2.2 innings.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Postgame Comments
"I thought that was a really resilient win. Nate struggled early but he did a heck of a job leading us to be able to get through five and a third, because they really came out of the gate swinging. Reece was outstanding, getting out of a couple of jams and just showing a lot of resiliency, and Landon was very good again. I thought the big point of the game was, after they jump on us pretty early, we came back with four runs. It was another sign of fighting and get back in it, and that's something that we've been really harping on for a couple of weeks now. So, that was good to see."
 
"I thought we were connected today offensively. We had something going, guys who are grinding at-bats - in the sense even if they didn't get ahead, they were going deeper in the count and getting on with a walk - and I thought we had much better approaches in general at the plate."
 
"Obviously, you get that big hit from Rausch in the first inning, and there's just a little more fiber to our lineup when he's in there, so we were certainly welcome to have him back, and he had four RBI today which is what you want out of your No. 5 hitter."
 
"You get to a point in the season where you just got to keep playing and keep the formula of baseball. You got to pitch, you got to pick up some timely hits and you got to play defense, and we just got to keep doing that."
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 93-78-1 all-time against Bucknell, while Kostacopoulos is 36-35 against the Bison during his Navy tenure.
• Nate Mitchell has now gone five-or-more innings in eight of his last 10 starts.
• Burch's three-bagger was the first triple of his collegiate career.                  
• Friday marked Keller's fifth time in his career that he drew multiple walks in a game.
• Five of Rausch's 10 hits this season have gone for extra bases.
• Alex Smith has now registered a hit in five straight games while Murtha is on a seven-game on-base streak.
• Kruer is now one save away from tying Ryan Hefner's 11 career saves that sit sixth in program history.
 
Up Next
Navy and Bucknell will play a pair of 7-inning games on Saturday, before wrapping the series with a single nine-inning contest on Sunday. Both Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's game are set for 1 p.m. first pitches on ESPN+.