ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A power show in the first game helped the Navy baseball team (9-10, 2-1 PL) earn a doubleheader split with Bucknell (6-11, 1-2 PL) on Saturday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium, as Henry Mitchell's walk-off home run gave the Midshipmen a 7-6 win in the opener while the Bison used 14 hits to take the nightcap, 17-4.
 
Navy will go for the Patriot League series win on Sunday, while Bucknell will attempt to earn the weekend split in Annapolis.
 
Game One Recap
In a seven-inning game that saw the teams combined for five homers and six total hitters tally multi-hit contests, the highlights of Saturday's opener were the walk-off solo shot by Mitchell and a two-hit, three-RBI performance from Brock Murtha that also included Murtha's first Navy homer and his first win on the mound.
 
Bucknell put itself in position to score early by loading the bases with no outs in the first inning, but Navy starter Matthew Shirah battled back with a strikeout, a Tyler Dunn sacrifice fly and another strikeout to hold the Bison to one run in the opening frame.
 
Navy tied it up at 1-1 in the second when Murtha lifted his first collegiate homer over the left-center fence, but Bucknell answered back in the top of the third when Sean Keys blasted a two-out, no-doubt home run to right field to put his team back in front. A Nick Burch double to start the bottom of the third helped Navy spark a four-run inning, as a pair of two-run base knocks by Kyle Rausch and Murtha bookended a stretch of four-straight singles by the Mids, putting Navy ahead, 5-2.
 
After Shirah posted a scoreless fourth inning that featured his career-high seventh strikeout of the day, Bucknell got to Navy reliever Nolan Jorgenson in the fifth with a four-run frame of its own. A Jacob Corson solo shot to right field set off a sequence that saw Grant Voytovich score on a failed pickoff attempt, Dunn come home on a Jacob Terwilliger double and Billy Kender drive in Mason Kelly on a single, as the Bison retook the lead.
 
Down one in the sixth, a Colin Smith two-out home run to right field knotted the score at 6-6, but Bucknell threatened to break the tie in the very next half-inning, so with two on and two out in the top of the seventh, Navy turned the ball over to Murtha. The Mids' two-way player walked the bases loaded after an eight-pitch battle with Jake Wortman but got Kyle Lyons swinging to send it to the home half of the inning. Leading off the bottom of the seventh, Mitchell stepped to the plate and worked the count full before powering a solo shot out to right-center for his first collegiate homer and the Mids' first walk-off home run since 2016.
 
Shirah's career-high seven strikeouts came in just four innings of work, allowing just two runs on four hits and walking one, while Jorgenson's 2.2 innings pitched saw the right-hander surrender four runs but not walk a single batter, and Murtha's strikeout ended up earning him his first win in just his second appearance on the mound.
 
Tyler O'Neill got the no-decision for the Bison despite 5.2 innings in the start, allowing six runs on 11 hits, while Ryan Osinski got one out to end the sixth before giving up the homer to Mitchell and getting the loss.
 
Game Two Recap
Led by Anthony Sherwin's four hits and six RBI in the nightcap, Bucknell was able to score 14 runs off the Navy bullpen to secure the doubleheader split despite three Mids tallying multi-hit performances in the seven-inning contest.
 
The Bison struck in the first inning off Navy starter Liam Golden when doubles from Sherwin and Dunn put two on for Kender, who scored Sherwin with a groundout, but Golden settled in after that by tossing back-to-back scoreless frames. In the opposite dugout, Will Greer was able to hang up zeros over the first four innings, scattering a few hits and not allowing a Navy walk until the fifth inning.
 
Bucknell eventually got to Golden again in the fourth, plating two unearned runs off a Sherwin single after a throwing error with two down extended the inning. With Navy going to the bullpen to start the fifth, the Bison scored six more runs in the inning, highlighted by a bases-clearing double from Sherwin with three runners on and five other Bison batters notching singles.
 
Navy got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Burch and Hudson Lehnertz reached base to begin the frame and Mitchell came through with a sacrifice fly to score Burch. The Mids tacked on two more runs later in the inning courtesy of a two-out double from Alex Smith, but Bucknell responded in the sixth with eight runs to extend its advantage to 17-3. Brian Furey scored a fourth Navy run in the seventh off a Diaz single and a Bucknell fielding error, but Graeme Carroll finished out the Bison win one batter later by getting Murtha to ground out.
 
Saddled with the loss, Golden went four innings for Navy, allowing four hits and three runs (one earned) while punching out four Bison. Tyler Grenn, Zach Ward and Jack Levine followed in relief, with none of the trio being able to record more than two outs before Adyn Lucero entered for his collegiate debut, getting two strikeouts over his two innings of work.
 
Greer picked up his first win of the season with a 5.1-inning start and three strikeouts, issuing just eight hits and three runs, while Carroll went 1.2 innings in relief and allowed a pair of Navy hits.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Postgame Comments
"The first game was a great college game. It was exciting, both teams competed really well, pitchers had to make big pitches, hitters had to come through in the clutch. It was a really good game, there was some really plus defensive plays by both teams, and whenever you have a walk-off home run that's exciting. So, that first game was a good win for us."
"[With three Navy home runs in the first game] When you coach 18 years here, you see some days every once a while where the wind blows out here. It wasn't necessarily blowing out today but the ball will get out (on day like this), but I think that's good. I think the other takeaway from today, in general, is we're starting to get on the baseball a little bit better. Alex is on the baseball much better now, Colin is starting to get out on the baseball better, Henry's been good and Brock's getting on the baseball better. We're starting to see some better things offensively and that's something that we struggled with for a couple of weeks. So, that was good to see."
 
"Huge strikeout by Brock and it's not easy to do, too. We warmed him up in between innings, thinking that might be a situation, and he came in and that just shows the competitive level of him to come in there and being able to get a big strikeout in a big spot."
 
"The takeaway from the second game in my mind is it's a 3-0 ballgame at one point before we gave up six and then eight runs (in back-to-back innings) by not throwing strikes and doing some of those things,  but when you play 50 games, you've got to have a short memory sometimes - not all the time - but today's a day you got to have a short memory because we've got to be back on the field tomorrow morning for game four of the series."
 
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 94-79-1 in the all-time series with Bucknell.
• Shirah's seven strikeouts is tied for the most by a Navy pitcher this season, matching Nate Mitchell's seven punchouts in five innings against UMass on March 4.
• Navy's three home runs in the first game is the most by the Mids in a single game since tallying four homers on April 26, 2022 at Maryland.
• It also marks the first Navy home game with three-or-more Midshipman blasts since Navy hit three home runs on March 29, 2009 against Lafayette.
• Navy's last walk-off was a RBI single by Alex Smith on April 17 against Lehigh.
• The last walk-off home run for Navy came on May 22, 2016 in the Patriot League championship series against Holy Cross, when Stephen Born hit a solo shot in the 10th inning.
 
Up Next
Navy closes out the series with Bucknell on Sunday, with first pitch set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.