ANNAPOLIS, Md. – After going 10-8 in the month of March, the Navy baseball team (12-13, 5-3 PL) hits the road for a pair of Patriot League doubleheaders to open up April.
 
Traveling up to Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field in Worcester, Mass., the Midshipmen will play two games against Holy Cross (7-18, 1-3) on Sunday, April 2. Navy then heads to West Point, N.Y., for a twin-bill with rival Army on Monday, April 3 from Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field. First pitch for both doubleheaders is slated for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
Series History with Holy Cross
The Mids hold an 83-52 edge in the all-time series with the Crusaders, including a 12-8 mark over Holy Cross in the last 20 meetings … Navy is 6-6 against Holy Cross in its last 12 contests at Fitton Field … Last year's season series between the teams saw the Mids take three of five meetings, including winning two of three games played in Worcester … A doubleheader on March 26, 2022 in Annapolis featured a 9-5 Navy win with four-RBI performances from Logan Keller and Hudson Lehnertz, while the Crusaders took the nightcap, 10-3, on the back of Connor Cooney's five RBI … A three-hit day from Kiel Brenczewski was not enough on April 9, 2022, as host Holy Cross knocked off Navy by a 6-5 score … The Mids responded with an offensive explosion on April 10 in Worcester, tallying a combined 33 runs and 34 hits to win both ends of the doubleheader, 13-4 and 20-5, as Colin Smith went a combined 5-for-9 with a grand slam, two doubles, six runs scored and nine RBI.
 
Series History with Army
Navy is 129-123 all-time against rival Army, but the Black Knights are 14-11 in the last 25 meetings between the service academies … The Mids are 10-5 over their last 15 games played in West Point … Navy went 1-4 against its rival last season, dropping both games of a March 27 doubleheader in Annapolis as well as an April 23 twin-bill at Army before avoiding the sweep at West Point with a 5-0 shutout on April 24 … The first game on March 27 saw Patrick Melampy hold the Mids to just two hits en route to a 7-0 shutout, while the nightcap featured a three-RBI game from Sam Ruta and another Army shutout, 9-0 … Ruta then tallied three-hit contests in both games on April 23 for 9-3 and 9-1 Army victories, but 5.2 shutout innings from Matthew Shirah and three RBI from Eduardo Diaz powered Navy to a 5-0 win in the series finale on April 24.
 
Last Time Out
After sweeping Lehigh and splitting with Lafayette in a pair of the league doubleheaders last weekend at Max Bishop Stadium, Navy made the trek up to Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Wednesday night … The Mids came out on the losing end of an 8-1 contest against UMBC, as Retrievers starter Eddie Sargent threw five innings of four-hit ball and Matt Ryan drove in three runs for UMBC … Junior Hudson Lehnertz paced Navy with two hits from the leadoff spot, including a double, while freshman Henry Mitchell drove in the Mids' lone run on a fourth-inning single … Junior Zach Ward held UMBC hitless in 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, while junior Zach Powers and freshman Tyler Grenn also worked hitless frames for the Mids' bullpen.
 
Smitty on Fire
Senior catcher Alex Smith was red-hot in the month of March, hitting at a .351 clip and tallying a .448 on-base percentage while starting all 18 games either behind the plate or at designated hitter … The backstop notched nine RBI and 11 runs scored during the month on the back of five doubles and two home runs, racking up a .544 slugging percentage … In 14 games behind the plate in March, Smith committed just one error for a .991 fielding percentage and threw out five would-be base stealers … Smith is also batting .423 through eight league games, driving in six runs and scoring four himself.
 
Starters Loving the Strikeout
All four Navy starting pitchers set new career highs in strikeouts during last weekend's back-to-back doubleheaders … Senior captain Nate Mitchell started the punchout party by tallying 10 strikeouts against Lehigh, allowing just one run and no walks across a seven-inning complete-game win … Mitchell's 10 strikeouts were the most by a Navy pitcher since Charlie Connolly had 11 punchouts against Lehigh on April 3, 2021 … Sophomore righty Liam Golden followed with eight punchouts against the Mountain Hawks, holding Lehigh to two runs on six hits over six innings … Junior right-hander Matthew Shirah then struck out eight Lafayette batters over four innings despite giving up four runs … Senior righty Thomas Russell capped off the weekend by striking out eight more hitters while logging a career-best six innings and limiting the Leopards to one run on two hits for his third win of the year.
 
Pacing the Patriot League
Navy's seven triples are the most by any Patriot League team this season … Sophomore Landon Kruer holds the league lead with five saves so far this season, tying him for 16th in the nation … Nate Mitchell leads the league in three categories via two complete games, 1.89 walks allowed per nine innings and a 4.57 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while his four victories are tied for most in the PL alongside Lehigh's Luke Rettig and Army's Mike Ruggieri … Russell's 10.73 strikeouts per nine innings is the best among qualified Patriot League pitchers … Keller's four sacrifice flies are tied for the league lead with Army's Kevin Dubrule.
 
Scouting Holy Cross
The Crusaders enter Sunday at 7-18 on the season after falling at Harvard, 6-5, on Tuesday despite a 3-for-5 day from Jack Toomey that included three RBI … Holy Cross sits 1-3 in the Patriot League following a four-game set against Army last weekend … The Crusaders won the Friday opener over the Black Knights, 4-3, on a walk-off single from Toomey that plated Cooney, but lost the nightcap by a 1-0 score before dropping both games on Sunday, 10-0 and 13-2 … Holy Cross has drawn 139 walks this season, leading the PL and ranking 31st nationally … Jake McElroy is hitting a team-best .300 average, while Toomey is second on the team with a .295 hitting clip and Sean Scanlon trails him with a .294 batting average to go with a team-high eight doubles and 17 RBI … Connor Cooney paces Holy Cross with 18 runs scored and five steals, while also drawing league-leading 20 walks … Scanlon leads the league and sits second nationally with eight starts this season, holding a 5.71 ERA through nine pitching appearances … Danny Macchiarola has thrown a team-high 23 innings and has tallied the most strikeouts for the Crusaders at 20.
 
Scouting Army
The Black Knights are 12-11 overall and 3-1 in league play, winning six of their last seven contests … Following the loss in Friday's opener at Holy Cross, Matthew Ronnebaum threw a three-hit shutout in the nightcap to hand Army the win, while a four-RBI contest by Ruta in game one on Sunday and a four-hit performance from Ross Friedrick in the series finale gave the Black Knights the 10-0 and 13-2 wins … Ruta then used a triple and a homer to notch three RBI in an 8-4 Wednesday win over Marist … Friedrick is the top Army hitter right now with a league-leading .422 batting average and a PL-best .518 on-base clip, while him and Derek Berg are tied for the team lead with six home runs each … Dubrule (.351), Ruta (.344) and Berg (.330) are all hitting above .300 alongside Friedrick … Friedrick also has a team-high 23 RBI, while Ruta and Berg both have a team-best 29 runs scored … Mike Ruggieri holds a team-best 2.77 ERA among qualified pitchers, striking out 29 in 26 innings of work … Tanner Gresham has tallied a league-high 38 strikeouts in a team-leading 33 innings, posting a 4.09 ERA over six starts.
 
Up Next
Navy hosts Coppin State on Wednesday, April 5. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. from Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.