EASTON, Pa. – Playing 21 innings across parts of three games on Sunday, the Navy baseball team (20-17, 12-6 PL) was able to pull out two big Patriot League wins against Lafayette (11-25, 7-7 PL) at Hilton Rahn '51 Field at Kamine Stadium.
 
Despite the Leopards finishing off a 5-1 victory in the resumption of Saturday's seven-inning game, the Midshipmen bats came alive in the final two contests of the weekend series, slugging their way to 10-4 and 8-4 wins in a pair of nine-inning affairs that brought the Mids to 100 all-time victories against Lafayette.
 
Game One Recap
A trio of home runs from Lafayette and four shutout innings from Alex Walsh helped the Leopards take the series opener, 5-1, as the contest took nearly 24 hours to complete, starting at noon on Saturday and ending just minutes before noon on Sunday.
 
After Nate Mitchell retired the first seven Leopards he faced, Justin Grech got Lafayette on the board in the bottom of the third with solo home run on a line drive to left field. After a 22-hour delay halted the game in the middle of the fourth inning, the Leopards extended the lead to 2-0 in the home half of the fourth when Seif Ingram put another solo shot out to left.
 
Navy got on the board in the top of the sixth after Nick Burch was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame and eventually came home on a two-out single from Kyle Rausch, but Lafayette opened up its advantage to 5-1 on a Michael Zarrillo three-run blast off the right-field foul pole in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Eduardo Diaz attempted to start a rally in the seventh when he led off with a double and pinch-hitter Brian Furey walked to put two on with no outs, but Lafayette reliever Pat Walega worked out of danger to close out the 5-1 win.
 
Walsh got the win after holding the Mids to no hits and four walks over four innings on Saturday while striking out four, while Walega finished the game on Sunday by allowing just the one run on two hits in three innings.
 
Mitchell was handed the loss despite surrendering just one run on two hits while holding the Leopards to no walks and striking out two, and Nolan Jorgenson wrapped up the game for Navy on Sunday with three innings of relief while allowing four runs.
 
Game Two Recap
An early offensive surge from Navy kickstarted a 15-hit performance in the second game of the weekend, as three-hit contests from Diaz and Logan Keller helped the Mids beat the Leopards, 10-4, to even the series.
 
Three-straight singles to start the contest set up the Mids to plate their opening run on a groundout double play, while a Keller single scored Diaz one batter later. Navy made it 3-0 in the top of the second on an RBI double from Henry Mitchell, but Lafayette got its first run in the bottom of the frame when Ingram hit a leadoff single and eventually came in on a groundout.
 
Navy's bats truly got going in the third, as back-to-back doubles from Brock Murtha and Colin Smith put up three more runs while a Diaz bases-loaded single brought home a pair of runners to extend the lead to 8-1. The Leopards cut the lead to 8-2 on a Pete Ciuffreda sacrifice fly in the home half of the third, but Thomas Russell got the Mids a pair of zeros on defense over the next two innings.
 
Ingram chipped away at the Navy lead again in the sixth when he took the first pitch from Jackson Beattie and hit a leadoff homer, but Navy got two runs back in the top of the seventh on a Burch sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded single from Alex Smith. A Blaze Fadio solo shot led off the bottom of the seventh to make it 10-4, but Beattie was able to close the door the rest of the way to pick up his third save of the season.
 
After Liam Golden exited with an injury after allowing one run in 1.1 innings, Russell worked through 3.2 innings and struck out three while giving up just one run, while Beattie followed by holding Lafayette to just two runs in four innings or relief.
 
The Leopards' starter, Luke Craytor, lasted just 2.2 inning in the losing decision, giving up seven runs on 10 hits. Jacob Maurer followed with 1.1 innings of relief, while Chase Barley pitched three frames before Bo Planeta finished the game by keeping the Mids scoreless over the final two innings.
 
Game Three Recap
After opening up an early lead with clutch hitting from Henry Mitchell and getting insurance via the long ball from Rausch and Colin Smith, the Mids saw Matthew Shirah hold the Leopards to just two hits across six frames for his second quality start of the season while Landon Kruer picked up his second career three-inning save.
 
Striking early again, Navy got two runs on the board in the visiting half of the second with a bases-loaded single from Henry Mitchell and then a bases-loaded walk to Diaz two at-bats later.
 
Alex Smith put two more in the run column in the top of the fourth when he laced a double down the third-base line, but the Leopards answered in the bottom of the third with a Ciuffreda solo shot that broke up a perfect opening 3.1 innings from Shirah. Navy responded in the fifth with Kiel Brenczewski driving in the Mids' fifth run of the game on a fielder's choice, while a two-run homer from Rausch in the sixth and a Colin Smith solo blast in the top of the seventh grew the Navy edge to 8-1.
 
Lafayette fought back in the bottom of the seventh with RBI singles from Patrick Vandenbergh and Easton Brenner, followed by a Navy passed ball, to scratch across three runs, but Landon Kruer was able to keep the Leopards off the board over the final 2.1 innings to earn his league-leading eighth save of the season.
 
Shirah notched his third win of the campaign by limiting the Leopards to just two hits and one walk in six innings while punching out seven batters. For Kruer, he earned his first three-inning save by holding Lafayette to just two earned runs while retiring six via the strikeout.
 
Joe Skapinetz was knocked out 1.2 innings into his start, taking the loss after giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits and three walks. Going 3.1 innings, Adam Bogosian allowed three runs (two earned) before James Reese gave up three more runs in his two frames of work, while Trace Florio kept the Navy bats scoreless over the last six outs by surrendering just one hit.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Postgame Comments
"Obviously, we had three results today, so it was it was quite a day and I thought we played really good baseball, I really do."
 
"We pitched when we had to - We had a couple of short starts due to a delay yesterday with Nate, then, unfortunately, Liam got hit in the leg and we had to take him out after four outs - so everybody had to pitch in and do a good job today for us to be successful. Offensively, we're on the ball with 25 hits today just between games two and three. We also played really good defense. We really didn't make too many mistakes, we threw three guys out - two guys out on potential pass balls and threw a guy out from the outfield - so I thought we really played a complete day of baseball."
 
"Going into Bucknell, let's just keep playing well. It's another league game and we got to just keep doing what we're doing."
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 100-50-2 in the all-time series with Lafayette, marking the first team other than Army that the Mids have 100 all-time wins against.
• The last time the Mids tallied a pair of nine-inning wins in the same day was Feb. 22, 2020 against Air Force.
• Nate Mitchell's loss was his first since the opening day of the season and broke a streak of five-straight starts with a winning decision.
• Shirah has now recorded seven-plus strikeouts in four of his last five starts.
• Beattie's four innings of work in the second game and Kruer's three frames in the finale both matched career highs for the relievers.
• Rausch has now recorded a hit in 13 of his last 16 games played.
• Keller extended his on-base streak to 12 games, Diaz and Rausch moved their hitting streaks to six straight contests.
 
Up Next
Navy goes to Lewisburg, Pa., on Wednesday, April 19 for a midweek league contest against Bucknell. The Mids and Bison are slated for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch at Depew Field.