WORCESTER, Mass. – Tallying a combined 23 hits between the two games, the Navy baseball team (14-13, 7-3 PL) pulled off the Patriot League doubleheader sweep over host Holy Cross (7-20, 1-5 PL) on Sunday afternoon at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field.
 
After Nate Mitchell threw a career-high eight innings, Alex Smith's go-ahead RBI double in game one gave the Midshipmen a 7-5 extra-inning win, while two more RBI from Smith helped Navy take the nightcap, 5-2.
 
Game One Recap
With Mitchell registering his fourth quality start of the season by allowing just one earned run over innings, the Navy offense stepped up as three Mids tallied two-hit performances while Logan Keller and Kyle Rausch each drove in two runs in Sunday's opener.
 
After a first-inning error put Brock Murtha on base and he reached third on an Alex Smith single, Logan Keller brought Murtha in on sacrifice fly to give Navy an early lead. The advantage would not last long when Sean Scanlon put a solo shot over the right-field fence in the bottom of the first inning, the first home run allowed by Mitchell since the season opener.
 
Holy Cross added two more runs in the second on a Connor Cooney bases-loaded single, but Brendan Jones was thrown out going to third on the play to end the inning.
 
The Mids responded by retaking the lead in the top of the third, as a Murtha single up the middle was later followed by fellow Long Island native Rausch doubling into the left-center gap to plate Murtha and Smith.
 
Colin Smith got another Navy run across in the top of the sixth when his slicing single to right field scored Eduardo Diaz, but Holy Cross got two runs to even the game in the home half of the inning, as two Navy errors and sacrifice fly by Lucas Manning made it 5-5.
 
After the Mids turned a double play to end the seventh and send the game to extra inning, Mitchell finished off a career-high eight innings pitched with a strikeout of Manning.
 
With Nick Burch leading off the ninth with a single, Navy was able to cash him in when Alex Smith delivered a two-out double in the right-center gap that put Navy back in front, while another double off the bat of Keller scored Smith for an insurance run. Calling on closer Landon Kruer, Navy's defense got two outs in the bottom of the ninth before Kruer struck out Jake Jaszcz for the final out of the game.
 
Mitchell notched his fifth win of the season while issuing just one walk and eight hits, with only one of five runs allowed being earned across his eight frames, while Kruer needed just eight pitches to record his fourth save in league play this season.
 
Scanlon earned the no-decision in his nation-leading ninth start of the season, lasting 3.1 innings while giving up four runs (two earned) on five hits, while Augie Walters followed by allowing just one unearned run in 4.2 innings. Getting the loss was Ben Talbot after surrendered two runs in the top of the ninth on three hits.
 
Game Two Recap
In the nightcap, Liam Golden held the Crusaders to just one run in his five frames of work and four different Navy batters registered multi-hit games, with Diaz going 3-for-3 and Alex Smith driving in a run on both of his hits.
 
Smith immediately brought his hot bat into the second game, using a first-inning double to drive in Murtha, but Holy Cross answered in the bottom of the first when Cooney roped a lead-off double and Toomey later doubled him home to tie the score.
 
After leaving the bases loaded in the second, the Mids were able jump back in front in the third on a flare single by Diaz that brought in Keller. Continuing to pile on to its lead, a lead-off triple from Burch in the fourth kickstarted a three-run frame for Navy, as Lehnertz followed with a double and Alex Smith scored Lehnertz later in the inning with his fourth hit of the day.
 
Holy Cross did threaten when down to its last at-bats in the seventh inning when Toomey homered to lead off the frame and the Crusaders then loaded the bases with one down, but Jackson Beattie got a pair of shallow fly-outs to avert danger and close out the Sunday sweep.
 
Notching his second win of the season was Golden, as the righty limited Holy Cross to just six hits and two walks while striking out four in five innings, and Beattie relieved him by allowing just one run on four hits and punching out two Crusaders in two frames.
 
Danny Macchiarola was handed the losing decision after being on the hook for four runs over three innings, while Payton Sutman followed by allowing one in two innings and Jake Needham kept the Mids off the scoreboard in his two frames out of the bullpen.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Postgame Comments
"Whenever you can win two games in one day, it's a good day. In game one, I thought Nate was huge, he just kept grinding and kept battling in a really hard-fought first game. Then in game two, our offense came alive a little. We didn't score as many runs but we swung the bat better, and we got a good star from Goldie, then Jackson held his own out there. So, we had a pretty complete day."
 
"Smitty's been huge for us both offensively and defensively. He controls running games so well on defense behind the plate. Offensively, I give him a lot of credit as he stuck with an approach that wasn't paying off as much early but now it's starting to pay off and he's really done a great job leading us overall."
 
"Hopefully we can take some momentum from today and bring it into a wildly competitive two games tomorrow. But it's baseball and you got to go play the game. You got to pitch it, you got to field and you got to hit, and that doesn't change."
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 85-52 against Holy Cross all-time and have won the last four meetings with the Crusaders.
• Navy's 14-13 season record marks the first time that the Mids have had an overall winning record since March 11, 2022 when Navy swept a doubleheader from Marist to move to 7-6.
• Nate Mitchell is the first Navy pitcher to throw eight-or-more innings since Jared Leins pitched eight innings against Army on May 18, 2019 in the Patriot League championship series.
• Alex Smith extended his on-base streak to 15 games, as the catcher has reach base safely multiples times in each of his last three games.
• Smith has also registered two-hit performances in five of his last nine games.
• Diaz's three hits in the nightcap are the most by the Navy shortstop since he recorded a four-hit game at Holy Cross on April 10, 2022.
• Golden has not given up more than two earned runs in any of his starts this season.
 
 
Up Next
Navy will head to rival Army on Monday, April 3 for another Patriot League doubleheader in West Point, N.Y. First pitch between the Mids and Black Knights is set for 1 p.m. from Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field.