WEST POINT, N.Y. – Battling its rival throughout the day in a pair of low-scoring contests, the Navy baseball team (14-15, 7-5 PL) dropped both ends of a Patriot League doubleheader to Army (15-12, 6-2 PL) on Monday afternoon at Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field.
 
After walking off the first game, 2-1, in the 10th inning, the Black Knights then used four RBI from Sam Ruta to pull out a 5-0 win over the Midshipmen in a nightcap that was shortened to seven innings due to the opener's extra-inning outcome.
 
Game One Recap
A pitchers' duel that went to extra innings in the scheduled seven-inning contest, Monday's opener saw plenty of big moments, including Brock Murtha's game-tying triple with Navy down to its final out, but Army did just enough to take advantage of the Mids' mistakes despite a quality start from Matthew Shirah, as Ethan Ellis raced home on a Navy error to capture the 10-inning Army victory.
 
After both teams went scoreless in the first two innings, Army scratched across one run on a Kevin Dubrule double, but a second runner was thrown out at home on a perfect relay from Hudson Lehnertz to Eduardo Diaz to Alex Smith. The Mids then got two runners on in both the fourth and fifth innings, but Mike Ruggieri and Patrick Melampy worked out of the jams to maintain the Black Knights' lead.
 
After Shirah got the last two Black Knights in the sixth to go down on swinging strikes, a one-out walk by Nick Burch and an Army error failed pickoff kept the Mids' chances alive in the top of the seventh. Navy was then down to its final out when Murtha stepped to the plate two batters later, as he laced a triple just outside the reach of Army's right fielder, driving in Burch for the equalizer.
 
While the Mids tried to push across the go-ahead run across by putting runners on base in each of the three extra innings, including Henry Mitchell being thrown out at home in the ninth on a Burch double, Navy got strong pitching out of reliever Nolan Jorgenson as the righty retired the first 11 batters he faced in order. An Ellis walk broke the streak with one out in the tenth, though, and a two-out double by Addison Ainsworth combined with a throwing error on the play allowed Ellis to race home for the winning run and starting the walk-off celebration.
 
With Army starter Mike Ruggieri only going four innings despite allowing just four hits and no runs, Patrick Melampy earned the win by tossing six innings of relief and striking out eight Mids while surrendering Army's lone run on five hits.
 
Shirah picked up the no-decision after lasting 6.1 innings and allowing one run on five hits and no walks, while Jorgenson suffered the loss despite allowing just one hit and one unearned run over 3.1 innings and striking out two Black Knights out of the bullpen.
 
Game Two Recap
With Ruta powering the Army lineup in the nightcap with four RBI and two extra-base hits, the Mids could not match the offensive output in the weekend's final game, as Robbie Buecker pitched a seven-inning shutout while allowing just four hits, with Lehnertz tallying the lone Navy extra-base hit on a sixth-inning double.
 
Despite starter Thomas Russell punching out five Army batters in his 4.1 innings of work, the Black Knights finally got to the Navy righty in the bottom of the third after Ainsworth walked and Doug Berg reached on an error, setting up Ruta for a three-run blast over the right-field wall. As his offense came alive, Buecker kept the Navy bats dormant for the first 11 hitters faced until Smith singled in the fourth.
 
Ruta got his starter more support in the fifth when he doubled in Ainsworth while Lehnertz was left stranded after roping his double in the top of the sixth, with Army adding its fifth run of the game in the home half of the sixth after a throwing error on Ellis' single let Braden Golinski advance home.
 
The Mids nearly go on the board in the seventh when a Keller single and Murtha walk put two on with one out, but a pickoff and groundout helped Buecker close out the complete game and the Monday sweep.
 
Buecker scored his third win of the season with the shutout, striking out three while walking two, while Russell got the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits and Reece Early relieved him by giving up one unearned run on two hits in 1.2 innings pitched.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Postgame Comments
"That first game was just a really tight game, coming up on the short end, 2-1, but almost all day we just couldn't get a lot of offense going. They didn't have a ton of offense either, but at the same time it was just tough to hit today. Whenever you lose two, it's going to be a tough day, especially to Army."
 
"it's always tough to play four games on a weekend, especially this weekend where we're at Holy Cross and at Army, so it's a lot of travel. We were able to survive it, though. We're 7-5 in league and now we get a little bit more of a baseball-like weekend in the sense that we'll be playing a three-game series. The league is tight right now, everyone's been bunched together and we got a lot of baseball left to play."
 
Game Notes
• Army has now trimmed Navy's record in the all-time series to 129-125.
• Shirah has now either broken or matched his career-high for strikeouts in each of his last three starts.
• Jorgenson's 3.1 innings pitched matched his season high from March 12 at Princeton.
• Russell has now struck out five-or-more batters in six of is seven starts this season.
• With two hits in the opener and another in the nightcap, Alex Smith has now reached base safely in 17 consecutive games, while Lehnertz also extended his on-base streak to 16 contests.
• Smith leads the team with a .429 average and 18 hits in league play.
 
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.