ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A back-and-forth contest came down to the bottom of ninth inning on Wednesday evening, as the Navy baseball team (14-16) was defeated, 7-6, by Coppin State (11-17) in a non-conference game at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
Despite Alex Smith matching his career high with four hits and Logan Keller adding a two-hit performance, the Midshipmen were held to just one run over the final four innings by Eagles reliever Giovanni Canales, while Coppin State's offense used an RBI single from Brett Curran in the ninth to score the eventual winning run.
 
After Coppin State opened a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch in the next at-bat, the Eagles extended their edge to 3-0 in the top of the second when Nathan Burdette went first to home on a Liam McCallum double.
 
The lead would not last, as the Navy lineup erupted for four runs in the bottom of the second, as a leadoff double from Keller was followed by a Coppin State error on an Eduardo Diaz bunt that allowed Keller to score, while a Nick Burch bases-loaded single and another two-out single from Alex Smith brought in three additional runs.
 
Coppin State would chip away and eventually retake the lead two innings later after a Burdette sacrifice fly in the third and a Brody Black single in the fourth made it 5-4, but Navy tied the game again in the home half of the fourth when Alex Smith doubled in Hudson Lehnertz.
 
Coppin State took its third lead of the evening in the sixth when Black walked and stole second before Josh Hankins roped a double down the left-field line that easily brought in Black, putting the Eagles up, 6-5.
 
Navy responded in the seventh after Diaz laced a double to start the frame and Colin Smith pulled a single into left field three pitches later that let Diaz come home. The Mids then had an opportunity to go ahead in the eighth after Alex Smith singled and Keller walked, but Canales got a line-out to end the threat.
 
Coppin State took the momentum with them into the top of the ninth, as Angel Colon singled to start the inning and then took second on a passed ball, setting up Curran for a single into the left-center gap that allowed Colon to race home for the go-ahead tally. The Mids did get the tying run on second base in the bottom of the ninth after an Eagles error with one out, but Coppin State escaped with the win after a line-out to third base led to the runner being doubled off for the final out of the game.
 
With starter Christian Pareja going five innings and allowing five runs (one earned) on seven hits, Canales earned his first win of the season by lasting four innings and surrendering just four hits and the one run.
 
For Navy starter Evan Hamill, he lasted 1.1 innings and three runs before handing the ball off to a string of six relievers, as both Aidan Chamberlin and a Zach Ward both logging two-plus innings out of the bullpen, as Chamblerlin tallied a career-high 2.1 innings and three strikeouts while Ward ended up with the loss despite two frames of relief.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Postgame Comments
"Obviously, at the end of the game we made a base-running mistake, but the game was hard fought back-and-forth. There were 25 hits combined, and, just like I said, it was back-and-forth the whole game, a midweek type of game and they got one more timely hit than we did and that was the ballgame."
 
"We've discussed it a few times. Alex Smith's been outstanding. There's no doubt from a position-player standpoint that he's our leader. He does so many things well. He does so many things well defensively, he does so many things well on offense, He's great with the players and he's just really coming into his own as a ballplayer."
 
"We got to regroup tomorrow, got to get a good conditioning day in and be ready. That's one thing about the season, it doesn't stop. You got two more on Saturday, a game on Sunday and just got to get yourself focused on cleaning up some of the mistakes and getting ready to go for Saturday."
 
Game Notes
• Coppin State cut Navy's edge in the all-time series to 25-9-1.
• Diaz's start on Wednesday marked his 100th consecutive start for the Mids, with the last 97 starts all coming at shortstop.
• Alex Smith is the third Navy player this year to record four hits in a game, joining Keller and Brock Murtha, and extended his on-base streak to 18 straight games.
• With two walks on Wednesday, Lehnertz extended his on-base streak as well to 17 consecutive contests.
• Alex Smith has tallied at least one hit in 22 of his last 25 games played, including eight multi-hit contests.
• With one scoreless inning of work on Wednesday, Landon Kruer has not allowed a run in any of his last six outings.
 
Up Next
Navy hosts Holy Cross in a three-game Patriot League series on April 8-9. First pitch for Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's series finale are both set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.