ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Timely offense and strong pitching once again helped the Navy baseball team (16-16, 9-5 PL) pick up a doubleheader sweep over Patriot League foe Holy Cross (10-22, 3-7 PL), as the Midshipmen picked up a pair of two-run victories over the Crusaders, 3-1 and 6-4, on Saturday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
Another quality start from Nate Mitchell and two RBI from Alex Smith in the first game of the day propelled Navy to the 3-1 win, while Reece Early's three shutout innings of relief kept Holy Cross in check during the nightcap as the Mids used 10 hits to pick up the 6-4 victory.
 
Game One Recap
Notching his fifth win in his last five starts and his third complete game of the season, Nate Mitchell continued to lead the Navy rotation in Saturday's opener by allowing just one run on six hits in seven innings of work, while Alex Smith's two-RBI contest was supplemented by two-hit performances from Hudson Lehnertz and Henry Mitchell.
 
While Holy Cross took the early lead with Brendon Jones' second-inning double, Navy found a way to even the game in the bottom of the third, as singles from Henry Mitchell and Lehnertz followed by a sacrifice bunt from Eduardo Diaz allowed Smith to drive in Mitchell on a groundout two pitches later.
 
After Nate Mitchell finally broke into the strikeout column in the top of the fifth with three straight punchouts, the Navy lineup backed up their ace in the home half of the frame when Smith and Logan Keller each delivered two-out singles that brought home Henry Mitchell and Lehnertz for a 3-1 Navy lead.
 
Racking up two more strikeouts in the sixth, Nate Mitchell then retired the Crusaders in order in the top of the seventh to finish off his fourth Patriot League win of the season and Navy's fifth consecutive victory against Holy Cross.
 
Racking up six total strikeouts, Mitchell finished by allowing just eight Crusaders to reach base and notched his sixth overall win of the campaign, going seven-or-more innings for the third straight start and the fourth time in his last five starts.
 
Tossing four innings of one-run ball, Holy Cross starter Sean Scanlon earned the no-decision before moving to designated hitter. Jake McOsker suffered the loss in relief after allowing two runs and four hits in one frame of work, while Ben Talbot was perfect in the sixth inning for the Crusaders, retiring all three batters he faced.
 
Game Two Recap
Retiring nine of his 11 batters faced, Early served as the bridge between starter Liam Golden and closer Landon Kruer in the nightcap, allowing the Mids to complete the 6-4 comeback win on Nick Burch's fifth-inning single.
 
The Crusaders once again struck early via two first-inning runs on a wild pitch and a Jack Toomey double down the right-field line, and extended their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fourth when Egrie's bunt single plated Toomey.
 
After being held hitless for the first three frames by Holy Cross starter Jack DiLauro, Navy finally got a single from Alex Smith to lead off the bottom of the fourth and open the floodgates, as Brock Murtha eventually drove in Keller before Colin Smith's knock up the middle scored the Long Island duo of Kyle Rausch and Murtha and tied the game later in the frame.
 
A Scanlon single plated Connor Cooney in the top of the fifth to briefly hand Holy Cross the lead again, but the home half of the frame saw the Mids load the bases for Rausch, as the clean-up hitter evened the score on a sacrifice fly that let Diaz tag up for the tying run. Burch then put a single through the left side two pitches later that drove in Alex Smith for the go-ahead run, while Zane Raba added an insurance run in the next inning on a single that drove in Colin Smith.
 
Giving the ball to Kruer with two out in the eighth after sitting down seven straight Crusaders, Early exited after striking out three in his three innings, allowing just two hits and eventually earning the win. For Golden, the no-decision saw the sophomore starter last 4.2 innings and allow four runs on five hits, while Kruer issued one hit and struck out one batter in his four-out save.
 
DiLauro was pulled after 3.2 innings, being on the hook for three runs on four hits despite striking out five. Augie Walters was handed the loss after allowing two runs in his one inning on the mound, while Payton Sutman gave up one run in 0.1 innings and Danny Macchiarola kept the Mids scoreless in his three frames of relief.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Postgame Comments
"All four games against Holy Cross have been hard-fought games. They've all been two- or three-run games, so they're very competitive games and each of those games could have switched on a pitch or at-bat, so it's good to get some close wins. I thought our pitchers did a good job again today and offensively we did enough, but we left too many guys on base. That probably could have been an eight- or nine-run ballgame in the second game, but the takeaway is that the pitchers did a nice job and I thought we relaxed on defense today. We didn't get tensed up and we made pretty much all the plays. We only had one error, which was a pickoff play actually, so I thought we did a better job there. Overall, when you get two wins in a day, It's a good day.
 
"Nate's got great feel. Like any changeup or off-speed pitch, sometimes it takes a little while to get that going, and once he got it going I thought he was pretty much in command. First inning or two, he struggled a little bit with it but then got it going and has done what Nate's done all year. He's not afraid to give up some hits but he doesn't surrender too many runs. So, another good outing for him and I thought Reese and Landon were very good today in game two doing what they needed to do. So, good day for the pitchers."
 
"It's got to be the same thing tomorrow. We've got to hit with men on base and this has been an issue for about a 10-day stretch, as we haven't picked up a lot of runners with less than two outs. We've actually done a good job with two outs picking runners up, but, with less than two out, we haven't done a very good job. During pregame, we've got to make a concentrated effort on understanding those situations and doing a better job in them."
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 87-52 in the all-time series against Holy Cross in addition to winning the last six meetings between the teams.
• With hits in each game Saturday, Alex Smith has extended his hit streak to seven games and his on-base streak to 20 games.
• Kruer's seven saves this season match his freshman-year total, which sit tied for fifth in single-season program history.
• With 14 career saves, Kruer is now tied with Jett Meenach (2014-17) and Sam Sorenson (2013-16) for fourth in the program's career record books.
• Kruer has not allowed a run in his last seven innings.
• Burch's triple in the seventh inning of game two gives him a league-leading four triples this season.
 
Up Next
Navy and Holy Cross will finish up the three-game series on Sunday, April 8. First Pitch is set for 1 p.m. from Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The series finale will be presented by Annapolis Area Jimmy John's.