ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Led by a pair of home runs from senior Logan Keller, the Navy baseball team (16-11, 7-3 PL) sprinted to a doubleheader sweep of Lafayette (6-20, 2-4 PL) on Saturday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium, coming back for a 6-5 win in the series opener before posting a 16-4 run-rule victory in the nightcap.
 
With Keller posting six RBI and four hits over the two games, the Midshipmen were also aided by four-hit days from freshmen Andrew Manning and Evan Brown while both sophomore Tyler Grenn and senior Matthew Shirah both worked six-plus innings in their starts against the Leopards.
 
Game One Recap
Despite senior Zane Raba hitting a leadoff double in the first inning and finding his way to third base, it was Lafayette who would strike first with four-run second frame. A pair of walks were followed by a Michael Mallas RBI double, a Justin Grech RBI single, a double steal that saw Grech swipe home and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Luke Caucci.
 
Navy immediately cut into the Lafayette lead in the bottom of the second, as Manning's leadoff single and two throwing errors from the Leopards put him on third when fellow rookie Tyler Bouchard roped a single into right field, scoring Manning for the Mids' first run of the game.
 
With Grenn bouncing back by retiring 12 of the next 14 Lafayette batters, the third inning saw another leadoff hit from Raba before he swiped two bases and trotted home on Keller's two-run big fly over the left-center fence, while three-straight singles from Manning, sophomore Victor Izquierdo and Brown brought Manning in for the equalizer.
 
Sparked a Brock Murtha double, the Mids took their first lead of the day in the fifth when Brown knocked in Murtha and Manning on a single into left field, and held on despite a run-scoring single from Matt Colella in the seventh making it a one-run affair, as junior closer Landon Kruer came on to induce the Easton Brenner lineout and close out the opener.
 
Grenn picked up his fourth win after going 6.2 innings and holding Lafayette to four earned runs on six hits while striking out three, and Kruer notched his fourth save of the season by retiring the only batter he faced. For Lafayette, Joe Skapinetz suffered the loss after allowing six runs on 10 hits over five frames, while Adam Bogosian worked a scoreless sixth inning out of the bullpen.
 
Game Two Recap
Navy set the tone early in the second game, using an eight-run second inning that saw nine-straight batters reach base. One-out hits from Brown and Izquierdo preceded a Bouchard's two-run single, while a single by freshman Jack Killelea and a Raba walk set up senior Eduardo Diaz's two-run single and Keller's no-doubt three-run blast to left field clear the bases to make it 7-0. Murtha then followed it up with a double and used two wild pitches to come around for the eighth run of the frame.
 
As Shirah retired the first 12 Leopards of the game, the Mids continued to add to their lead in the third when Diaz smashed an RBI single, Keller drove in his fourth run of the contest on a Lafayette fielding error, Manning singled in Diaz, Brown walked with the bases loaded and Izquierdo plated Murtha with a sacrifice fly to round out a five-spot.
 
With Navy stranding the bases loaded in the fourth, Lafayette used that momentum to break through in the fifth when Blaze Fadio doubled to start the frame and pinch-hitter Teddy Cashman homered two batters later to make it 13-2. Fadio then got his own two-run shot in the sixth inning after Ethan Swidler walked, cutting the deficit to 13-4, but Navy responded with a pair of two-out baserunners for Murtha, who singled in both runners before Manning drove in Murtha on a triple to extend the lead to 16-4.
 
Entering for the seventh, sophomore Adyn Lucero preserved the run-rule win by leaving a pair of runners on to cap off a scoreless inning of work and hand Navy the twin-bill sweep.
 
Shirah notched his first win of the campaign by lasting six innings, matching a career high with eight strikeouts while allowing four runs on three hits, and Lucero relieved him by striking out one in his frame of action.
 
Getting the loss, Trace Florio wrapped up his start by giving up eight runs on eight hits before Mike Romano gave up three runs in an inning, Corey Savedoff surrendered two unearned runs in 0.2 frames and Jacob Maurer allowed three more runs in 2.2 innings of relief, while Cole Moore retired his lone batter faced.
 
Game Notes
• Navy now leads the all-time series with Lafayette by a 102-50-2 margin, claiming the last four games in the series.
• The Mids have now scored double-digit runs in seven games this year.
• Keller's four RBI in the nightcap matched his season high and marks the 11th time in his career he has tallied four-or-more RBI in a game.
• This was Grenn's fourth-straight start going six-or-more innings and his third-straight winning decision.
• With his game-one save, Kruer is now just the fifth pitcher in Patriot League history with 20-or-more career saves.
• Manning extended his hitting streak to nine games and has posted five-straight multi-hit contests.
• Murtha also extended his hit streak to nine-consecutive games.
• Raba posted his second two-steal performance of the season in the opener.
 
Up Next
Navy and Lafayette will wrap up the series on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. in Annapolis.