ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Returning home for the first of four Patriot League games in Annapolis, the Navy baseball team (21-16, 11-8 PL) fell by a 7-4 score to Bucknell (16-20, 8-11 PL) on Wednesday evening at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
Despite a two-double performance from sophomore
Victor Izquierdo and three other Midshipmen collecting multi-hit contests, Navy could not overcome the Bucknell pitching staff that was backed by a four-RBI day from the Bison's Michael Trommer.
Navy opened the scoring in the second inning when freshman
Andrew Manning ground-rule doubled and took two bases on an errant wild pitch, sliding home to give the Mids an early lead. Bucknell was quick to answer in the third inning and take the lead away, loading the bases without needing a hit before Trommer laced a ball up the middle to plate Billy Kender and Sean Keys.
The Bison added another run in the fourth when Chris Morabito led off with a walk and eventually came home on Keys' sacrifice fly, while the fifth inning saw Jacob Corson double to start the frame and advance home on a flyout and groundout to make it 4-1. The Mids clawed back a run in the bottom of the fifth as singles from senior
Hudson Lehnertz and sophomore
Mac McCommons put two on for senior
Zane Raba, who roped his own single into right field to score Lehnertz.
Bucknell responded again in top of the sixth when Keys ripped an RBI single up the middle to score Brady Karp and Trommer later lined out to center on a sacrifice fly that brought in Kender, making it 6-2. Navy continued to chip away in the sixth as Manning got a two-out single and went from first to home on Izquierdo's first double, while the seventh had McCommons come home on a wild pitch after doubling to lead off and using a flyout to take third base, cutting the lead to 6-4.
Trommer once again came through for Bucknell in the eighth, driving in Kender on a sacrifice fly after Kender hit a lead-off double and got to third on a groundout. Putting two runners into scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings, the Mids could not complete the comeback after a combined effort over the final three innings from Bucknell's Graeme Carroll, Nick Mulvey and Tyler O'Neill to shut the door.
Freshman starter
Brady Bendik went three innings in the loss for Navy, surrendering two runs on three hits, while fellow rookies
Ryan Bibb and
Evan Foster allowed two runs apiece in their innings of work. Coming in for two perfect innings was senior
Nolan Jorgenson before junior
Landon Kruer pitched the final two frames, giving up one run.
Mikey Myro got the win after holding Navy two runs on four hits in his five innings and Jonathan Adelmann followed by giving up two runs in his frame of relief, while Carroll pitched two innings before Mulvey got two outs in the ninth and O'Neill struck out the final batter of the game.
Game Notes
• Navy's lead in the all-time series with Bucknell shrank to 96-86-1.
• Izquierdo extended his on-base streak to 13-straight games, while senior
Eduardo Diaz brought his on-base streak to 11 contests.
• McCommons has now doubled in back-to-back games.
Up Next
Navy welcomes Lehigh to town for a three-game series April 20-21 on Alumni Weekend, while the Mids will also celebrate Senior Day prior to Saturday's doubleheader.
