ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With a star and postseason implications on the line, the Navy baseball team (24-17, 14-8 PL) makes the trip to Army (23-17, 12-6 PL) this weekend for a three-game series at Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field in West Point, N.Y.
 
Action between the Midshipmen and Black Knights will begin on Friday with a 4:30 p.m. first pitch, while Saturday's contest is set for 2 p.m. and Sunday's series finale is slated for 1 p.m., with all three games streaming on ESPN+.
 
As part of the 2023-24 Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA, the winner of the three-game set will earn the baseball Star for this season in addition to having major implications on the league standings.
 
Postseason Picture
Both teams sit four games above .500 in Patriot League play, as the Black Knights in first place based solely on percentage points with four games in hand … Having already earned a berth in the league's semifinal round, the Mids can lock up one of the top-two seeds in the league tournament with a series win at Army, while a Navy sweep would hand the Mids the No. 1 seed and the Patriot League regular-season title … A sweep by Army would secure a top-two seed for the Black Knights.
 
Army-Navy Star Series Update
With an April 13 victory in women's lacrosse, Navy clinched the all-sport 2023-24 Star Series presented by USAA, while the men's tennis star on April 20 improved the Mids' record in star contests this season to 14-10-1 … Navy has picked up the star this season in Men's Cross Country, Men's Rugby, Volleyball, Women's Swimming & Diving, Men's Swimming & Diving, Rifle, Men's Indoor Track & Field, Gymnastics, Women's Indoor Track & Field, Women's Tennis, Men's Outdoor Track & Field, Women's Outdoor Track & Field, Women's Lacrosse, Men's Tennis … After being down early in the season, the Mids rallied by taking five of the six stars over the last month … Baseball's three-game set marks the final star competition of the year … Navy's overall record against Army this season stands at 18-13-1.
 
Wearing with Pride
Navy debuted a new addition to its anchor blue jerseys on March 24 against Army, as each member of the team will be wearing a unit or ship patch from the Navy or Marine Corps … Given to the program by various alumni, family members, friends, mentors and other supporters of Navy Baseball who have served in the Navy or the Marine Corps, each player and coach was able to select a patch to put on their uniform's sleeve … Notable Navy baseball alumni that will be represented include: Dennis Losh '70, Tom Van Dam '05, DJ Faldowski '06, Alex Azor '12, Matt Kilby '14, Jack Keller '15, Anthony Parentti '15, Christian Hodge '19, Liam Lowery '19, Evan Lowery '20, Michael Coritz '20 and Jared Leins '21.
 
Grenn and Manning Earn Patriot League Weekly Honors
A big week for Navy led to a pair of weekly honors on Tuesday, as sophomore Tyler Grenn was named the Patriot League Pitcher of the Week while freshman Andrew Manning was awarded the league's Rookie of the Week … Notching his third Pitcher-of-the-Week honor this season, Grenn pitched his first complete game with the Midshipmen in a 12-2 win over Lehigh, while Manning garnered his second Rookie of the Week nod with a pair of two-hit contests and six runs scored over Navy's four games last week … Grenn was dominant in the series opener by allowing just two runs on eight hits in seven innings, posting a career-high six strikeouts to earn his fifth win of the season … For Manning, the rookie batted .417 (5-for-12) over four league games while scoring a team-high six times, adding on a double, a stolen base and four walks.
 
Slick Fielders
Navy has been the best team defensively in the Patriot League, as the Mids' .979 fielding percentage ranks 18th in the country entering the weekend … The Navy infield has been most impressive, with the team turning a league-high 34 double plays that ranks 37th nationally … Individually, both senior outfielder Zane Raba and sophomore first baseman Victor Izquierdo have posted 1.000 fielding percentages while senior shortstop has the best fielding percentage (.993) among Patriot League middle infielders … Izquierdo's 271 putouts pace the league.
 
"We Got Ice"
The Mids have been one of the nation's best teams at getting on base via hit-by-pitch, as Navy's 85 times being hit by a pitch lead the Patriot League and rank 14th in the NCAA entering the weekend … The 85 hit-by-pitches are also a program record, eclipsing the previous record of 79 in 2011 … The Mids have three players who are in the top-100 nationally in getting beaned … Sitting 46th in the nation with 14 hit-by-pitches are Raba and sophomore Brock Murtha, while fellow sophomore Mac McCommons is 98th at 12 hit-by-pitches … Raba and Murtha are tied for second in the Patriot League, while McCommons ranks sixth in the conference.
 
Naval Aggression
Tallying just 0.62 stolen bases per game last season (31 steals in 50 games to rank 254th nationally), Navy has been exponentially more aggressive under new head coach Chuck Ristano, as the team has stolen 78 bases in 40 games this year to rank 29th in the NCAA at 1.90 steals per game … Currently leading the Patriot League, the Mids' 78 stolen bases are fifth in program history for a single season … Pacing the league and sitting sixth in the nation with his 27 steals, Raba has the third-most ever by a Navy player in a single season and the most since John Cocca's 32 stolen bases in 2002 … Murtha's 19 stolen bases rank second in the league and 38th in the country.
 
Underclassmen Settling into April
Starting all 13 of Navy's games in April, Izquierdo has batted .333 (15-for-45) for the month while collecting five doubles and a homer while knocking in 10 RBI and scoring seven times … Freshman Andrew Manning has also hit at a .289 average since the calendar flipped, going 13-for-45 with two doubles and a home run, slugging a .400 clip … Sophomore backstop Mac McCommons has batted .421 in April, tallying two doubles while knocking in four RBI and going 8-for-19 … Rookie lefty Evan Foster has also been great in April with a 2.89 ERA, allowing just three runs in 9.1 innings while striking out 11.
 
Navy Notables vs. Army
Senior right-hander Matthew Shirah has been a steady hand for the Mids against Army in his career, posting a 3.63 ERA across four starts and logging 18 strikeouts over 22.1 innings … Fellow senior Nolan Jorgenson has posted a 2.08 career ERA against Army, pitching 8.2 innings over four appearances and striking out five … Senior Hudson Lehnertz has batted .280 (7-for-25) in 11 career games against Army, racking up two doubles … Diaz batted .278 in five games against Army in 2023, driving in a pair of runs and walking twice.
 
Scouting Army
The Black Knights enter the series with the Patriot League's best batting average (.286), while Army's earned-run average (4.74) is also the best in the league … Winning eight of its last 10 games, Army is coming off a 5-1 victory over Marist on Tuesday that saw five pitchers combine to hold the Red Foxes to three hits … Along with a league-leading 55 RBI that rank 18th nationally, William Parker ranks third in the PL with a .385 average and holds the second-best slugging percentage (.699), while Chris Barr is behind him in fourth at a .368 batting average … Derek Berg has overcome a slow start to rank 10th in the league with a .311 average along with a league-high 13 homers and the second-most doubles (13) … Sam Ruta has also posted 13 doubles and a league-best 13 homers to hold the third-best slugging percentage in the league (.689) … On the mound, Justin Lehman's 1.69 ERA tops the conference and stands seventh in the country, as he has held opponents to a .195 average against over 42.2 innings … Mike Ruggieri (5.80 ERA) ranks second in the league with 57 strikeouts in 49.2 innings.
 
Series History
Navy is 130-129 in the all-time series with Army … The Black Knights have won eight of the last 10 meetings between the teams, including a season sweep in 2023 … The Mids are 55-60 when playing the Black Knights in West Point, with Navy's last series win at Army coming in 2018 when the Mids won April 20 at Boston's Fenway Park before completing the weekend sweep by taking both games of an April 21 doubleheader in West Point … The two teams split a doubleheader in Annapolis on March 24, with Navy snapping its five-game losing streak to Army with a 5-2 victory in the opener while Army bounced back for an 8-1 win in the nightcap … The first game saw Grenn hold Army to two runs in six innings while Lehnertz, McCommons and senior Anthony Fiallo all had two-hit contests … Lehnertz and Manning both collected two hits in the nightcap as well despite Lehman's quality start for the Black Knights.
 
Up Next
Navy will play at No. 14 Virginia on Wednesday, May 1 in the Mids' final midweek contest of the season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. in Charlottesville, Va.