BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Navy baseball team (19-11, 10-3 PL) improved its winning streak to seven-straight games with a doubleheader sweep of Lehigh (16-12-1, 3-6 PL) on Saturday afternoon, outlasting the Mountain Hawks, 2-1, in a 10-inning pitchers' duel to begin the day before posting a 6-3 win in the nightcap at J. David Walker Field at Legacy Park.
 
Two-hit performances from freshman Andrew Manning and sophomore Victor Izquierdo helped push the offense over the hump in an opener that saw sophomore Tyler Grenn go a career-high eight innings before senior Nolan Jorgenson pitched his way to two scoreless frames of relief. In the second game, a six-inning relief outing from rookie Ryan Bibb gave the Mids the stability needed to post a comeback with a four-run fourth inning, highlighted by freshman Jack Killelea's two-run single.
 
Game One Recap
A pair of walks to lead off the game for Navy helped them take the early lead, as a two-out single by Manning through the right side scored senior Zane Raba and put the Mids up 1-0. Lehigh answered back quickly when Jake Whitlinger singled to start the bottom of the first, stole second and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt before coming home on a Rafe Perich grounder.
 
With both Grenn and Lehigh's Cole Leaman pitching zeros the next four innings, the Mountain Hawks then put in Marcus Danchision for four more scoreless frames while Grenn handed the ball off to Jorgenson for the ninth after a career-high eight shutout innings.
 
Jorgenson then stranded a runner after a one-out single in the ninth, while a walk to sophomore Brock Murtha and a Lehigh error on freshman Evan Brown's grounder put two on with two out for Izquierdo in the tenth, who lined a single into center to bring in Murtha and give Navy the lead once again.
 
Allowing a one-out single to Raffaele Rogers in the bottom of the tenth, Jorgenson induced the game-ending 5-4-3 double play to finish off the hosts and push the Mids' winning streak to six-straight.
 
Grenn wrapped up his career-high eight innings by allowing just one run on four hits, striking out four, while Jorgenson notched his first win of the season by allowing two hits in his two innings of relief.
 
Leaman finished with one run allowed on five hits over five innings, posting five strikeouts to four walks, while Danchision surrendered one unearned run on one hit across his five frames, registering four strikeouts.
 
Game Two Recap
Navy grabbed another first-inning lead in the nightcap by capitalizing on a walk to senior Eduardo Diaz and a double from fellow senior Logan Keller, as Murtha drove in Diaz on a groundout to open the scoring. Lehigh again answered back quickly, taking advantage of two first-inning walks when Tyler Young ripped a single that brought home Perich.
 
Lehigh took the lead in the second inning when a walk and a pair of errors put runners at the corners with no outs for Owen Walewander, who laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Andrew Kohl when Bibb entered the game, but the Navy rookie avoided further damage in the frame and went on to toss four-straight scoreless innings in his six-inning appearance.
 
With Bibb taking charge, the Mids' offense got back to work in the fourth when Manning and Brown both singled to start the inning and fellow freshman Tyler Bouchard was plunked. With three freshmen on and one out, another freshman stepped up when Killelea laced a single through the left side to plate Manning and Brown and give Navy the lead back. The Mids continued to pour it on when Diaz walked to load the bases and Keller and Murtha then drew walks as well to force two more runs home and make it 5-2.
 
Aggressive baserunning got the Mids another insurance run in the sixth, as Diaz singled and then took third on Murtha's single before swiping home after Lehigh threw down on Murtha's steal of second.
 
Lehigh finally cracked Bibb in the seventh when Kohl hit a solo home run to left field, but the freshman right-hander got a pair of groundouts to close out the doubleheader sweep.
 
Senior starter Matthew Shirah pitched one-plus innings for the Mids, giving up one earned run on one hit and three walks, while Bibb notched the win after going six frames and allowing just one run on two hits with two strikeouts.
 
On the other side, Lehigh Teddy Tolliver lasted 3.1 innings and surrendered four runs on five hits for the loss, and Tommy Lamar gave up one run in 0.1 inning before Tyler Thompson allowed one run on five hits over the final 3.1 frames.
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 100-53 in the all-time series with Lehigh, winning the last four meetings.
• Grenn's eight innings are the longest start by a Navy pitcher since Nate Mitchell's eight frames at Holy Cross on April 2, 2023.
• The seven-game winning streak is the longest by Navy since winning 19 consecutive contests between Feb. 15, 2020 and March 27, 2021.
• Manning extended his hit streak to 12 games.
• Murtha's on-base streak moved to 12-striaght contests.
 
Up Next
Navy will make the crosstown trip to Lafayette on Sunday for a noon doubleheader.