ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy baseball team (19-13, 10-5 PL) saw its winning streak snapped Sunday afternoon on the road, dropping both ends of a doubleheader to Patriot League foe Lafayette (8-23, 4-7 PL) at Hilton Rahn '51 Field at Kamine Stadium.
 
Despite sophomore Victor Izquierdo blasting his first collegiate home run as part of a two-hit performance, a pitchers' duel in the first game of the day ended in a 3-2 loss, while the second contest had the Midshipmen attempt a late rally but the Leopards held on, 6-2, for the doubleheader sweep.
 
Game One Recap
With a pair of freshman pitchers dueling for the first three frames between Navy's Brady Bendik and Lafayette's Tristan Helmick, the Leopards opened the scoring in the fourth inning when Blaze Fadio singled to start and Easton Brenner got on via an error, setting up Michael Zarrillo for two-out, two-run triple down the right-field line.
 
Navy quickly tied the game in the top of the fifth, as freshman Evan Brown lined a leadoff single to center and sophomore Victor Izquierdo followed with his first collegiate home run, lining a shot past the left-field foul pole to make it 2-2.
 
Lafayette used the triple again to regain the lead in the bottom of the sixth, as Fadio walk to start the frame and Ben Petrone laced a triple down the right line two batters later to bring Fadio in, but Bendik then got two strikeouts to strand Petrone at third.
 
Helmick then worked around a throwing error to retire the Mids in the seventh, snapping Navy's winning streak.
 
Bendik was handed his first loss of the season despite allowing just one earned run on four hits over a six-inning complete game, striking out five.
 
Helmick also notched the complete game by holding Navy to two runs on five hits across his seven frames, registering six strikeouts.
 
Game Two Recap
Lafayette got an early lead in the first inning of the second game, with an Ethan Swidler walk and a Fadio single putting two on for Petrone's own single, bringing home Swidler for the first run of the nightcap, but a double play two batters later ended the threat of a big inning.
 
The Leopards tacked on another run in the second when Teddy Cashman singled to open the frame, got pushed over by a sacrifice bunt and took third on a wild pitch, making it an easy trot home on Matt Colella's single into the left-center gap. Adding on its third run of the game, Lafayette scored again in the fourth when Swidler doubled home Calella and nearly got more in the fifth inning, but junior Landon Kruer got back-to-back strikeouts to leave the bases loaded.
 
Navy finally got on the board in the sixth after senior Eduardo Diaz walked and sophomore Brock Murtha later singled with two down, bringing up freshman Andrew Manning for a line-drive single into right that plated Diaz and broke up the shutout.
 
After the Mids threatened in the top of the seventh as well, the Leopards responded in the home half when Brenner scored from first on Cashman's double, while the eighth inning had Zarrillo and Brenner both slash RBI singles to increase the Lafayette edge to 6-1.
 
Putting two runners on in the ninth, a sacrifice fly from senior Zane Raba scored Izquierdo and a Diaz walk again placed two on base, but Adam Bogosian induced the game-ending groundout to close the door.
 
Taking the loss, freshman starter Timmy Virtudes went two innings and allowed two runs on five hits, while senior Nolan Jorgenson pitched for the second-straight day, surrendering one run on two hits in 1.2 innings. Junior Landon Kruer then tossed 3.2 frames in relief, allowing three runs while striking out four, and rookie Evan Foster got two strikeouts in 0.2 innings.
 
For Lafayette, Pat Walega pitched four shutout innings by limiting Navy to three hits, while Corey Savedoff threw a scoreless frame before giving way to Mason Koczwara. Koczwara then held the Mids to one run in two innings while striking out three to get the win and Bogosian gave up one run himself over his two frames out of the bullpen.
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 103-52-2 in the all-time series with Lafayette.
• The complete game for Bendik in the opener marked the first of his career and his third start of the season going six-or-more innings.
• With two RBI in the first game, Izquierdo now has a team-high 10 multi-RBI contests this year.
 
Up Next
Navy will return home to play Maryland Eastern Shore at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.