ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Striking early on offense and backed by strong starting pitching in a pair of victories Sunday afternoon, the Navy baseball team (28-21) pulled off the semifinal-round comeback over Holy Cross (26-27) to advance to the Patriot League Championship Series next weekend.
 
Rattling off a 7-3 victory in game two to extend their season after dropping Saturday's semifinal series opener, the Midshipmen kept the pressure on to win the deciding third game, 6-2, as the evening rolled in at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
With junior closer Landon Kruer slamming the door shut on the Crusaders both times, the Mids got three-RBI contests from freshman Andrew Manning in Sunday's first game and then from sophomore Victor Izquierdo in the nightcap.
 
Game One Recap
For the second-straight day, Navy put up a five-spot in the first inning as a leadoff double from senior Hudson Lehnertz was followed by fellow senior Eduardo Diaz singling him home for the game's first run. The Mids then loaded the bases for Manning, who crushed an opposite-field triple to clear the bases and then scored himself on senior Logan Keller's sacrifice fly to make it 5-0.
 
Holy Cross struck back in the second inning on John LaFleur's RBI groundout after Gianni Royer doubled to start the frame, but that proved to the be Crusaders' lone run off Navy sophomore Brady Bendik in the first eight innings as Bendik allowed just four batters over the minimum to reach across the next six frames. Navy continued to add to its lead in the third when a pair of two-out singles from seniors Anthony Fiallo and Zane Raba drove in a runner each to extend the score to 7-1.
 
While Navy threatened again in the seventh and eighth, the Holy Cross bullpen held the Mids off the board to send it to the ninth, where the Crusaders finally chased Bendik and scored two runs on bases-loaded walks. Kruer then entered and struck out Jack Toomey on three pitches for the one-out save and forced a decisive game three.
 
Bendik finished with three runs allowed on five hits, striking out five in his career-high eight-plus inning to earn the win, while fellow freshman Timmy Virtudes got two outs in the ninth before Kruer came on in relief. Handed the loss, Danny Macchiarola lasted six innings and gave up seven runs on nine hits before Nick Fletcher relieved him for 1.1 innings and Augie Walters got the final two outs for Holy Cross.
 
Game Two Recap
With both Navy senior captain Matthew Shirah and Holy Cross' Jaden Wywoda dealing early, the Crusaders threatened in the third inning when Connor Cooney singled to leadoff the frame and got to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Shirah responded with two punchouts.
 
The Mids picked up Shirah with three runs in the bottom of the inning, as a leadoff single from rookie Jack Killelea and a one-out Raba double put two on for Lehnertz, who laid down a safety squeeze to drive in Killelea for the opening run. A Diaz single then knocked in Raba and Izquierdo's single later in the frame plated Diaz to make it 3-0, while both starters got timely fielder's choices to avoid damage in the fourth.
 
After Holy Cross scratched across a run in the fifth on a Van Coughlin single, Navy responded with two more runs in the home half of the inning when Diaz and sophomore Brock Murtha both reached base safely to set up Izquierdo's two-run double into the left-center gap, making it 5-1.
 
The Crusaders got their other run in the seventh on a Coughlin sacrifice fly to score Jimmy King, but Kruer came one in relief once again in the top of the eighth to retire the side and the Mids answered back in the bottom of the eighth when Manning and senior Logan Keller started the frame with back-to-back doubles and increased the lead to 6-2.
 
Inducing a groundout before allowing a King double in the ninth, Kruer then struck out Cooney and Coughlin to pick his second save of the day and send Navy back to the league's championship round.
 
Shirah ended his day with one run allowed on hits over five innings to claim the winning decision, while freshmen Ryan Bibb and Evan Foster both pitched a frame apiece to bridge the gap to Kruer, who had four strikeouts in his two-inning save. For Holy Cross Wywoda got the loss after allowing five runs on 11 hits across four innings, while Nick Harnisch gave up one run in 3.2 frames of relief and Payton Sutman recorded the final out of the Crusaders' campaign.
 
Coach Chuck Ristano Comments
"Both Matthew and Brady have shown up and shown up as the season has progressed. Matthew delivered the type of effort we knew we'd get from a senior who was essentially pitching to continue his career and that's why he gets the ball in those games. For a kid like Brady, who is mature and advanced beyond his years, we've come to expect that kind of performance from him. It was critical that those guys went deep into the game and they were able to do that."
 
"Kruer is someone who just wants the baseball and, when you have guys like that, you enjoy handing them the ball because you're going to get everything they got. I didn't want to have to go to him in the second game, but he went in there doing what a really good reliever does and shut it down with us having to win. Then, knowing we could get to the eighth inning of game three piecing it together, there was no one else we wanted to hand the ball to and he rewarded us for that."
 
"It feels good to hang a zero in the first and then put up a crooked number, but you know the game is long and you're going to get the best effort from the opposition in a setting like this. We didn't want to stay complacent today and wanted to continue to score runs, which we did. We have found ways to win every type of game this year that you could win, and that is a testament to the resolve and maturity of this team. The guys battling with two strikes, the type of contact, the way our hitters dug in and refused to strike out or have lazy flyout - that is another testament to the resolve of this group. When you lose that first game, you know you have to bring it for 18 innings, and that's a statement about who we are fundamentally."
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 93-55 in the all-time series with Holy Cross, while the Mids are now 9-6 over the Crusaders in Patriot League Tournament play and have claimed the last three postseason series against them.
• Navy now holds a 35-41 all-time record in Patriot League Tournament action and has reached the league finals in 15 of its 24 postseason berths.
• Kruer's 25 career saves are now the third most in Patriot League history.
• Murtha extended his on-base streak to 13-straight games and has tallied two hits in each of his last four contests.
• Navy has registered multiple extra-base hits in each of its last four games.
 
Up Next
Navy will now await Monday's results from the Bucknell-Army semifinal series to determine its opponent in the best-of-three Patriot League Championship Series on May 19-21. If Bucknell wins one game Monday, the Mids will host the Bison in Annapolis, while a pair of wins for the Black Knights will send Navy to West Point next weekend.