ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Despite holding rival Army to two hits and bringing the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, a trio of third-inning runs was the deciding factor in the Navy baseball team's season-ending loss, with the Midshipmen (28-23) falling 3-0 to the Black Knights (31-21) in the second game of the Patriot League Championship Series on Monday afternoon at Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field.
 
In an early pitchers' duel that saw senior Matthew Shirah and Army's Matthew Ronnebaum both record five-straight strikeouts each, Navy tried to get an early run across when senior Eduardo Diaz doubled in the first inning but was left stranded. Army opened the scoring in the third inning when a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases before a wild pitch and a two-run single from Chris Barr put the Black Knights up 3-0.
 
With Navy putting two runners on in the sixth, Ronnebaum induced a pair of fielder's choices to escape the jam and put the next seven Mids down in order as well before exiting the game. Facing Tanner Gresham in the ninth, Navy then got one-out walks from Diaz and sophomore Brock Murtha but Gresham used a strikeout and flyout to send Army to its sixth-straight Patriot League title and NCAA Regional appearance.
 
Shirah ended with the loss, going 3.2 innings and allowing three runs on one hit while punching out six, while freshman Brady Bendik allowed just one hit in four frames of scoreless relief and junior Landon Kruer got a strikeout in his only batter faced.
 
Ronnebaum went eight shutout innings for the win with nine strikeouts, while Gresham registered two strikeouts in his inning of work to get the save.
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 131-133 all-time against Army.
• This marks Navy's first winning season since 2021, while the team's 28 wins are the most since 2019.
• Senior Hudson Lehnertz ends his career on a seven-game hitting streak while Diaz finishes on a six-game hit-streak.
• Murtha ends the season on a 15-game on-base streak.
• Senior Logan Keller ends his career with the 11th-most games started in program history at 178, starting every single contest for Navy over his four seasons, while Diaz ranks 14th at 175 career starts.
• Keller's 127 career RBI rank sixth and his 692 career at-bats stand as the eighth most in program history while his 198 career hits are 13th in the Navy record books.
• Diaz's 89 career walks are ninth in school history while his 24 hit-by-pitches are 10th and his 21 sacrifice bunts rank third.
• Defensively, Diaz's 405 assists are the second-most by a Navy defender all-time.
• Zane Raba finishes his career in the Navy record books with 41 steals (seventh) and 25 hit-by-pitches (eighth).
• Shirah's 8.32 career strikeouts per nine innings stands 12th in program history and his 36 career starts rank 14th.
• Nolan Jorgenson's 61 career appearances are the sixth-most in program history.
• Navy's 293 RBI this season are 10th in program history while the team's 222 walks stand eighth.
• Navy's 89 hit-by-pitches this season are a program record while the Mids' 86 stolen bases are the third most in program history.
• Navy's .981 team fielding percentage is the third-best in program history.