RICHMOND, Va. – The Navy baseball team (0-2) was on the losing end of a pair of 2-1 pitchers' duels in an Opening Day doubleheader with Richmond (2-0), as the Spiders walked off the Midshipmen in extra innings of their season opener before staging a comeback in Friday's nightcap at Pitt Field in Richmond, Va.
Backed by strong starts from sophomore
Brady Bendik and junior
Tyler Grenn and a three-hit afternoon for sophomore
Andrew Manning, Navy held the opposition to just nine hits on the day and scored first in both contests, but the hometown Spiders found timely hitting in the form of two RBI triples to earn the Friday sweep.
Game One Recap
With sophomore
Brady Bendik picking up where he left off last season, the Navy starter cruised through the first two innings and then worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the third. The Mids immediately backed up their pitcher in the top of the fourth when Manning singled to start the frame, used a groundout and a wild pitch to get to third, and then scooted home on junior
Henry Mitchell's hit up the middle.
After freshman
Kody Clancy relieved Bendik midway through the fourth, Richmond's DJ Pacheco connected on a RBI triple to score Jack Arcamone, but the Navy rookie then sat down the next eight batters he faced before working out of a seventh-inning jam to send the game to extras.
Richmond threatened in the eighth with a leadoff double before senior
Owen Beisty induced a pair of flyouts to get out of it, but the Spiders then got back-to-back-to-back singles to start the ninth, with Aidan O'Keefe's knock driving in Brady O'Brien for the walk-off run.
Esteban Rodriguez went three scoreless innings in the start for Richmond, while Ryan Bilka allowed Navy's lone run in 4.2 innings of relief and Jason Shockley notched the win with 1.1 shutout frames.
Bendik wrapped up with one run over 3.2 innings, not allowing a hit, while Clancy allowed two hits in 3.1 frames and Beisty surrendered four hits in one-plus innings to get the loss.
Game Two Recap
Navy got a dominant start from Grenn in his 2025 debut to set the tone of the nightcap, allowing just one baserunner through the first five innings. The Navy offense tried to get Grenn an early lead with two first-inning singles, but the Spiders' defense cut down junior
Brock Murtha trying to take an extra base.
The Mids finally got that support in the fourth when freshman
Owen Peterson got plunked to lead off and stole second, coming across home later that at-bat when sophomore
Evan Brown laced a double into the left-center gap.
A one-out single from Connor Larson in the sixth ended Grenn's day, while Jordan Jaffe's triple later in the frame plated Larson and Phil Bernstein to hand the Spiders a 2-1 lead. After Chayse Gruber got two outs to start the seventh, Murtha doubled to keep the Mids' hopes alive but Tyler Rigot entered to retire Manning for the final out.
Chase Topolski gave up one run in his 3.2-inning start but struck out four, while Brian Reinke pitched two scoreless frames before giving way to Gruber for an inning, who earned the win, and Rigot notched the one-out save.
Grenn finished with four strikeouts in 5.1 innings, allowing one run on two hits, while senior
Landon Kruer suffered the loss by giving up one run in 0.2 innings of relief.
Game Notes
• Navy is now 19-15 in the all-time series with Richmond, with the Spiders claiming the last six games between the squads.
• The Mids are 74-55-2 in season openers all-time.
• Murtha and fellow junior
Victor Izquierdo have now started three-straight season openers for Navy.
Up Next
Navy and Richmond will wrap up the series at 10 a.m. Saturday.
