ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Two of the key cogs in the Navy baseball team's Star series win over Army have earned weekly honors from the Patriot League, as senior right-hander Landon Kruer was named the Patriot League Pitcher of the Week while freshman catcher Ty DePerno was awarded the league's Rookie-of-the-Week accolade on Monday afternoon.
 
Making up the pitcher-catcher battery that closed out both of the Midshipmen's wins against Army, Kruer picks up his first weekly honor of the season from the Patriot League and the third of his career, while DePerno's award marks his second in a four-week span.
 
Tallying a 1.59 ERA in 5.2 innings over three appearances, Kruer struck out five while not allowing a walk and picking up two saves. Going 1.2 innings at Fordham, the righty allowed one hit and struck out one Ram to seal Navy's 11-7 win. Kruer then gave up a run in the first game Saturday against Army but held on to post the two-inning save and strike out two Black Knights, before coming back on Sunday to punch out two more batters in two frames to earn the save in the Star Series finale. The two saves tied Kruer for the Patriot League career saves record, matching former Holy Cross pitcher John Colella's 28 career saves.
 
For DePerno, he batted .533 and drove in six runs on the week, as the rookie catcher tallied eight hits, five runs scored, a double, a home run and a pair of walks to go with his six RBI over the Mids' four games. After going 3-for-4 with two runs scored in Navy's 11-7 win at Fordham, DePerno continued his strong start to the season by going 5-for-11 in the series with Army, knocking in five runs and scoring three times himself. Blasting his second collegiate homer in the series opener with Army, DePerno used the two-run blast to highlight a 3-for-3 game that also saw him score twice. DePerno then roped an RBI double in the Mids' near-comeback against the Black Knights in Saturday's nightcap loss, eventually scoring to make it a one-run contest in the ninth. The freshman saved his last hit of the weekend for the seventh inning on Sunday, ripping a two-run single that gave Navy a lead it never surrendered.
 
Navy hosts Dartmouth on Tuesday afternoon before welcoming league foe Bucknell to town this weekend for a four-game series.