ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Facing one of the best hitting teams in the country on a warm Tuesday evening, the Navy baseball team (22-20) could not keep up with non-conference foe William & Mary (16-24) in what turned into a 9-3 loss at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
Despite Henry Mitchell homering and seeing two-hit performances from Evan Brown and Victor Izquierdo, the Midshipmen could not stop the Tribe's lineup as the game wore on, with the visitors racking up 13 hits across eight different Navy pitchers.
 
After Matt Archibald allowed just one hit in two shutout innings before turning it over to the Navy bullpen, William & Mary got the offense started in the third when Owen Wilson went first to home on a Ben Parker double while Parker himself scored later in the frame on Jamie Laskofski's single into left field, opening up a 2-0 lead.
 
Navy got on the board in the fourth when singles from Andrew Manning and Brown and a failed pick-off from the Tribe put Manning on third for Izquierdo's RBI groundout, cutting the William & Mary edge to 2-1. The Tribe responded right back in the fifth with a Christian Rush single to knock in Wilson and Laskofski driving in Parker on a fielder's choice, extending their lead to 4-1. Mitchell's 395-foot home run to the right-center power alley then shrunk the lead to 4-2, coming off the bat at 104 mph.
 
William & Mary once again answered the Mids' runs with runs of their own, as the sixth inning saw Lucas Carmichael smoke a two-run double down the first-base line, but Navy quickly cut into the Tribe's lead again in the bottom of the sixth as Manning was hit by a pitch, stole second and then raced home on Brown's single through the right side.
 
With both sides posting zeros in the seventh and eighth innings, William & Mary got back to its scoring in the ninth via Laskofski's RBI triple, Derek Holmes' RBI single and Wilson's bases-loaded walk, growing the Tribe's advantage to 9-3. Returning for his second frame of relief, Reed Interdonato stranded Izquierdo after a one-out single to close out the midweek win for the Tribe.
 
Following starter Chad Yates' two scoreless innings, the Tribe then used five relievers to keep the Navy bats in check, highlighted by shutout frames from Tom Bourque and Zach Boyd, with Interdonato notching the win with two strikeouts to one hit in his six-out appearance.
 
With Archibald getting four strikeouts in his two-inning start, Navy trotted out seven different relievers after him, with Timmy Virtudes suffering the loss after allowing two runs over one inning in his first appearance of the season coming back from injury.
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 19-8 in the all-time series with William & Mary.
• Mason Ceccarelli extended his on-base streak to 14-straight games.
• Spencer Stephens has not allowed a run in his last four appearances, totaling 8.1 innings in that span with six strikeouts to seven hits.
 
Up Next
Navy will head to Lehigh for a three-game set this weekend, opening its final regular-season Patriot League series at 3 p.m. Friday in Bethlehem, Pa.