BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Navy baseball team (22-21, 13-10 PL) found itself on losing end of a back-and-forth series opener against Lehigh (20-20, 9-11 PL) on Friday afternoon, with the Mountain Hawks rallying to defeat the Midshipmen, 9-8, at J. David Walker Field at Legacy Park in Bethlehem, Pa.
 
Kicking off its final regular-season Patriot League series, Navy saw Henry Mitchell rack up four RBI and Evan Brown tally a three-hit contest but could not stop a Lehigh offense that was highlighted by Raffaele Rogers' two home runs.
 
With both starters silencing the bats early, the Mountain Hawks broke through first in the third inning when Jake Whitlinger doubled home Andrew Kohl while a Dom Patrizi sacrifice fly and an Aidan Quinn RBI groundout grew the lead to 3-0. Navy responded right away by loading the bases in the fourth, while Tristan Rucker's two-run single up the middle and safety squeeze bunt from Mitchell evened the game at 3-3.
 
Rogers then led off the bottom of the fourth with his first homer of the day, but the Mids grabbed its first lead of the game in the fifth inning via Mitchell's bases-loaded, two-out triple into right field, clearing the bases and handing Navy a 6-4 edge. A Quinn RBI single in the bottom of the fifth cut the Navy lead to one, but the Mids answered once again in the top of the sixth when an Andrew Manning single and Brown double were followed by Ty DePerno's RBI groundout to plate Manning and Victor Izquierdo's double to drive in Brown and make it an 8-5 advantage.
 
A two-run single by Robbie Carvelli in the home half of the sixth made it a one-run game again, but Spencer Stephens came out of the bullpen with no outs and left the bases loaded to keep Navy in front. Rogers finally tied the game back up in the seventh with a solo shot to the left-center power alley and Liam O'Hearen stranded Brown at second base in the eighth to prevent Navy from retaking the lead. Lehigh then took its final lead of the day in the bottom of the eighth when Patrizi looped a two-out single into right to plate Carvelli, while Cole Kochanowicz stranded Owen Peterson at second base in the top of the ninth to secure the Mountain Hawks' comeback win.
 
Marcus Danchision made the start for Lehigh, allowing four runs in four innings, while O'Hearen picked up the win after going four innings and giving up four runs himself, and Kochanowicz notched the save by striking out two in his frame of relief.
 
For Navy, starter Tyler Grenn surrendered seven runs (six earned) in five-plus innings of work, while Stephens was saddled with the loss after being on the hook for two runs in his 2.1 innings and Landon Kruer tallied the final two outs for the Mids.
 
Despite the loss, Navy clinched a berth in next month's Patriot League Tournament with Lafayette's loss to Holy Cross on Friday. It will mark the Mids' third-straight and 25th overall Patriot League Tournament appearance.

Game Notes
• Navy is now 104-56 in the all-time series with Lehigh.
• Navy combined to reach base seven times via the hit-by-pitch on Friday, matching the program single-game record that was last done on March 12, 2024 at Delaware State.
• With a walk on Friday, Mason Ceccarelli extended his on-base streak to 15-straight games.
• Brown has multiple hits in six of his last nine games and matched his career high with Friday's three hits.
 
Up Next
Navy and Lehigh will continue the series with a 1:05 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.