ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Suffering its first midweek loss of the season, the Navy baseball team (18-16) ended its homestand with a 11-1 non-conference loss to Mount St. Mary's (14-17) Wednesday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
Despite Mason Ceccarelli and Tristan Rucker both collecting two-hit games, the Midshipmen mustered just five total hits and could not stop a Mountaineer offense that churned out 15 hits on the other side, highlighted by Mateo Zeppieri's three doubles.
 
The Mount raced out to an 1-0 early lead in the first inning when Nolan Book took home during Bryce Rudisill's rundown between first and second, and narrowly missed out on more in the second when Navy starter Kevin Maurer stranded the bases loaded.
 
A Navy error on a Rudisill fielder's choice, a RBI single from Ethan Flaugher and Zeppieri's sacrifice fly then grew the lead to 4-0 in the third, but Navy made it 4-1 in the bottom half of the inning when Ceccarelli singled home Rucker.
 
Another three-spot for the Mountaineers in the fourth was spearheaded by Sam Grube's RBI double, a Book RBI single and Zeppieri's bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, while the Mount's Kaden Kimble stranded the bases loaded when Navy attempted to answer back in the bottom of the frame. The Mount added its eighth run in the fifth on Book's RBI fielder's choice and widened the lead to 9-1 in the sixth on Evan Meier's RBI single to center field.
 
While the Mids' John Carroll kept the Mountaineers off the board in the seventh and eighth innings, a pitching change allowed the Mount to tack on two more runs in the ninth via RBI singles from Grube and Sam Dinitz, while a line-out double play in the bottom of the frame thwarted a bases-loaded opportunity for Navy and ended the game.
 
Going three innings in the start, the Mount's Ryan Brown finished with one run on three hits and three strikeouts, while Kimble pitched two no-hit innings, Max McCrary tossed three shutout frames to go with five strikeouts and Jake Andrews pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
 
For Navy, Maurer lasted three innings and gave up two earned runs on five hits, while Ryan Bibb surrendered three runs in 0.2 innings and Ian Brown let up a run while recording an out. Adyn Lucero then allowed one run in a two-inning outing, Carroll limited the Mount to two hits in his two scoreless frames and Owen Geiger surrendered two runs in his inning of work despite three strikeouts.
 
Game Notes
• Navy drops to 15-10 in the all-time series with Mount St. Mary's.
• Ceccarelli has tallied a walk in six-straight contests.
 
Up Next
Navy travels to Patriot League foe Lafayette for a three-game series April 12-13.