ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In a semifinal series that saw the deciding game require extra innings, the Navy baseball team's season came to an end against rival Army in the 2025 Patriot League Tournament Sunday evening at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
After the Black Knights (25-23) scored 11 unanswered runs en route to a 13-2 game-two win to open Sunday and even the series, the Midshipmen (26-25) fought back several times to force extra innings in the third game but could not answer the Black Knights final push, falling 6-5 in the 10th inning and seeing its postseason run come up short.
 
Game One Recap
With starters Matt Archibald and Justin Lehman both tossing zeros for the first two innings despite the Mids putting multiple runners on each time, Navy struck first in the third when an Andrew Manning double put Ty DePerno in position to score on Jack Killelea's groundout, but Army answered back in the fourth when two fielding errors put Chris Barr on third base and he trotted home on Billy Parker's double play to make it 1-1.
 
After getting two more runners on in the fifth and moving them into scoring position on a failed pick off, Army took advantage of another Navy throwing error right after by plating both runners on the play, taking a 3-1 edge. A five-run sixth inning by the Black Knights then grew the lead to 8-1, highlighted by Coleson Titus' two-run single into left field, while Zac Farrell made it 9-1 in the seventh with an RBI single.
 
With both Titus and Thomas Schreck getting hits to start the eighth, a Barr double then plated Titus and Lehman's sacrifice fly scored Schreck to widen the lead to 11-1, but Navy loaded the bases again in the bottom of the frame and made it 11-2 on Mac McCommons' RBI groundout. A Titus sacrifice fly and Barr's RBI single in the top of the ninth gave the 11-run lead back to Army, while Kaden Youmans then retired the Mids in order in the home half of the inning to close out the 13-2 win and force the third game.
 
Lehman finished with one run allowed on 11 hits in his seven innings, striking out six and getting the winning decision, while Youmans held Navy to one run in his two frames of relief.
 
Archibald ended with seven runs allowed (four earned) in 5.1 innings and got the hard-luck loss, while Adyn Lucero faced three batters before being removed for Liam Golden. Golden then pitched 1.2 innings of one-run ball before handing the ball to Kevin Maurer for the final six outs, who surrendered four runs in his two frames.
 
Game Two Recap
With Addison Ainsworth's first-inning triple setting the stage, Parker put Army up right away two pitches later when he hit a two-run home run off the left-field videoboard, but Navy had an answer of its own in the bottom of the first when Mason Ceccarelli walked to start the frame and DePerno smacked his own two-run homer over the left-field fence to even the game at 2-2.
 
Parker continued a hot nightcap by notching a one-out single in the third and raced home to give the Black Knights another lead on Lehman's triple, while Army reliever Robbie Penswick stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame to keep the momentum. A Henry Mitchell double to lead off the bottom of the fourth then set up Ceccarelli to drive him home on a one-out single up the middle to tie the score once again, 3-3.
 
Army opened up another two-run lead in the fifth when Lehman and Jack Quinlan laced back-to-back RBI singles, but a DePerno walk and a Manning double in the bottom of the frame brought up Killelea, who singled home DePerno and moved up Manning, who later came in on Mitchell's sacrifice fly to tie the game at 5-5.
 
After both came out of the bullpen in the fifth inning to stop the other sides' rallies, Landon Kruer and Trey Ates then matched scoreless frames for the next four innings, with Ates leaving three Navy runners on in the sixth and Kruer allowing just two batters over the minimum in across his first 4.2 innings.
 
With both relievers posting 1-2-3 innings in the ninth to send the game to extras, Army finally put runners on against Kruer as he neared 90 pitches, using two walks and a Michael Delph single to load the bases in the top of the tenth. After Kruer fielded his position twice to record two outs, Schreck worked a walk of his own to plate Delph and hand Army the go-ahead run, but Spencer Stephens then retired Barr to keep it a one-run game.
 
Ates continued his impressive outing by getting the first two Mids out in the bottom of the tenth before Brock Murtha lined a single to extend the game, but Ates then induced a flyout to Ainsworth to seal the victory and send Army back to the league's championship series.
 
Bryce Brownlee went two innings and allowed two runs in the start for the Black Knights, while Penswick lasted two frames himself after giving up three runs. Ates wrapped up the win by going six shutout innings, holding Navy to four hits while striking out five.
 
For Navy, Tyler Grenn gave up five runs on nine hits in 4.1 innings before handing the ball to Kruer, who took the loss despite holding Army to just one run on two hits over a career-high 5.1 innings, while Stephens retired the lone batter he faced.

Game Notes
• Navy and Army are tied in the all-time series, 136-136.
• Murtha's hit-by-pitch in Sunday's nightcap gave him 20 on the season, matching the program single-season record set by Thomas Hamilton during the 2008 campaign.
• DePerno and Murtha ended the season on nine-game on-base streaks.
• Murtha's .424 career on-base percentage sits 12th in program history after three seasons with Navy.
• Kruer ends his time in the Navy Blue and Gold with 73 career appearances, ranking fourth in program history.