COLUMBIA, S.C. – With a pair of freshmen shining, the Navy baseball team (5-2) ended its stay at South Carolina's Salute the Troops Weekend with an emphatic 8-1 victory over Marshall (2-4) on Sunday afternoon at Founders Park in Columbia, S.C.
 
Bolstered by Owen Phypers tossing zeroes across the first five innings in his second college start, Patrick Walsh paced the offense with a three-hit, three-RBI outing that included three extra-base knocks, joined by multi-hit efforts from Andrew Manning and Chris Klug against the Thundering Herd.
 
A quick 1-2-3 in both halves of the first inning set the tone for Sunday's pace, while the Navy offense got the scoring started in the second when Andrew Manning singled and got to third base on the right-fielder's error, setting up Ty DePerno to drive him in on a sacrifice fly. A double from Klug into the gap was immediately followed by Walsh's first double of the game, extending the lead to 2-0.
 
After Phypers stranded runners in scoring position in both the second and third frames, the Mids added to their lead when DePerno and Klug singled and Walsh cleared the bases with his second-straight triple, putting a two-run liner down the opposite line and growing the lead to 4-0.
 
After Evan Bottone's leadoff homer in the sixth cut the Navy edge to 4-1, the Herd threatened with a pair of runners on with no outs, but Tyler Grenn entered and induced a lineout double play to first base before getting a flyout to quell the Marshall rally.
 
Navy continued to add to its lead in the seventh inning when Izquierdo laced an RBI single into right field and Manning then followed with an opposite-field double himself to plate Izquierdo and make it a 6-1 contest. A Walsh triple to kick off the eighth kept the pressure on, with Walsh scooting home on Henry Mitchell's sacrifice bunt, while Mason Ceccarelli's leadoff homer out to left field to start the final frame capped the Mids' scoring. With Grenn inducing two fielder's choice, Aidan Healy then struck out Braydon Cord to retire the Herd in the bottom of the ninth seal Navy's victory.
 
Phypers finished with one run on six hits in his five-plus innings, striking out three and notching the winning decision, while Grenn pitched 3.2 shutout frames and punched out two batters before Healy retired his one batter faced.
 
Suffering the loss, Kenyon Collins went six innings with four runs on seven hits despite striking out seven Mids. Hunter Richa relieved him, allowing three hits over 1.2 frames, before Davis Gunn gave up a run across the final 1.1 innings.
 
Head Coach Chuck Ristano Postgame
"I'm really proud of the way we played today. We were able to put every part of our game on display. Of course, it starts on the mound, and Owen, Tyler and Aidan made every big pitch. When Marshall seemed to grab a little momentum, we were able to snuff it out. DePerno throwing out a couple of baserunners certainly helped, but what you don't see in the box score was an elite level of receiving and blocking. He caught a lot of innings this weekend and his defense didn't depreciate one bit."
 
On the offensive end, it was great to open the playbook a bit. The bunts, hit-and-runs and general aggression on the bases just gave us such a boost, but, more than anything, we swung the bats extremely well as a group. This was the response I was expecting after a tough loss, and I hope that we can carry some of this momentum as we return home for a couple of weekends."


Game Notes
• Navy moves to 1-0 in the all-time series with Marshall.
• Navy has tallied a double in every contest this season, while the Mids have recorded a triple in four of their last five games.
• Ceccarelli extended his on-base streak to 10 games dating back to last season, also reaching base in 29 of his last 30 games played.
• Phypers is the first Navy freshman to post back-to-back five-inning starts to begin their career since Colin Taeschner in 2019.
• Walsh has now recorded an extra-base hit in four-straight games.
• Navy has recorded double-digit hits in four of its seven contests this year.
 
Up Next
Navy heads to Coppin State on Tuesday for a 2:30 p.m. first pitch.