BETHLEHEM, Pa. – With the two squads posting their third-straight pitchers' duel of the weekend, the Navy baseball team (13-6, 1-2 PL) dropped a 3-1 contest to Lehigh (5-11, 1-2 PL) on Sunday afternoon at J. David Walker Field at Legacy Park, missing out on a chance to claim its first Patriot League series of the season.
Despite a first-inning from
Mason Ceccarelli and the Navy pitching staff striking out 15 Mountain Hawks, the visiting Midshipmen could not figure out Lehigh starter Jake Mulvehill or reliever Cole Kochanowicz after that, while Dom Patrizi provided all of Lehigh's offense via a three-RBI performance.
Navy grabbed the quick lead in the first inning when Ceccarelli connected for a solo home run to right field, his team-leading fourth homer of the campaign. Lehigh answered back in the third with its own blast, as Silvio Giardina got a bloop single and Dom Patrizi followed with a two-run homer down the left-field line to give the Mountain Hawks a 2-1 lead.
Tacking on to its lead, Lehigh had Jack Frankovic reach to start the fifth and eventually make it to third on a wild pitch and Giardina's bunt single, coming home for a 3-1 lead on Patrizi's groundout, but
Owen Phypers responded with a strikeout and
Spencer Stephens entered in relief to get another strikeout and avoid further damage.
Stephens then stranded runners at second base in both the sixth and seventh innings before giving way to
Jackson Clark during the eighth, who came in and left a pair of runners on to send it to the ninth. Navy brought the tying run to the plate with
Victor Izquierdo's two-out double, but Kochanowicz induced the game-ended fly-out six pitches later to claim the contest and the series for Lehigh.
Mulvehill finished his day with 6.1 innings for the win, limiting Navy to just one run on three hits while striking out six, and Kochanowicz held the Mids to just two hits in the 2.2-inning save.
Phypers went 4.2 innings in the loss, allowing three runs on just three hits despite racking up nine strikeouts in his fourth start, while Stephens struck out five in 2.2 shutout innings and Clark retired both batters faced in the eighth.
Game Notes
• Navy moved to 106-59 in the all-time series with Lehigh.
• Izquierdo racked up his team-leading sixth multi-hit game.
•
Tyler Cripe extended his hitting streak to six games with a third-inning single.
• Phypers' nine strikeouts were a career best, while Stpehens' five strikeouts matched his previous career high (April 2, 2025 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore).
Up Next
Navy will return home to host Maine on Wednesday, March 18 in a 3:00 p.m. contest.
