ARLINGTON, Va. – Despite taking an early lead on Victor Izquierdo' team-leading fifth home run of the season, the Navy baseball team was defeated by non-conference foe George Washington, 4-1, on Tuesday afternoon at Tucker Field at Barcroft Park.
 
Breaking the Midshipmen's (22-14) four-game winning streak, Tuesday's action saw the Revolutionaries' Cristino Tufano go 2-for-3 to lead the GW (13-22) offense while Jake Hooten paced the Mids at the plate with a 2-for-4 outing.
 
The Mids opened the scoring in the top of the first inning when Izquierdo launched a 406-foot solo homer to left-center, giving Navy an early 1-0 advantage. Navy also came close to scoring in the second when Hooten and Noah Stead singled to put two on, but Henry Knighton got the flyout to quell the threat.
 
The Revolutionaries responded in the bottom of the second inning, as Travis Peitz matched Izquierdo with a solo shot of his own to left-center that evened the game at 1-1.
 
The Revs took the lead for good in the bottom of the third following three walks to start the frame, with Brian Archer lifting a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to right field to bring Robbie Lavey home and put the Revolutionaries ahead 2-1. GW was then held in check for the next two innings with Timmy Virtudes tossing two scoreless frames for the Mids, holding the Revs hitless.
 
The game remained tight until the late innings when GW manufactured a pair of insurance runs, with Peitz recording his second RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Charlie Walsh in the bottom of the sixth, and the Revs capped the scoring in the seventh inning when Archer singled to center field to drive in Connor Jones, extending the lead to 4-1 and securing his second RBI of the afternoon.
 
Navy tried to rally in the ninth when Andrew Manning walked to put two on and bring the tying run to the plate, but Jasper Nadel induced the game-ending groundout to pick up his first save of the season.
 
After Knighton exited with one run allowed in two innings, Liam Thyen (1-1) earned the win in relief for GW by pitching three scoreless frames and allowing just two hits. Brad Marks then tossed three shutout innings himself, while Nadel pitched a scoreless ninth.
 
Navy starter Ian Brown went two innings in his fifth start of the spring, surrendering just the one run on two hits, and reliever Ryan Bibb (0-1) took the loss in an inning of work. Virtudes then tossed his two scoreless frames, Spencer Stephens allowed two runs in 1.2 innings, Adyn Lucero recorded one out for the Mids and Aidan Healy pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
 
Game Notes
• Navy moves to 26-16 in the all-time series with George Washington.
• Virtudes has not allowed a run yet this season.
• Brown moved his hitting streak to nine games, getting a hit in every game since his return to the lineup on April 4.
• Walsh improved his on-base streak to 16 games and his hitting streak to eight games.
 
Up Next
Navy will stay on the road for a four-game series Friday through Sunday at Patriot League rival Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.