WORCESTER, Mass. – Evan Brown homered in both ends of a doubleheader for the scorching-hot Midshipmen, as the Navy baseball team completed a four-game weekend sweep over Patriot League foe Holy Cross with 9-5 and 10-5 victories on Saturday afternoon at Fitton Field.
 
The Mids (26-14, 13-7 PL) unleashed a relentless offensive attack to pick up their seventh- and eighth-consecutive league wins, also notching a second-straight four-game weekend sweep after going 4-0 against Lafayette last weekend. Racking up 24 total hits across the two games to overpower the Crusaders (16-23, 10-10 PL) in both contests, Navy saw Chris Klug and Tyler Cripe join Brown in blasting home runs during the nightcap.
 
Game One Recap
Navy came out swinging in the first inning, as Patrick Walsh singled home Victor Izquierdo for the game's first run and moved Brown up to third, with Brown then taking home on a wild pitch and Klug's single driving in Walsh later in the frame for the 3-0 edge.
 
Holy Cross struck back in the bottom of the first for two runs, as Alex Sandell came in on a two-out Navy fielding error and Simon Landry slid home on a double steal right after to cut it to 3-2 Mids.
 
Padding its lead, Navy scored in each of the first five innings, kickstarted by Noah Stead's sacrifice fly scoring Hooten in the second and Brown launching a lead-off homer out to left field in the third to make it 5-2. The Mids tacked on three more runs in the fourth, as Will Howard's RBI groundout, Izquierdo's infield RBI single and a Brown sacrifice fly swelled the advantage to 8-2, while Howard's fifth-inning single into the right-center gap brought home Klug for Navy's ninth run of the opener.
 
Holy Cross scratched across two runs in the bottom of the fifth, with Colin Brown's sacrifice fly and Ryan Grundy scoring on a wild pitch, while an outfield collision in right-center field during the sixth inning allowed Alex Sandell to pull off the inside-the-park home run and make it 9-5.
 
With the offense done for the game, reliever Timmy Virtudes locked up the series win for Navy in the seventh, working around Colin Brown's two-out double to induce the game-ending Van Coughlin fly-out.
 
Notching his seventh-straight winning decision, Navy starter Matt Archibald (7-3) held the Crusaders to four unearned runs on one hit in his five innings, striking out five. Virtudes then took over for the final two frames, giving up the hard-luck inside-the-park homer but punching out two batters.
 
Starter Brett Mulligan (1-2) got the loss after lasting 3.1 innings, allowing eight runs (five earned) on eight hits, while Thomas Skrobe gave up a run in his 2.2 innings out of the bullpen and Nick Harnisch pitched a scoreless frame.
 
Game Two Recap
After a scoreless first three innings, the Crusaders cracked the opening salvo in the fourth when CJ Egrie lifted a lead-off homer over the left-field wall and quickly took a 2-0 lead when Sandell came home on Grundy's RBI groundout.
 
Navy got one run back in the top of the fifth when Holy Cross starter Derek Volz exited the game, as Izquierdo ripped an infield single off the Crusaders' bullpen to plate Stead, but Holy Cross answered back in the home half of the frame when Egrie singled home Liam Daly to make it 3-1.
 
The Mids got rolling again in the sixth when Klug hit a no-doubt solo homer down the left line, Stead singled in Hooten and Cripe used a sky-high sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Howard, seizing a 4-3 lead for Navy.
 
The seventh saw more Navy scoring, as Evan Brown led off the inning with another homer to dead-center, while a passed ball with the bases loaded later in the frame scored Andrew Manning and Stead's infield single plated Klug to grow the lead to 7-3. Manning then used an eighth-inning groundout to drive in Evan Brown and Cripe smashed a two-run homer in the ninth to put the advantage at 10-3.
 
Holy Cross was able to knock in two runs in the bottom of the ninth on Sandell's bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and Daly crossing home on a wild pitch, but Aidan Healy then struck out Landry and induced a Grundy groundout to seal the weekend sweep.
 
After rookie starter Owen Phypers held Holy Cross to three runs in 4.2 innings, reliever Jackson Beattie picked up the win for Navy by going 3.2 innings and striking out four while allowing two runs, and Healy closed out the game with his two outs recorded.
 
Volz held the Mids hitless in his four innings, followed by Aidan Gilbert allowing a run in his inning of work and Marco Citro taking the loss by surrendering four runs (three earned) over an inning-plus. Henry Harding finished the game by giving up five runs (two earned) in three frames out of the pen.
 
Game Notes
• Navy is now 98-59 in the all-time series with Holy Cross.
• Navy's three homers in the nightcap marked a single-game season high for the Mids.
• Archibald's seven victories are the most by a Navy pitcher in a season since Noah Song's 11 wins during the 2019 season.
• Virtudes has now recorded three multi-inning appearances this season, while the hard-luck inside-the-park homer being his first run allowed this year.
• Beattie's 3.2 innings were a season high for the righty.
• Walsh extended his hitting streak to 12 games and his on-base streak to 21-straight contests.
 
Up Next
Navy makes a quick stop home to host Maryland Eastern Shore on Wednesday, April 22. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. from Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.