ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With both teams vying for home-field advantage in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament entering the nightcap, the Navy baseball team could not pull off the doubleheader sweep against rival Army on Sunday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium, splitting the twin-bill with a 7-4 opening win and a 16-4 run-rule loss in the nightcap to close the regular season.
After falling in extra innings in the series opener Saturday, the Midshipmen (30-17, 16-10 PL) responded and rode a three-RBI outing from
Tyler Cripe to take Sunday's first game and even the weekend series, setting up a deciding third game to determine who would claim home-field advantage in next week's semifinal round and the potential for a regular-season title as well. The Black Knights wasted no time in the nightcap, using a seven-run first inning and Bucknell's series-finale loss at Lehigh to propel themselves to a share of the league's regular-season crown and claiming the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament.
With Sunday's splits between Army-Navy and Bucknell-Lehigh, the No. 3 seed Mids will now play at second-seeded Bucknell and No. 4 Holy Cross will travel to top-seed Army for the best-of-three Patriot League Semifinal Series on May 9-11.
Game One Recap
Navy jumped out to an early lead, scoring the game's opening run in the first inning on an RBI groundout by
Evan Brown. Plating three more the following frame to make it 4-0, the Mids saw
Andrew Manning triple and score on a
Will Howard groundout, Cripe lace an RBI single and
Chris Klug beat out an RBI infield single during the second-inning burst.
Army answered with a three-run burst in the top of the third, with Josiah Overbeek scoring on a Navy fielding error, William Parker hitting an RBI double and Carter Hewitt adding a sacrifice fly to pull the Black Knights within one at 4-3.
Navy added an insurance run in the fourth on Klug's sacrifice fly to plate
Noah Stead before Hewitt doubled home a run for Army in the fifth to trim the deficit to 5-4. Cripe then provided the final margin for the Midshipmen with a clutch two-run single in the bottom of the sixth that scored Stead and
Jake Hooten.
Grenn (3-3) pitched six innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits while walking four and striking out two to earn the victory.
Aidan Healy then struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning to record his second save for the Mids.
Kevin Reavey (3-5) took the loss for Army, allowing seven runs on six hits and six walks while striking out three in six innings of work.
Game Two Recap
Army took immediate control with a massive seven-run first inning that was kickstarted by two walks and Parker's sacrifice fly, as Hewitt then laced a two-run double to left-center to swell the lead and Jack Quinlan capped the early outburst by launching a two-out grand slam down the right-field line to make it 7-0.
Mason Scott's second-inning sacrifice fly, an Army double steal in the fourth and Overbeek's two-run homer to right in fifth moved it to an 11-0 lead before Navy could finally get a hit off Army starter Trey Ates in the fifth.
The Mids finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth inning when
Patrick Walsh launched a 452-foot grand slam to right field, bringing home Brown, Klug and Cripe to cut the deficit to 11-4.
However, Army quickly answered with a five-run seventh inning to put the run-rule back into effect, as Quinlan delivered a two-run double sandwiched between Zac Farrell and Scott each adding RBI singles, closing out the scoring.
Ates (5-1) earned the win after allowing three runs on just one hit over five-plus innings, while Michael Delph gave up one run as he tossed the final two frames in relief for Army.
Navy used seven different pitchers in the nightcap, with starter
Owen Phypers (5-4) taking the losing decision and not making it out of the first inning.
Game Notes
• Navy is now 138-140 in the all-time series with Army.
• With the victory in Sunday's first game, Navy has reached the 30-win plateau for the first time since 2019.
• Walsh moved his on-base streak to 28-straight games.
Up Next
Third-seeded Navy will travel to second-seed Bucknell for the best-of-three Patriot League Semifinal Series on May 9-11. First pitch for each day is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. at Depew Field in Lewisburg, Pa.
