Knowles’ homer in fifth ties game at 2-2 before Army scores six unanswered
Logan Knowles celebrating his two-run home run in the fifth inning with teammate Evan Lowery
May 20, 2018
Box Score
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy baseball team dropped the first game of the 2018 Patriot League Baseball Championship on Sunday afternoon to Army by a score of 8-5. Following a two-run home run by Logan Knowles (Sr., Port Orchard, Wash.) knotted the contest at 2-2, the Black Knights (34-22) scored six straight runs beginning in the sixth inning to re-take the lead over the Mids (38-15) and hold on for the eventual 8-5 decision as Navy tried to rally with three ninth inning scores. Sunday’s action was the first game of the best-of-three championship series at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium as inclement weather had washed out the first day scheduled days of play.
“It was a close, back-and-forth game over the first half when we tied it at 2-2 in the fifth with a big home run by Logan and then they [Army] answered with their own solo home run to make it 3-2,” remarked head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. “Then it got away from us a little bit at the end over the eighth and ninth innings. We just couldn’t get that big out when we needed it over those last two innings. That’s baseball. We have to bounce back tomorrow get back to playing our game.
“Logan did a really nice job at the top of the order for us today,” said Kostacopoulos. “He had some real nice at bats. As for the rest of our offense, we still need those one or two key hits to really propel us forward. We had those opportunities today a couple of times, but just didn’t break through.”
The early action on Sunday was dictated by pitching as Navy’s Noah Song (Jr., Claremont, Calif.) retired four of the first nine batters of the game via strikeouts over the first and second innings. On the opposite side of the ledger Army’s starting pitcher Tyler Giovinco pitched around a leadoff single in the first and leadoff walk in the second to hold Navy scoreless.
The second-seeded Black Knights broke through onto the scoreboard in the top of the third when the visitors tagged Song for two runs on two hits and a walk.
Down 2-0, the Mids continued finding intermittent success versus Giovinco as they had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the third before the Black Knight southpaw recorded back-to-back infield pop ups. In the fourth, a single to right field byEvan Lowery (So., Williamsburg, Va.) advanced Stephen Born (Sr., Strafford, Pa.) to third base, but once again, Army withstood the threat by Navy.
The Mids’ defense kept a potent Black Knight running game that came into the day with 86 stolen bases grounded in the top of the fifth inning as Alex Smith (So., Stafford, Va.) cut down Jacob Hurtubise, the nation’s leader in steals, with a 2-6 caught stealing put out.
After four straight innings of leadoff hitters getting on base, Navy was retired quickly with back-to-back groundouts in the bottom of the fifth. Unfazed by the two-out situation, the Mids started a rally as Michael Coritz (So., Clifton, Va.) beat out an infield single to the shortstop. The next batter, Knowles, made the Black Knights pay for not getting that third out as the Mids’ team captain powered a line drive home run over the right field wall for his first round-tripper of 2018 and third of his career. Of note, Sunday’s home run was the first in Knowles’ storied career that exited Max Bishop Stadium as his prior two were both of the inside-the-park variety.
With the score now knotted at 2-2, Army fired back in the top of the sixth inning as Anthony Giachin led off with a solo home run out to right-center field.
The back-and-forth action continued in the bottom half of the inning asChristian Hodge (Jr., Winder, Ga.) tried to spark a rally with a one-out double to right field. Giovinco pitched around Hodge being in scoring position with consecutive put outs.
In his last full inning on the mound, Song retired Army in the top of the seventh with a strikeout, groundout and fly out.
The visiting Black Knights started putting some distance between themselves and the Mids in the top of the eighth as Josh White led off with a single up the middle off of Song. With the All-Patriot League First Team starting pitching chased from the game, Army tallied two more hits in the frame and plated two runs to make it a 5-2 margin.
Navy immediately looked to fight out of its three-run deficit in the bottom of the eighth as Knowles and Zach Biggers(So., Walhalla, S.C.) started off the stanza with back-to-back walks with no outs. A groundout by Born advanced both runners 90 feet to second and third base, but Army’s bullpen skated around the potential damaging hit with a strikeout and groundout to keep it 5-2.
The Black Knights added three important insurance runs in the top of the ninth to extend its lead to six at 8-2. Those three runs would loom large as the Mids came through with three of their own in the bottom of the ninth. Consecutive fielding errors to open the inning fueled the potential comeback as Jacob Williamson (So., Sims, N.C.) came into score on a sacrifice fly by Matthew Wilcox (Jr., Los Gatos, Calif.) to make it 8-3. Liam Loweryy (Jr., Williamsburg, Va.) scored the next run for the Mids courtesy of a double to left field by Coritz. Biggers drove in the final run of the game two batters later with his 19th double of the season to right field. A two-out single by Born gave Navy runners on first and third and the game-tying run at bat, but Army dipped into its bullpen for the third time in the ninth inning and called on Logan Smith to get the 27thout of the contest.
“We put the ball in play in the ninth inning which gave us a chance to make good things happen,” said Kostacopoulos. “We caught a couple of breaks there with their errors and nearly had a chance to really tighten it up. We had the tying run come to the plate with runners on first and third. We were still in the ballgame.
“Whenever you can get into an opponent’s bullpen and see new arms that good. We got a chance to see what could be coming down the pike tomorrow.”
In the 8-5 game, Army outhit Navy, 11-10. Coritz (3), Knowles (2) and Born (2) all had multiple hits for the Mids.
Of note, Biggers’ ninth-inning double moved him into second place in the single-season Navy record book for most doubles.
Song took the loss for Navy on Sunday with a final line of 7.0-plus innings, seven hits, four runs, three walks and eight strikeouts. Over 89.0 innings in 2018, the junior right-handed pitcher has now struck out 121 batters. He began the day tied for fourth place with Mitch Harris’ 2006 total (113) before breaking the tie and later surpassing Harris’ 2007 mark of 119.
The Patriot League Championship Final will conclude on Monday with the second and third games of the series scheduled to be played at Max Bishop Stadium. The first contest on Monday is slated for a 12 p.m. first pitch. Should the Mids defeat the Black Knights and force a winner-take-all game three, that showdown will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Both games will be streamed online on the Patriot League Network.
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