Black Knights rally past Midshipmen
Army takes rubber match, wins Star Series with Navy
Navy may be leading the Patriot League baseball standings at the moment, but Army remains the defending champion.
The Black Knights reminded the Midshipmen of that fact this weekend by winning a three-game series (2-1) and earning the coveted Star in the process.
Leadoff hitter Jacob Hurtubise stroked a clutch single to right-center to spark the winning rally as Army beat Navy, 7-5, in the decisive Game 3 on Sunday afternoon at Max Bishop Stadium.
Right fielder Drake Titus and shortstop Trey Martin contributed RBI singles as the Black Knights scored five runs with two outs in the top of the sixth inning.
Starting pitcher Sam Messina allowed two runs on three hits through 51⁄ innings
3 to earn the victory for Army, which improved to 24-16 overall and 11-6 in the Patriot League. The Black Knights got great production fromthe top four hitters in their lineup as Hurtubise, Titus, third baseman Anthony Giachin and Martin were a combined 8-for-14 with five RBIs and four runs scored.
“Their starter was excellent as far as being able to throw fastballs up and sliders down, andwe didn’t really adjust to that too well,” Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos said.
Navy had claimed the Star series with Army three straight seasons, but could not make it a clean sweep for the seniors.
“I think that’s always on our mind. It’s part of what we do,” Kostacopoulos said of
earning a Star. “We’ve got to shake it off. We have a big part of our season left as far as the playoffs. We have some work to do this week to improve on some things. We need to playwell nextweek and rampit up for the tournament.”
Navy (30-14,15-6) still holds first place in the Patriot League, two games ahead of Army. The Midshipmen close out conference action next weekend with home doubleheaders against Lehigh on Saturday and Lafayette on Sunday.
Navy starter JaredLeins struggled inthe first inning, giving up a one-out double down the left field line to Drake then walking Giachin, the No. 3 hitter. Martin, the cleanup hitter, singled to right — scoring Drake and advancing Giachin to third. Sophomore left fielder Andre Walden then delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Giachin and give the Black Knights an early 2-0 lead.
The Midshipmen tied the score with a second inning rally that began when catcher Christian Hodge reached on a throwing error and designated hitter Liam Lowery walked. Messina induced a pop out and fly out to give himself a chance of escaping then hit right fielderRyan Duffey to load the bases.
Freshman center fielder Joe Simourian came through in the clutch, smacking a sharp single up the middle to drive in Hodge and Lowery.
After three scoreless innings, Army sent nine batters to the plate and erupted for five runs to break the game open. Junior first baseman John McKenna got things going with a single through the right side and Walden followed with a single down the third base line.
Catcher Blake Ledoux laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners and thatwas all for freshman relief pitcher Trent Topping. Kostacopoulos brought in Trey Braithwaite, who got designate hitter Jeremiah Adams to foul out to the catcher. However, the sophomore right-hander hit the next batter to load the bases and bring up Hurtubise, who made solid contact with a 2-2 fastball to giveArmy the lead for good.
“Thatwas tough. They did a good job of hitting in the clutch,” Kostacopoulos said of the decisive inning. “The big pitch came when we were 1-2 on the ninth batter and we hit him. Thenwe got back to the top of the order and you’re going to be facing better hitters.
“That ninth hitter is the guy we needed to get.”
Drake’s single up the middle made it 5-2 and things got worse when a strikeout did not produce the third out.
Giachin chased what wound up as a wild pitch and reached first base as a result while Hurtubise scored the sixth run. Martin then singled to center to plate Drake and deflate the home fans at Bishop Stadium.
Navy loaded the bases in its half of the sixth inning, but came up empty when senior lefty reliever Sam Opp struck out Simourian swinging.
The Midshipmen did get three runs back off Opp with two outs in the eighth. Pinch hitter Christian Policelli came through with a single to left that scored Liam Lowery, who had walked and reached second on awild pitch.
Opp was clearly losing his control as he then hit pinch hitter Matt Wolff. Simourian singled to left-center to score Policelli and Opp promptly hit another batter to load the bases. Shortstop Michael Coritz drew awalk to drive in another run and suddenly itwas 7-5.
Army head coach Jim Foster summoned sophomore right-hander Harry Flannery fromthe bullpen and his first two pitches were in the dirt. Standout second baseman Zach Biggers was taking all the way on the next two pitches and thatwas a mistake as Flannery threw strikes right down the middle.
Flannery then got Biggers swinging on the next pitch to prevent Navy from possibly tying or taking the lead. Flannery then set the Mids down in order in the ninth — getting a weak ground out by Hodge, striking out Liam Lowery looking and inducing a lazy fly to right by first baseman Zach Stevens.
“We had the bases loaded with theNo. 3 hitter at the plate so we gave ourselves a chance to win. To their credit, they pitched well in the clutch,” said Kostacopoulas, who felt the third pitch to Biggerswas also a ball. “That was up in the zone and it’s tough to pull the trigger on a fastball that’s up.”