Army Baseball Wins Dramatic Patriot League Tournament Series Over Navy

The Army West Point Black Knights baseball team rallied from a game down to claim their best-of-three Patriot League semifinal tournament series over the Navy Midshipmen.

Army won both games of Sunday’s doubleheader. The Black Knights won the second games, 13-2, to force a third and decisive game. In the nightcap, Army won, 6-5, in 10 innings.

The Black Knights (25-23) advance to the championship series next weekend against Holy Cross, which needed three games to eliminate Lehigh. Navy (26-25) is likely done for the season, unless the Midshipmen receive an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Navy won the first game, 18-11, on Saturday. Going into Sunday, the Midshipmen were 5-1 in meetings with the Black Knights this season.

How Army Beat Navy on Sunday

In the first game on Sunday, Chris Barr blew up at the plate, as he drove in four runs to help fuel the Black Knights’ victory. Barr, oddly, got Army its first baserunner on a bunt single as they were down 1-0.

From there, Army’s offense was a runaway train that supported starting pitcher Justin Lehman (5-4), who threw 142 pitchers in the victory.

The finale went 10 innings, and Navy had a chance to walk it off in the ninth. But, with the game tied at 5-5, Army broke it with a run in the top half of the frame.

Lehman, now in the field, drew a leadoff walk and then moved to second on a single by Michael Delph. John McKillop then drew a walk and Coleson Titus’ fielder’s choice groundout led to a Lehman force out at the plate. But it still left the bases loaded for Thomas Schreck, who drew a walk and brought home the winning run.

Navy was unable to tie or take the lead in the bottom half of the frame.

Game 1 on Saturday was a complete slugfest. Navy set a Patriot League Championship record, scoring 11 runs in the eighth inning to claim the victory. At one point, the Mids trailed by five runs but scored five runs in the sixth inning and then exploded for the 11 runs in the eighth to claim the victory.

Navy’s offense was led by second baseman Brock Murtha, who went 4-for-5 with five RBI. Outfielder Mason Ceccarelli went 2-for-4 with three runs, two walks and a double. Third baseman Evan Brown went 2-for-4 with three RBI and one run scored.

Army catcher Jack Quinlan went 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI and one run scored. Third baseman Coleson Titus and Schreck drove in three runs each.

Patriot League Semifinal Series (Best of 3)

No. 4 Lehigh at No. 1 Holy Cross

Game 1: Holy Cross 10, Lehigh 1

Game 2: Lehigh7, Holy Cross 2

Game 3: Holy Cross 19, Lehigh 9

No. 3 Army West Point at No. 2 Navy

Game 1: Navy 18, Army 11

Game 2: Army 13, Navy 2

Game 3: Army 6, Navy 5 (10 innings)