Navy Claims Star From Baseball

Saturday, April 25

West Point, N.Y.

3:00 PM

Army West Point

19-22, 5-13

Navy

31-16, 12-6

Navy

Army West Point

Navy Claims Star From Baseball

April 25, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

April 25, 2015

Box Score | Box Score (PDF)

WEST POINT, N.Y. - After holding on for a 2-1 victory in game one, the Navy baseball team took game two of Saturday's doubleheader from Army West Point by a 5-3 final. By virtue of the twinbill sweep, Navy secured the baseball Star in the final Star Series matchup of 2014-15.

The setback dropped Army West Point to 19-22 in 2015 and 5-13 in the Patriot League, while Navy moved to 12-6 and 31-16 overall.

"It's good to get those opportunities with runners on base, but we have to take advantage of them," head coach Matt Reid said. "Navy played better than us today, but we have a new day tomorrow with two fresh games and we need to come out with the urgency we had in the end of both games today."

The Black Knights got on the board with a run in the bottom of the first inning, but Navy responded with three in the top of the second and added single runs in the third and fifth frames. The visitors took advantage of the long ball as Leland Saile and Sean Trent each hit solo home runs.

Navy starting pitcher George Coughlin tossed seven innings of two-run ball and allowed two first-inning hits. He punched out 10 and walked three and improved to 6-3 on the year.

Saile's solo blast started the scoring for the Mids in the second before Connor Deneen's triple immediately put a man in scoring position. A single over the head of Alex Jensen at shortstop put Navy in the lead at 2-1 and a walk by Army West Point starter Patrick Gardner gave the visitors a pair of baserunners with one out. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners up a base and Julian Larimer was called into action from the bullpen. A wild pitch let Navy increase the advantage to 3-1.

Larimer pitched 5.1 innings and conceded an unearned run in the third and Trent's homer in the fifth. The senior right-hander allowed three hits, struck out four and walked one batter.

Gardner (2-4) was charged with the loss in his 1.2 innings on the hill. All three runs were earned and he fanned two and walked one. Brock Davidson sent Navy down in order with a 1-2-3 eighth, including a strikeout, to keep the deficit at four.

A full count walk by Coughlin to Brandon Lee at the start of the eighth ended a string of 11 consecutive outs by the right-hander. His day was complete after the free pass, as Jett Meenach came into the contest. Johnny Griffith greeted him by going the opposite way to move Lee up to second before Jon Rosoff drew a walk to load the bases. The tying run came up to the plate in the form of Harold Earls, who delivered a sacrifice fly to deep right. Trailing 5-2, Ben Smith legged out an infield single to score Griffith, but Mark McCants lined out to left field and Rosoff was doubled off of second to end the inning.

Davidson again came through with a perfect ninth, but Meenach closed the door with a scoreless ninth.

The series resumes on Sunday at 1 p.m. with doubleheaders consisting of seven and nine innings. The Army West Point baseball Class of 2015 will be honored in a pregame ceremony for Senior Day.

Game Notes: Shortstop Alex Jensen started the 200th game of his career ... Army West Point wore its gold jerseys with black numbers and letters, white pants and black caps ... Ben Smith recorded his 12th multi-hit game of the year.