Sunday, May 11
West Point, N.Y.
1:00 PM
Lehigh University
3
vs
1
Army
Lehigh beats Army 3-1 to advance to Patriot League Championship
5/11/2014 4:55:00 PM | Baseball
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Lehigh senior relief pitchers Nick Cassell and Joey McNamara held two-time defending champion Army scoreless for the final seven innings of the deciding game of the Patriot League semifinal series to lead the Mountain Hawks to a 3-1 win over the Black Knights Sunday at Doubleday Field.
With the win, the Mountain Hawks (25-22) advance to their first Patriot League Championship series since 2006 and will head to top-seeded host Bucknell Friday and Saturday.
"Cassell and McNamara took the lead and pitched outstanding," said head coach Sean Leary. "We talked about senior leadership before the series and they expemplified that to the fullest today. Nick and Joey were certainly the story of the game and I couldn't be more proud of the whole team."
"Nick gave us a strong five innings that really gave the whole team confidence," said McNamara. "Our defense did a great job as well today and we just tried to remain calm and get the job done."
Cassell entered to start the third inning in a 1-1 tie and kept the Black Knights scoreless for five frames to earn his fifth win of the season. McNamara kept Army hitless for the final two innings and picked up his third save of the season.
Offensively, freshman Patrick Donnelly went 3-for-4 with two RBI, while sophomore Mike Garzillo recorded Lehigh's other RBI.
After a scoreless first inning, junior John Elson drew a walk to lead off the second. Senior Tyler Brong sent a double into the left field corner as Elson tried to score but was thrown out at the plate. Donnelly smacked a two-out double to left center to score Brong and give the Mountain Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Freshman Matt Kozemchak pitched the first two innings for Lehigh before Cassell came in and sat the Black Knights down in order in the third. Elson and Brong sent back-to-back singles up the middle to open the fourth before junior Connor Faust moved them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Donnelly stepped up once again and ripped a single through the left side as Elson came home and gave the Mountain Hawks a 2-1 lead.
Cassell got out of a two-on jam in the bottom of the fourth with a strikeout of Mescher before Lehigh struck again in the top of the fifth. Pacchioli was hit by a pitch and then stole second before Garzillo ripped a single up the middle to bring home Lehigh's third run. The hit ousted Army starting pitcher Gunnar Carroll as Brian Hapeman came on in relief and sat down the final two Mountain Hawks to keep the Lehigh lead at 3-1.
In the eighth, Cassell issued a leadoff walk before giving way to McNamara. Cassell finished with an impressive line of no runs, three hits and four strikeouts in five innings of relief work. McNamara got Jacob Page to flyout before Matt McCants grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to keep the Lehigh lead at 3-1 going to the ninth.
Hapeman allowed a double from Garzillo in the top of the ninth, but kept the Mountain Hawks scoreless. A Lehigh error put a runner on first with one out in the top of the ninth, but McNamara got Mescher to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to secure the 3-1 win.
The Mountain Hawks head to Bucknell Friday and Saturday to face the top-seeded Bison in a best-of-three Patriot League Championship series. It's Lehigh's first championship appearance since 2006 when the Mountain Hawks beat the Bison to earn the program's first league title.
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