Navy Sweeps Lehigh in Closely Contested League Series

Sunday, April 16

Bethlehem, PA

12 p.m.

Lehigh University

11-23, 2-9

United States Naval Academy

28-12, 9-2

Navy

Lehigh

Navy Sweeps Lehigh in Closely Contested League Series

4/16/2017 7:28:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Mountain Hawks ended up on the losing end of a Sunday sweep with another doubleheader loss to Navy on Sunday on their home field as the Midshipmen swept the four-game Patriot League series.

Lehigh (11-24, 2-10) suffered heartbreak again in game one as Navy (29-12, 10-2) captured its third-straight one-run victory in the series with a 1-0 win. The two teams traded blows right out of the gate in game two, but the Mids continued to deliver blows with the long ball and capitalized on Lehigh defensive blunders to clinch an 11-5 victory and seal the series sweep.

Navy scored the lone run in game one in the sixth inning. Logan Knowles reached base on a one-out single and advanced to third after Travis Blue reached on a Lehigh error. Knowles came in to score as Stephen Born grounded out to second.

Lehigh made an attempt at a comeback in the bottom of the seventh. John Scarr drew a one-out walk and was replaced at first base by pinch runner Stephen Fitzgerald. The next batter up was Chris Kersey who roped a double to right center. Fitzgerald headed for home to score the tying run, but he was thrown out at the plate after an efficient relay from right field. The Mids managed to get out of the inning unscathed and sealed the win with a game-ending ground out.

Levi Stoudt started Sunday's game one and tossed a complete game. The freshman did not allow an earned run and surrendered just three hits while striking out three batters.

Kyle Condry collected the win for Navy and improves to 4-1 on the season. Condry tossed 6.1 scoreless innings while surrendering three hits and struck out two batters.

The Mountain Hawks held the league's top offense and one of the nation's best offenses to a season-low one run scored on a season-low three hits in game one on Sunday. Through the first three games of the series, LU held Navy to just 2.00 runs per game on 5.00 hits per game and a .163 batting average. Entering the weekend, the Mids ranked sixth in the nation with a .317 batting average while averaging a league-best 7.70 runs per game on a league-leading 10.86 hits per game.

Game two began trading blows in the first inning. Blue delivered the blow for Navy with a two-run homer to left field. Connor Donovan contributed to Lehigh's first run with a deep sacrifice fly to right field. Jeff Shanfeldt tacked on the second run in the bottom half of the inning with a RBI single through the left side.

The Mids went back to the long ball in the third inning as Evan Lowery and Jacob Williamson recorded back-to-back opposite field solo home runs.

Navy found continued success with the long ball in the fifth with a three-run jack by Christian Hodge to break open a six-run lead. Lehigh answered back in the bottom half of the fifth when David Young hit a three-run shot of his own to cut the deficit to three.

Navy found great success with the long ball throughout the weekend. The Mids entered the series averaging 0.65 home runs per game, but more than doubled that average on the weekend with seven homers in four games for an average of 1.75 home runs per game.

Navy posted two more runs in the seventh inning to regain a six-run lead. Lehigh scattered three hits over the final three innings, none of which produced any scoring.

The Mountain Hawks face a steep uphill battle in the pursuit for one of the four Patriot League Tournament spots. Both Army and Bucknell are ahead of Lehigh in the standings with 7-5 league records. Lehigh has the opportunity to gain ground with remaining series against Lafayette and Army. The Black Knights will take on Navy prior to closing out their league schedule with Lehigh. The Bison own the tie breaker over LU, but face road trips to Holy Cross and Navy to finish their league slate.

Prior to their showdown with archrival Lafayette next weekend, the Mountain Hawks will square off against Iona at J. David Walker Field on Tuesday at 3 p.m.