Sunday, April 14
Bethlehem, PA.
10 a.m.

Lehigh University

15-20, 0

16
vs
4

Navy

27-12, 0

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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Navy
0
0
0
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0
0
0
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11
3
Lehigh
1
0
3
0
0
3
0
9
X
16
11
0
Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Rettig’s start, nine-run eighth propels Mountain Hawks over Navy, 16-4

4/14/2019 3:32:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — All Lehigh baseball's offense had to do on Sunday afternoon was stay patient in the batter's box and the hits would come. The Mountain Hawks (15-20, 4-9 PL) scored 16 runs on 11 hits including a nine-spot in the bottom of the eighth inning to take down first place Navy (27-12, 13-4 PL), 16-4 at J. David Walker Field.
 
The final game of the series this weekend was given to freshman Luke Rettig, who pitched as well as you could have asked him to, en route to his first career collegiate win. The sinewy left-hander threw 6 2/3 innings of seven-hit ball, allowing just two earned runs, while walking one and striking out five batters. On 94 pitches, Rettig turned the game over to sophomore righty Matt Svanson, who closed the game out for the final 2 1/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits with two walks and one strikeouts.  
"We were disappointed yesterday just because we played well enough to win and we didn't get that one clutch hit," said head coach Sean Leary. "But the only thing we could focus on this morning was winning this game and Luke Rettig set a tone that first inning. I give a ton of credit to Luke today."
 
"He went out and goes 1-2-3, just confidently attacked the zone and I know our offense came on strong, but he gave us that energy right off the bat."
 
The Mountain Hawks struck first in the bottom of the first inning with a Ryan Malloy sacrifice fly to score Mike Maguire, but the scoring started to really go in Lehigh's favor in the bottom of the third behind Tyler Schreiner's bases clearing, three-RBI double down the right field line, scoring Matt Hand, Quinn McKenna and Jeff Shanfeldt to put the Mountain Hawks in front, 4-0. "We always talk about that 'one big hit' and Tyler Schreiner got us started today," said Leary. "And then once we got past that, I feel like we do really well when we build a lead and our guys are relaxed."
 
Lehigh was kept off the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth inning, following a two-RBI double through the left side for Zach Stevens and Navy that cut the lead to 4-2. Freshman Gerard Sweeney singled to left field, scoring Maguire to make it 5-2. Quinn McKenna's SAC-bunt ended up scoring Sweeney to extend the lead to 6-2, while Shanfeldt scored after an error by Navy's catcher on a dropped third strike to Hand. Lehigh went into the seventh inning with what was a commanding 7-2 lead over the Midshipmen.  
Stevens' single up the middle allowed the Mids to get another run across, now 7-3 Lehigh.
 
The eighth inning was a good one for Lehigh, as the Mountain Hawks had their biggest single offensive performance of the season in that inning alone.
 
Ryan Malloy started it all off with a double to left field, advancing Shanfeldt to third base and scoring Sweeney.  
Quinn McKenna doubled to left field, scoring both Malloy and Shanfeldt to push Lehigh out in front now 10-3.  
Tony Gallo came in to play first base replacing Thomas Schumacher and his at-bat was a great one, singling to left center, scoring McKenna to take an 11-3 lead.  
Sweeney singled to right field, scoring both Gallo and Hand to make it 13-3.  
With two runners on, Jeff Shanfeldt had another opportunity to damage off Patriot League pitching, hitting a bomb to left field, swatting his fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot to give the Mountain Hawks a 16-3 lead heading into the top of the ninth inning.  
"Our approach in that inning was wonderful because guys were willing to work a walk and pass on to the next guy and in the course of the last couple innings, I think we had Malloy with a big hit, then Quinn with a two-run double and Maguire was on-base five times," Leary said. "It's great to see all the home runs and Jeff certainly had a great game, but I actually looked at his first at-bats that were as quality as anything.
 
"Jeff does everything the right way and that's asked to be done and he's shown great leadership in everything that he does for us."
 
Navy got a run back in the ninth, but Lehigh held on for the 16-4 victory, closing out the tough series with the Midshipmen on a high note, heading into Wednesday's single game with Lafayette on a very high note.
 
Three Mountain Hawks had multi-hit games and four different players had three-RBI performances. Every player in the starting lineup walks at least one time except for Malloy and Eric Cichocki, who four players had two or more walks in the game for a grand team total of 12 on the day against five of Navy's seven pitchers used.
 
Mike Maguire went 3-for-4 from the lead-off spot, with a triple, three runs scored and two walks. Gerard Sweeney went 2-for-4 with three runs scored, three RBIs, two walks and a stolen base, while Quinn McKenna went 1-for-3 with a double, two runs scored, three RBIs, a walk and a SAC-bunt. Ryan Malloy had a two-hit game once again with a double and two RBIs. Matt Hand didn't get a hit, but had a SAC-bunt and walked twice with two runs scored.
 
Tyler Schreiner started all the scoring early on with his three-RBI double, finishing 1-for-4 with three RBIs and a walk. Tony Gallo went 1-for-1 with an RBI-single.
 
Jeff Shanfeldt may have had just one hit on the afternoon, a big three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to cap a nine-spot, but he did all the little things in a 1-for-3 day, with four runs scored, three RBIs, three walks and a stolen base, just the second of his career. His three walks ties a season-high.  
The Mountain Hawks gain ground with the win, still three games behind fourth-place Lafayette with a chance to make it two on Wednesday.
 
"We've played so many close games and unfortunately haven't put ourselves in a great position record-wise so far," said Leary. "But honestly, we control our fate. We have a playoff game with Lafayette on Wednesday. We have to beat those guys head-to-head because we gotta catch them to make the tournament.
 
"Our focus if we can play well on Wednesday, we can put that fate back into our hands a little bit more."
 
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
 
Gallery: (4/14/2019) Baseball vs. Navy, 4/14/19

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Lafayette
W, 12-1

Apr 17 (Wed)

3 p.m.
Box ScoreRecapWatchPreviewLive stats History
Full Schedule

Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Rettig, Luke (1-2)

L: Connolly, Charlie (3-3)

Navy

Batting:

2B: Lowery, Liam 1 ; Stevens, Zach 1

RBI: Coritz, Michael 1 ; Stevens, Zach 3

Base Running:

RUNS: Wilcox, Matthew 1 ; Hodge, Christian 2 ; Lowery, Liam 1

HBP: Biggers, Zach 1

Lehigh LogoLehigh

Batting:

2B: Malloy, Ryan 1 ; McKenna, Quinn 1 ; Schreiner, Tyler 1

3B: Maguire, Mike 1

HR: Shanfeldt, Jeff 1

RBI: Sweeney, Gerard 3 ; Shanfeldt, Jeff 3 ; Malloy, Ryan 2 ; McKenna, Quinn 3 ; Schreiner, Tyler 3 ; Gallo, Tony 1

SH: McKenna, Quinn 1 ; Hand, Matt 1

SF: Malloy, Ryan 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Maguire, Mike 3 ; Sweeney, Gerard 3 ; Shanfeldt, Jeff 4 ; Malloy, Ryan 1 ; McKenna, Quinn 2 ; Hand, Matt 2 ; Gallo, Tony 1

SB: Maguire, Mike 1 ; Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Shanfeldt, Jeff 1

Game Leaders

10

Mike Maguire

cf
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
0
3

Gerard Sweeney

3b
AB
4
R
3
H
2
RBI
3
29

Ryan Malloy

lf
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
23

Jeff Shanfeldt

c
AB
3
R
4
H
1
RBI
3

Players Mentioned

19

Eric Cichocki

IF
/ Baseball
32

Tony Gallo

1B/2B
/ Baseball
11

Matt Hand

SS/RHP
/ Baseball
10

Mike Maguire

OF
/ Baseball
29

Ryan Malloy

OF
/ Baseball
35

Quinn McKenna

OF
/ Baseball
37

Luke Rettig

LHP
/ Baseball
31

Tyler Schreiner

OF
/ Baseball
34

Matt Svanson

RHP
/ Baseball
3

Gerard Sweeney

3B
/ Baseball

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