Saturday, April 3
Annapolis, Md.
1 p.m.
Lehigh University
8-6, 5-1
5
at
1
Navy
6-2, 2-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Lehigh
0
1
0
0
0
2
2
5
8
3
Navy
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
0
Photo by: Lisa Stamford
Lehigh dominates Game One, splits Saturday with Navy on the road
4/3/2021 10:42:00 PM | Baseball
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A two home run day for freshman Andrew Nole and another strong effort on the mound for junior Mason Black helped guide the Lehigh baseball team to victory over Navy in Game 1, but the Midshipmen took care of business late in the second game, despite a ninth-inning rally by the Mountain Hawks to hold on for the win Saturday at Max Bishop Stadium.
The Mountain Hawks (8-7, 5-2 PL) held their own for the whole day against the Mids (7-2, 3-2 PL), rallying with two outs in the ninth of the second game, heading into the rubber match on Sunday with a ton of momentum. Black matched up with Navy ace Charlie Connolly and the duel had shades of the classic Levi Stoudt-Noah Song battle during the 2019 season, the last time Lehigh visited Annapolis.
"Game 1 was just a classic two aces going at it type of game and usually one swing of a bat changes a game and today it was two swings," said head coach Sean Leary. "Andrew Nole had two monster home runs off of [Connolly]. To the credit of our number one [Black], once he got the lead he was awesome."
Nole got the scoring going in the top of the second inning for the Mountain Hawks, a solo shot to right field for his first career homer, putting Lehigh out in front, 1-0.
After Navy tied the game at 1 on an error in the bottom half of the inning, Adam Retzbach and Mason Black made an incredible defensive play to oust the Navy baserunner at home for the first out.
The score remained tied until the top of the sixth when Nole came through again, a two-run homer to right to lift Lehigh back in front, 3-1.
Junior Joe Gorla tacked on two more runs in the seventh on a two-RBI triple to right center to give the Mountain Hawks a pair of insurance runs at 5-1.
Black shut the door in the bottom of the inning, striking out two of the final three batters to earn his third victory of the season. Coming off a Patriot League Pitcher of the Week performance against Lafayette, Black finished with his second straight complete game, striking out 10 Midshipmen, while allowing just a run, none earned on four hits with two walks. In six starts this season, Black is 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA. He's struck out 54 batters and walked just 10 in 35.1 innings.
"The fun part about what Mason is doing right now is that our team is starting to get to the point in the season where they have enough games and reps under their belt, that they are more comfortable with who they are and their identity as a team," said Leary. "When pitchers get to about 25 innings in a season, they just start to hit their stride. Mason has gotten better with each outing this year, especially in each of the last three weeks. He was really good against Bucknell, Lafayette and now Navy.
"We are 3-0 in Game 1's this year with Mason on the mound, which is 100 percent attributed to our ace."
The Mountain Hawks tallied eight hits in Game 1, two apiece for Nole and Quinn McKenna and then a single hit each for Eric Cichocki, Gerard Sweeney, Gorla and Adam Retzbach.
The victory for Lehigh snapped a 17-game home winning streak for Navy dating back to the tail end of the 2019 season.
The second game featured a lot of the same as the first, including solid pitching once again, as Matt Svanson pitched a solid outing, despite not factoring into the decision.
"Matt didn't have his best stuff on the mound today, but he was still able to give us six-plus strong innings," Leary said. "He just kept getting outs and getting big pitches where he needed them to go."
Joe Simourian scored first for Navy in the first inning on a wild pitch and from there, it was a pitcher's duel between Svanson and Tommy Goodridge.
Lehigh went out in front in the top of the seventh on an Eric Cichocki single to right center, scoring two runs to take a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Nav scored a two-RBI single to the same exact spot to go ahead, 3-2. Logan Keller scored on a fielder's choice in the eighth, doubling the advantage to 4-2.
The Mountain Hawks continued to fight in the top half of the ninth inning, as they went forth looking to score runs with two outs after the first two batters struck out swinging. A Quinn McKenna walk and Cichocki single put the two runners on as Joe Gorla was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Casey Rother, who played in left field for the first time this season, walked on four pitches, scoring McKenna to cut the deficit to 4-3 with two outs. A big swing from Adam Retzbach went foul, as the sophomore struck out swinging on three pitches to end the threat and the ballgame.
Cichocki, like he has been all season, was excellent going 2-for-5 with two RBIs. With three hits combined between the two games, Cichocki's hitting streak is now at 11 straight games. Nole, after homering twice in the first game, went 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored in the second game.
On the mound, Svanson pitched six innings, allowing a pair of earned runs and scattered five hits with five strikeouts and a pair of walks. Junior lefty Luke Rettig pitched the final two innings, allowing two runs on two hits with four walks and three strikeouts and was tagged with his second loss of the season.
"Late in the game, it didn't show up on the scoresheet, but we had like three plays today where we just didn't turn the double play or we had small defensive lapses," said Leary. "To Navy's credit, they followed those up with a two-run single and another run after that. We weren't as crisp defensively as we have been the last five or six games.
"But that's baseball. You gotta make big plays and late in the game today, we just didn't convert some plays we've been making. But overall, our pitching was the story today and have been the story all season. To hold the preseason No. 1 seed down on their home turf to three or four runs on the day is something we can be really proud of heading into tomorrow's game."
The Mountain Hawks return to J. David Walker Field on Sunday afternoon against Navy in the rubber match, looking for a series victory over the Midshipmen for the first time since winning the Patriot League Championship in 2015. Lehigh does not have a regular season series win over Navy since 2006.
Sunday's matchup will be streamed live on ESPN+ with first pitch set for 2 p.m. on Easter Sunday.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
The Mountain Hawks (8-7, 5-2 PL) held their own for the whole day against the Mids (7-2, 3-2 PL), rallying with two outs in the ninth of the second game, heading into the rubber match on Sunday with a ton of momentum. Black matched up with Navy ace Charlie Connolly and the duel had shades of the classic Levi Stoudt-Noah Song battle during the 2019 season, the last time Lehigh visited Annapolis.
"Game 1 was just a classic two aces going at it type of game and usually one swing of a bat changes a game and today it was two swings," said head coach Sean Leary. "Andrew Nole had two monster home runs off of [Connolly]. To the credit of our number one [Black], once he got the lead he was awesome."
Nole got the scoring going in the top of the second inning for the Mountain Hawks, a solo shot to right field for his first career homer, putting Lehigh out in front, 1-0.
After Navy tied the game at 1 on an error in the bottom half of the inning, Adam Retzbach and Mason Black made an incredible defensive play to oust the Navy baserunner at home for the first out.
The score remained tied until the top of the sixth when Nole came through again, a two-run homer to right to lift Lehigh back in front, 3-1.
Junior Joe Gorla tacked on two more runs in the seventh on a two-RBI triple to right center to give the Mountain Hawks a pair of insurance runs at 5-1.
Black shut the door in the bottom of the inning, striking out two of the final three batters to earn his third victory of the season. Coming off a Patriot League Pitcher of the Week performance against Lafayette, Black finished with his second straight complete game, striking out 10 Midshipmen, while allowing just a run, none earned on four hits with two walks. In six starts this season, Black is 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA. He's struck out 54 batters and walked just 10 in 35.1 innings.
"The fun part about what Mason is doing right now is that our team is starting to get to the point in the season where they have enough games and reps under their belt, that they are more comfortable with who they are and their identity as a team," said Leary. "When pitchers get to about 25 innings in a season, they just start to hit their stride. Mason has gotten better with each outing this year, especially in each of the last three weeks. He was really good against Bucknell, Lafayette and now Navy.
"We are 3-0 in Game 1's this year with Mason on the mound, which is 100 percent attributed to our ace."
The Mountain Hawks tallied eight hits in Game 1, two apiece for Nole and Quinn McKenna and then a single hit each for Eric Cichocki, Gerard Sweeney, Gorla and Adam Retzbach.
The victory for Lehigh snapped a 17-game home winning streak for Navy dating back to the tail end of the 2019 season.
The second game featured a lot of the same as the first, including solid pitching once again, as Matt Svanson pitched a solid outing, despite not factoring into the decision.
"Matt didn't have his best stuff on the mound today, but he was still able to give us six-plus strong innings," Leary said. "He just kept getting outs and getting big pitches where he needed them to go."
Joe Simourian scored first for Navy in the first inning on a wild pitch and from there, it was a pitcher's duel between Svanson and Tommy Goodridge.
Lehigh went out in front in the top of the seventh on an Eric Cichocki single to right center, scoring two runs to take a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Nav scored a two-RBI single to the same exact spot to go ahead, 3-2. Logan Keller scored on a fielder's choice in the eighth, doubling the advantage to 4-2.
The Mountain Hawks continued to fight in the top half of the ninth inning, as they went forth looking to score runs with two outs after the first two batters struck out swinging. A Quinn McKenna walk and Cichocki single put the two runners on as Joe Gorla was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Casey Rother, who played in left field for the first time this season, walked on four pitches, scoring McKenna to cut the deficit to 4-3 with two outs. A big swing from Adam Retzbach went foul, as the sophomore struck out swinging on three pitches to end the threat and the ballgame.
Cichocki, like he has been all season, was excellent going 2-for-5 with two RBIs. With three hits combined between the two games, Cichocki's hitting streak is now at 11 straight games. Nole, after homering twice in the first game, went 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored in the second game.
On the mound, Svanson pitched six innings, allowing a pair of earned runs and scattered five hits with five strikeouts and a pair of walks. Junior lefty Luke Rettig pitched the final two innings, allowing two runs on two hits with four walks and three strikeouts and was tagged with his second loss of the season.
"Late in the game, it didn't show up on the scoresheet, but we had like three plays today where we just didn't turn the double play or we had small defensive lapses," said Leary. "To Navy's credit, they followed those up with a two-run single and another run after that. We weren't as crisp defensively as we have been the last five or six games.
"But that's baseball. You gotta make big plays and late in the game today, we just didn't convert some plays we've been making. But overall, our pitching was the story today and have been the story all season. To hold the preseason No. 1 seed down on their home turf to three or four runs on the day is something we can be really proud of heading into tomorrow's game."
The Mountain Hawks return to J. David Walker Field on Sunday afternoon against Navy in the rubber match, looking for a series victory over the Midshipmen for the first time since winning the Patriot League Championship in 2015. Lehigh does not have a regular season series win over Navy since 2006.
Sunday's matchup will be streamed live on ESPN+ with first pitch set for 2 p.m. on Easter Sunday.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Black, Mason (3-1)
L: Connolly, Charlie (3-1)
Batting:
3B: Gorla, Joe 1
HR: Nole, Andrew 2
RBI: Gorla, Joe 2 ; Nole, Andrew 3
SH: Cichocki , Eric 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cichocki , Eric 1 ; Retzbach, Adam 1 ; Nole, Andrew 2 ; McKenna, Quinn 1
SB: Davis, Riley 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Policelli, Christian 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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OF
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LHP
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C
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1B/RHP
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RHP
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