Sunday, May 16
Bethlehem, Pa.
1 p.m.
Lehigh University
23-17
5
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Navy (Semifinals)
17-15
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Navy
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Lehigh
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Photo by: Justin Lafleur
Mountain Hawks spin 5-0 shutout of Navy to advance to Championship Series
5/16/2021 7:37:00 PM | Baseball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Needing just one win to advance to the Patriot League Championship series for the first time since 2015, the Lehigh baseball team got a spectacular outing out of junior left-hander Luke Rettig, who threw seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits with eight strikeouts. The Mountain Hawks (23-17) downed Navy, 5-0 at J. David Walker Field at Legacy Park to clinch the 2-1 semifinal series victory.
"I think the most impressive thing is that we came out with the same mindset as yesterday," said head coach Sean Leary. "It was a tough late inning loss and the guys show up and were pretty steady. We go high, we come out pretty steady. We have a low point and come out pretty steady as well.
"Our MVP had a rough day yesterday and I called a team meeting before today's game and said that our team MVP [Mike Garzillo] went 0-for-8 back in 2015 and hit a three-run home run to win the game. I don't know if that's prophetic, but [Casey] Rother did it. We also had a guy throw a complete game shutout and Luke [Rettig] essentially did the same kind of thing and put us on the road to a shutout. That was the story, he set the tempo early and our guys stayed resilient through the rest of it."
With the offense sputtering and scoring just one run in the nightcap on Saturday, the bats got back to work and provided a major spark early in the contest, getting the big inning in the bottom of the third by scoring five runs to take a 5-0 lead.
Junior Casey Rother's bat was the story in the third inning, who delivered a game-winning hit, a powerful three-run shot to left field to give the Mountain Hawks the 3-0 lead. The homer was Rother's sixth of the season, which ties him for the team lead.
Rettig's quality start and his defense backing him up throughout was the recipe for the success all day long as the Mountain Hawks made solid play after solid play to seal the victory. The Midshipmen ended up leaving eight runners on base in the contest and Rettig was excellent, evident by his 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth with two straight strikeouts and great plays with the glove from Tyler Young and Joe Gorla.
After Rettig left the game after the seventh on 117 pitches, sophomore Will Grisack continued his dominance out of the pen with two scoreless frames, allowing just two hits with a strikeout. In three straight appearances, Grisack has not allowed an earned run.
The pitching did its job, especially in the late innings when Navy pitching was so dominant. Zach Powers threw five scoreless innings of relief, striking out three and allowing just two hits.
The Mountain Hawks tallied three doubles as a squad and one homer from Rother as Andrew Nole led the way with a 2-for-4 afternoon and an RBI two-bagger. Eric Cichocki had a hit and was hit once while Tyler Young was hit twice to get on base in critical situations.
"I think the extra days off will just give us more time to re-calibrate," said Leary. "This was an emotional series in the middle of finals. We're exhausted and put it all on the line. If we come back Friday five days from now, we would've been fine, but I didn't make the decision to push the series back and now that we know that, we'll take full advantage of it.
"We'll actually shut down for a couple of days, let them finish up tests and get back after it on Wednesday."
A series victory over the Black Knights would clinch the Mountain Hawks their first Patriot League title since 2015, third overall and an NCAA Regional appearance.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.Gallery: (5-16-2021) Baseball vs. Navy PL Semis Game 3, 5/16/21
"I think the most impressive thing is that we came out with the same mindset as yesterday," said head coach Sean Leary. "It was a tough late inning loss and the guys show up and were pretty steady. We go high, we come out pretty steady. We have a low point and come out pretty steady as well.
"Our MVP had a rough day yesterday and I called a team meeting before today's game and said that our team MVP [Mike Garzillo] went 0-for-8 back in 2015 and hit a three-run home run to win the game. I don't know if that's prophetic, but [Casey] Rother did it. We also had a guy throw a complete game shutout and Luke [Rettig] essentially did the same kind of thing and put us on the road to a shutout. That was the story, he set the tempo early and our guys stayed resilient through the rest of it."
With the offense sputtering and scoring just one run in the nightcap on Saturday, the bats got back to work and provided a major spark early in the contest, getting the big inning in the bottom of the third by scoring five runs to take a 5-0 lead.
Junior Casey Rother's bat was the story in the third inning, who delivered a game-winning hit, a powerful three-run shot to left field to give the Mountain Hawks the 3-0 lead. The homer was Rother's sixth of the season, which ties him for the team lead.
Freshman Andrew Nole followed up Rother's blast with an RBI double down the right field line, scoring Adam Retzbach to push Lehigh ahead, 4-0. And then with the bases loaded and two outs, freshman Riley Davis walked in Nole to push the lead to 5-0.A magician with the bat. They don't call him the MVP of the Patriot League for nothing. 💪
— Lehigh Baseball (@LehighBaseball) May 16, 2021
Casey Rother slides back into a tie for the team lead in homers with six in 2021.#GoLehigh | #RTTR pic.twitter.com/zZkHGMl8Db
Rettig's quality start and his defense backing him up throughout was the recipe for the success all day long as the Mountain Hawks made solid play after solid play to seal the victory. The Midshipmen ended up leaving eight runners on base in the contest and Rettig was excellent, evident by his 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth with two straight strikeouts and great plays with the glove from Tyler Young and Joe Gorla.
Gritty. Everything worked on this 1-2-3 double play, from Luke Rettig's instincts to the Gerard Sweeney's stretch at third.
— Lehigh Baseball (@LehighBaseball) May 16, 2021
Preserving the shutout at all costs.#GoLehigh | #RTTR pic.twitter.com/4kXHPk5FAe
After Rettig left the game after the seventh on 117 pitches, sophomore Will Grisack continued his dominance out of the pen with two scoreless frames, allowing just two hits with a strikeout. In three straight appearances, Grisack has not allowed an earned run.
The pitching did its job, especially in the late innings when Navy pitching was so dominant. Zach Powers threw five scoreless innings of relief, striking out three and allowing just two hits.
The Mountain Hawks tallied three doubles as a squad and one homer from Rother as Andrew Nole led the way with a 2-for-4 afternoon and an RBI two-bagger. Eric Cichocki had a hit and was hit once while Tyler Young was hit twice to get on base in critical situations.
Lehigh will host Army West Point starting Wednesday, May 26 at 2 p.m. and continuing on Thursday, May 27 and May 28 if necessary. All games will begin at 2 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.⚾️ @LehighBaseball is set to host the @PatriotLeague Championship Series after its Game 3 win over Navy on Sunday.@NCAACWS | @espn pic.twitter.com/Mp69dEwM2e
— Patriot League on ESPN (@PatriotLeagueTV) May 16, 2021
"I think the extra days off will just give us more time to re-calibrate," said Leary. "This was an emotional series in the middle of finals. We're exhausted and put it all on the line. If we come back Friday five days from now, we would've been fine, but I didn't make the decision to push the series back and now that we know that, we'll take full advantage of it.
"We'll actually shut down for a couple of days, let them finish up tests and get back after it on Wednesday."
A series victory over the Black Knights would clinch the Mountain Hawks their first Patriot League title since 2015, third overall and an NCAA Regional appearance.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Rettig, Luke (3-3)
L: Early, Reece (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Cichocki , Eric 1 ; Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Nole, Andrew 1
HR: Rother, Casey 1
RBI: Rother, Casey 3 ; Nole, Andrew 1 ; Davis, Riley 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cichocki , Eric 1 ; Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Rother, Casey 1 ; Retzbach, Adam 1 ; Nole, Andrew 1
HBP: Cichocki , Eric 1 ; Young, Tyler 2
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball1B/RHP
/ BaseballIF
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IF
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