Thursday, May 27
Bethlehem, Pa.
12 p.m.
Lehigh University
24-18
3
vs
1
Army West Point (Championship)
27-23
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Army West Point
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
1
Lehigh
2
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
X
3
4
3
Photo by: Hannahally Photography
Lehigh, Army split doubleheader; Black Knights claim Patriot League title
5/27/2021 8:20:00 PM | Baseball
Mountain Hawks end season at 24-19, regular season champions
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Able to take the second game of the series and first of the afternoon thanks to a dominant outing out of right-hander Matt Svanson, the Lehigh baseball team came up a game short of realizing a dream, as Army West Point claimed the Patriot League title after taking game three, 6-1 at J. David Walker Field at Legacy Park. The Black Knights earn the championship and NCAA regional berth for a third straight season.
Svanson was fantastic, as he was all season long, in the first game of the day going nearly the distance, eight strong innings allowing just one earned run on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts. He did so on 133 pitches, by far his longest start of the year.
Army West Point struck first on an error on Svanson with two outs after an errant throw made it a 1-0 game.
Lehigh answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning after Eric Cichocki scored on a wild pitch and Adam Retzbach singled in Casey Rother to pull ahead, 2-1.
Gerard Sweeney's RBI groundout in the fourth scored Tyler Young and Svanson did the rest of the work to maintain and secure the Mountain Hawks' 3-1 victory to force a winner-take-all game three.
Sophomore Will Grisack pitched the final inning to earn his first save of the season.
Lehigh recorded just four hits as a team, one each for both Retzbach and Young and two for Riley Davis.
It was all Army West Point from the very beginning of the second game, led off by a Tim Simoes sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning to push the Black Knights ahead, 1-0.
Army scored two in the second on a bases loaded walk and another sac-fly to take a 3-0 lead against left-hander Luke Rettig.
In the top of the fifth, Nick Manesis reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Kevin Dubrule to take a 4-0 lead.
Lehigh got a run back in the bottom of the field after Casey Rother brought in Eric Cichocki on a sac-fly, cutting the deficit to 4-1.
Ross Friedrick added two insurance runs to Army's total on a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Sam Wurth, giving the Black Knights a 6-1 cushion, as pitching retired the Mountain Hawks in order in the bottom of the ninth to clinch the title.
Cichocki went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, while Rother went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Gerard Sweeney, Matt Svanson and Joe Gorla were named to the Patriot League All-Tournament team, while Army West Point's Ross Friedrick was named Patriot League Tournament MVP.
Lehigh concludes the 2021 campaign with a 24-19 overall record after securing a 17-10 mark in Patriot League play and the regular season title for the first time since 2006.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Svanson was fantastic, as he was all season long, in the first game of the day going nearly the distance, eight strong innings allowing just one earned run on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts. He did so on 133 pitches, by far his longest start of the year.
Army West Point struck first on an error on Svanson with two outs after an errant throw made it a 1-0 game.
Lehigh answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning after Eric Cichocki scored on a wild pitch and Adam Retzbach singled in Casey Rother to pull ahead, 2-1.
Gerard Sweeney's RBI groundout in the fourth scored Tyler Young and Svanson did the rest of the work to maintain and secure the Mountain Hawks' 3-1 victory to force a winner-take-all game three.
Sophomore Will Grisack pitched the final inning to earn his first save of the season.
Lehigh recorded just four hits as a team, one each for both Retzbach and Young and two for Riley Davis.
It was all Army West Point from the very beginning of the second game, led off by a Tim Simoes sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning to push the Black Knights ahead, 1-0.
Army scored two in the second on a bases loaded walk and another sac-fly to take a 3-0 lead against left-hander Luke Rettig.
In the top of the fifth, Nick Manesis reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Kevin Dubrule to take a 4-0 lead.
Lehigh got a run back in the bottom of the field after Casey Rother brought in Eric Cichocki on a sac-fly, cutting the deficit to 4-1.
Ross Friedrick added two insurance runs to Army's total on a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Sam Wurth, giving the Black Knights a 6-1 cushion, as pitching retired the Mountain Hawks in order in the bottom of the ninth to clinch the title.
Cichocki went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, while Rother went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Gerard Sweeney, Matt Svanson and Joe Gorla were named to the Patriot League All-Tournament team, while Army West Point's Ross Friedrick was named Patriot League Tournament MVP.
Lehigh concludes the 2021 campaign with a 24-19 overall record after securing a 17-10 mark in Patriot League play and the regular season title for the first time since 2006.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Svanson, Matt (4-4)
L: Buecker, Robbie (3-4)
S: Grisack, Will (1)
Batting:
SH: Dubrule, Kevin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Meade, Hunter 1
SB: Simoes, Tim 1
HBP: Friedrick, Ross 1
Batting:
RBI: Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Retzbach, Adam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cichocki , Eric 1 ; Rother, Casey 1 ; Young, Tyler 1
SB: Davis, Riley 1
HBP: Cichocki , Eric 1 ; Gorla, Joe 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ BaseballIF
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RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
1B/RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
IF
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