Army touched Navy ace starter Noah Song for five runs in the first two innings en route to a 6-2 win in Game 1 of the Patriot League championship series.
Meanwhile, Navy’s offense was limited to just two hits by Army starter Sam Messina and two relievers. Junior shortstop Michael Coritz singled while freshman first baseman Zach Stevens doubled.
Coritz scored a run while senior designated hitter Liam Lowery had the lone RBI for Navy (38-16).
The Black Knights jumped on Song early with five runs on six hits and a walk over the first two innings. Anthony Giachin drove in the first five runs of the game for Army with a two-RBI single in the first inning and a three-RBI double in the second.
Song struggled with his command and also had two wild pitches.
After falling behind by two runs after the top of the first inning, the Midshipmen loaded the bases with no outs, but where only able to get one run across on a sacrifice fly by Lowery.
Navy loaded the bases for a second time in the third inning without recording a hit. Liam Lowery grounded into a double play to bring home a run, but the rally was extinguished after the one run came in to score.
Pitching on both sides settled down as the next five innings went by without a run scoring and Army still holding a three-run lead.
Navy’s second hit came in the sixth inning on a two-out double by Stevens, who was stranded at third base to end the frame.
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In the top of the ninth inning, Army tacked on a run with a bases-loaded walk to increase the lead to 6-2. Navy went down in order in the home half of the ninth inning.
Song (11-1) suffered his first loss of the season after giving up five runs on nine hits and a walk in seven innings of work. Song struck out 11 hitters to run his season total to 161.
Messina (7-4) earned his third win of the season against Navy after allowing two runs -- one earned -- on two hits and four walks.
“Army threw a large majority of fastballs and we need to get shorter to the ball and play to the opposite gap more,” head coach Paul Kostacopoulos said.
“We also have to not miss pitches and not foul them back, not swing through them. We had some quality swings with good contact and the intent was there but we just did not produce,” Kostacopoulos added.
“We had a couple of opportunities with the bases loaded and we only got two runs out of it. That is when you need to slash a gap to get back in the ballgame. We had the chances but could not take advantage of them and Army settled in.”
Game two of the championship series is set for Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.