The Navy Midshipmen baseball team (9-10, 2-1 PL) and Bucknell Bison (6-11, 1-2 PL) split a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The Midshipmen claimed the first game with a 7-6 walk-off victory on Henry Mitchell’s home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, while the Bison took the second game 17-4 behind Anthony Sherwin’s four hits and six RBI.
In the first game, both teams combined for five home runs and six hitters with multi-hit performances. The highlight of the game was Mitchell’s walk-off solo shot in the seventh inning, which secured the win for Navy. Brock Murtha also had a solid game with two hits and three RBIs, including his first Navy homer and his first win on the mound. Despite loading the bases with no outs in the first inning, Navy’s Matthew Shirah battled back to hold the Bison to just one run in the opening frame. Shirah struck out a career-high seven batters in just four innings of work.
In the second game, Bucknell used 14 hits to score 17 runs off the Navy bullpen. Sherwin led the way for the Bison with four hits and six RBIs, while Navy’s Liam Golden went four innings, allowing four hits and three runs (one earned) with four strikeouts.
Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos was pleased with his team’s offensive improvement in the first game, but emphasized the need for a short memory after the second game. “When you play 50 games, you’ve got to have a short memory sometimes – not all the time – but today’s a day you got to have a short memory because we’ve got to be back on the field tomorrow morning for game four of the series,” he said.
Navy and Bucknell will play the fourth game of their Patriot League series on Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
Game notes: Navy’s three home runs in the first game is the most by the Mids in a single game since tallying four homers on April 26, 2022 at Maryland. Navy’s last walk-off was a RBI single by Alex Smith on April 17 against Lehigh. The last walk-off home run for Navy came on May 22, 2016 in the Patriot League championship series against Holy Cross, when Stephen Born hit a solo shot in the 10th inning.