Around the Bases: Nic Ready and Noah Song have record-setting weekends

Hard to believe Navy has already played 30 games this season. The Midshipmen have clearly benefited from cooperating weather while Air Force and Army have only played 24 and 27 games a piece. Either way, we are right in the thick of the baseball season. These teams will be battling for a regional berth in conference tournaments before you know it!

Navy (21-9, 9-2)

The Midshipmen are dominating Patriot League action and you have to look no further than their performance in Pennsylvania this weekend for proof. Navy swept Lafayette in Easton Saturday and Sunday by scoring an average of 15 runs per game and finished the week 4-0 after a midweek win over Georgetown.

Noah Song improved to 5-0 on the year in game one against Lafayette after giving up just one run on six hits and tallying 12 strikeouts to move to the top of the career strikeout list at Navy with 357 in his career.

Navy didn’t rely on just his pitching in the win though. Navy plated 10 runs in the 10-1 contest (all in the fourth inning) thanks to four team home-runs, one of which was a grand slam from Christian Hodge.

The bats didn’t stop connecting in game two as Navy scored 24 runs on 22 hits in the second game of the Saturday double header. The Midshipmen belted six home-runs in the game and scored at least one run in eight of the nine innings. Christian Hodge finished the day with four-home runs while Liam Lowery added three of his own.

Sunday proved to be more of the same for the Mids with Joe Simourian playing offensive hero going three for four with three runs. Trey Braithwaite picked up his third save of the year to secure the 11-9 win.

Up Next: Navy will host Coppin State (14-10) on Tuesday and take a short trip to Baltimore on Wednesday to take on UMBC (12-11). Navy finishes the weekend with a three game series at home against Holy Cross (7-22, 4-3).

Stat Leaders:

Zach Stevens - .415 avg; .536 obp (leads team in both categories)

Christian Hodge - 35 RBIs, 8 home-runs (leads team in both categories)

Noah Song - 1.54 ERA; 90 Ks, 5-0

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Army (15-12, 4-3)

The Black Knights picked up three wins over the past week which included a 2-1 conference series win over Bucknell and a midweek victory over Siena.

In the road contest against Siena, West Point utilized four pitchers with sophomore Ray Bartoli getting the win in just 2 ⅓ innings of work. Blake Ledoux went two for five and contributed three RBIs in the 6-1 non-conference win.

Army gathered a 4-0 lead through the first five innings of game one against Bucknell - thanks to yet another solid start from Tyler Giovinco. While the senior pitcher struggled in the seventh inning and was ultimately responsible for three runs, his complete work managed to earn him his fifth win of the year as the Black Knights hung on for the 4-3 win.

The bats came alive in game two as West Point knocked in 16 runs on just as many hits in a 16-9 win. Jacob Hurtubise, Josh White, and Trey Martin chipped in three hits a piece in the win. The Black Knights were not as fortunate in the final game of the series as the Bison used a four-run bottom of the ninth inning rally to pull out a stunning 7-6 come from behind win.

Up Next: Army will host Cornell (5-13) on Wednesday and will continue conference action this weekend when they host a three-game series against Lehigh (11-15, 2-5).

Stat Leaders:

Trey Martin - .342 avg; .608 slg (leads team in both categories)

Anthony Giachin - 34 hits; 27 RBIs (leads team in both categories)

Tyler Giovinco - 5-1, 2.60 ERA, 35 Ks

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Air Force (12-12, 4-3)

The Falcons put together a solid week winning three of five games over the past seven days including a 2-1 series win over Mountain West rival Nevada. Before traveling to Reno, Air Force split a two game midweek road series at Pacific.

After dropping their first game against the Tigers 5-3, the Falcons were able to cash in on a 10 hit and six run performance to defeat Pacific 6-2 on Wednesday evening. Luke Chilcutt picked up his first win of the year after giving up just one run in his on 3 ⅓ innings of work.

In MWC play, the Falcons dropped their first game against Nevada by a score of 4-3 after giving up a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning. While Air Force suffered their third loss in conference play, Nic Ready managed to give Falcons fans something to celebrate by breaking the Air Force career RBI record with his lone RBI in the contest, giving him 196 for his career.

Air Force used that momentum to close out the series with two wins. Matt Hargreaves pitched seven innings to earn the 8-2 win in game one, improving to 2-0 on the year. Ethan Nichols went an impressive 8 ⅔ innings in the rubber match to earn the 4-1 win. The senior southpaw struck out ten batters and gave up only four hits in his second win of the year.

Up Next: The Falcons stay in state and travel to Northern Colorado (5-18) on Tuesday. Air Force is 2-0 against the Bears this season. The UNLV Rebels (17-13, 5-7) make their way to Colorado Springs this weekend as the Falcons will host the MWC foe in a three-game stand.

Stat Leaders:

Ashton Easley - .323; 30 hits, 20 runs (leads team in all categories)

Nic Ready - .306; 30 hits, 17 RBIs (team leader)

Matt Hargreaves - 1.26 ERA; 2-0, 25 Ks