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Baseball Notebook: The Army Black Knights are your Patriot League regular-season champion!

While Army won another title, Air Force swept UNLV while averaging 17 runs per game.

Army is once again your Patriot League regular season champions! After a series win over Bucknell, the Black Knights clinched their fourth title in the last ten seasons.

That wasn’t the only good news for the academies though, as out west Air Force picked up their first series sweep of the season!

With little time left in the regular season, things are looking up for the Air Force and Army. Navy on the other hand, they need some help.

Results

Friday

Air Force 20, UNLV 3

Saturday

Navy 5, Lafayette 3

Army 3, Bucknell 1

Air Force 17, UNLV 10

Lafayette 13, Navy 2

Bucknell 9, Army 5

Sunday

Lafayette 13, Navy 7

Army 6, Bucknell 5

Air Force 14, UNLV 4

Monday

Oral Roberts 7, Air Force 3

Tuesday

Army 7, LIU 2

Wednesday

Army 8, Manhattan 5

Georgetown 7, Navy 6

Schedule

Friday

Air Force vs San Diego State – 9 p.m.

Saturday

Lehigh vs Army – 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Lehigh vs Army – 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+)

William & Mary vs Navy – 5 p.m.

Air Force vs San Diego State – 9 p.m.

Sunday

Radford vs Navy – NOON (ESPN+)

Lafayette vs Army – 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Lafayette vs Army – 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+)

Air Force vs San Diego State – 4 p.m.

Army

For the tenth time in program history, the Army Black Knights are Patriot League regular season champions!

“I’m proud of the guys. It’s been an up-and-down season with different guys being [hurt]. We’re trying to get everybody out there and get healthy ... But we just need to play. I’m proud of them. They hung in there and did just enough and picked each other up. It was not pretty, but ... that’s what we do. We work our way through it and find a way to get it done. Guys are stepping up and getting each other’s backs. That’s what I’m most excited to see. It’s great to be in the playoffs again and we’re looking forward to hosting,” Head Coach Jim Foster said postgame Sunday.

On Saturday, one inning made the difference in both games of the doubleheader. Coupled with a strong pitcher performance by Connelly Early in game one, the Black Knights tacked on three runs in the second inning to beat Bucknell, 3-1. Game two didn’t have the same pitching luck as Bucknell tallied four runs in the fifth to split the day with Army at a final score of 9-5.

The Black Knights would wrap up the series and take the regular-season title on Sunday by beating the Bison by a score of 6-5. Braden Golinski would plate the game-tying run in the eighth followed by strong base running from Carter Macias who raced home on a bobbled ball by the Bucknell second baseman.

After two midweek wins, Army will look to close out the regular season with two games against both Lafayette and Lehigh.

Air Force

After being swept by UNLV in mid-March, Air Force got revenge this past weekend sweeping the Rebels in Colorado Springs. It was the Falcons’ first weekend sweep of the season.

“What a big weekend for our club,” head coach Mike Kazlausky said postgame Sunday, “Like Yogi Berra said, we’ll take it with a grin of salt and keep pushing forward.”

The Falcons’ offense was lively again, scoring an average of 17 runs per game. On Friday, the Falcons scored nine runs in the fifth inning, pushing towards a 20-3 victory. Freshman Chase Spencer hit two home runs and a triple, only three of Air Force’s Mountain West record of 25 hits in a game. Saturday saw the Falcons score a run every inning as Gabriel Garcia finished a perfect 5-5 with a grand slam in the second inning. The offense continued Sunday, as Sam Kulasingam hit a home run and a triple to pair with an eight-run seventh inning and ten-run win.

Air Force dropped Monday’s game to Oral Roberts but will look to get back to their winning ways with a weekend series at San Diego State.

Navy

The Midshipmen are getting cold at the wrong time. With its series loss against Lafayette, Navy needs Lehigh to lose out to make the Patriot League tournament.

It was looking promising on Saturday afternoon as Navy took the first game against the Leopards, 5-3. The win would mark head coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ 500th win in a Midshipmen jersey.

“I’m just very grateful,” Kostacopoulos said postgame, ”I’ve been fortunate to spend a few years and coach a few games here. To have a chance to be at an institution like this, I am just very thankful.”

The next two games wouldn’t be as giving, as Navy lost by a combined 17 runs.

Navy would remain unlucky, stranding the game-tying run on third in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s game against Georgetown.