ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Army West Point baseball team won the weekend series and took home the Star over Navy in the final weekend of the Star Series, presented by USAA.
The Black Knights won Game 1 of the series on Saturday with an 11-4 win, following by a Sunday doubleheader sweep by scores of 3-2 and 10-0 to earn the Star.
In Game 1, Army used three-run homers by Ross Fredrick and Ethan Ellis to pull away from the Midshipmen for the 11-4 victory. Fredrick finished 3-of-4 with a pair of home runs, four runs batted in and two runs scored. Derek Berg also went deep for the Black Knights in the win. Tanner Gresham got the win on the mound, going six innings and allowing only four runs and striking out four.
Saturday was originally scheduled as a doubleheader, but due to severe weather in the forecast, the twinbill was moved to Sunday.
The second game of the series saw the Black Knights secure the Star with a 3-2 victory on the strength of Sam Ruta's 3-for-4 day with a solo home run and Mike Ruggieri. He was steady on the mound with six innings pitched and allowing only one run and striking out three. Navy threatened in the bottom of the seventh, but Robbie Buecker was able to get out of the jam with the lead still in tact. Sean Dennehy came on in the eigth and shut the down as Army claimed victory.
The final game of the series was called after eight innings with Army leading 10-0. Matthew Ronnebaum was the star of the win with the complete game shutout, striking out nine and scattering six hits by the Midshipmen.
Army jumped out of the gate with four runs in the first inning, thanks to a three-run homer from Braden Golinski and then added four more in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Berg cemented the win with a base-clearing triple to make it 10-0.
