Game One Recap
With sophomore starter Brady Bendik retiring 12 of the first 13 Black Knights he faced, Navy opened the scoring in the second inning when singles by DePerno and sophomore Evan Brown put two on for Army's first throwing error, which allowed DePerno to race home from second base, while another Army throwing error on the next pitch plated Brown to make it 2-0 Mids.
After sophomore Jack Killelea drew a two-out walk in the third, DePerno made Army pay two pitches later when he deposited a ball off the scoreboard in left field, extending the Navy edge to 4-0.
Army finally broke up the shutout in the fifth inning when a walk, failed pickoff and a single put John McKillop on third base for Zac Farrell's sacrifice fly, while a Mark Abell single up the middle later in the frame drove in Coleson Titus to cut the Mids' lead to 4-2.
Stranding Navy runners at the corners in the bottom of the fifth, Army made it a one-run game in the sixth, as William Parker doubled to lead off and came in on McKillop's double two batters later, but senior closer Landon Kruer then retired the next five Black Knights, including inducing a 3-6 double play to end the seven-inning game.
Bendik finished with two runs allowed in five innings, striking out four to notch his first win of the season, while Kruer gave up one run and struck out two in his two frames to record his second save of the campaign.
For Army, Justin Lehman pitched the six-inning complete game, allowing four runs (two earned) while striking out three Mids.
Game Two Recap
Army came out the gates hot in the nightcap, as the first two Black Knights reached base safely to start the game before Parker doubled home Chris Barr and Lehman lifted a sacrifice fly to score Addison Ainsworth and create an early 2-0 Army edge. Answering right back in the bottom of the first, a one-out double by junior Brock Murtha was followed by Manning driving his first pitch from Berg over the right-center fence, tying it at 2-2.
With Berg and Navy junior Tyler Grenn both settling in on the mound, Army eventually struck again in the fourth inning when a two-out double from Barr plated Titus and gave the lead back to the Black Knights, while Ainsworth's two-run single right after widened the advantage to 5-2.
Berg then tossed five more scoreless frames, while the Navy bullpen of juniors Jackson Beattie and Adyn Lucero and senior Liam Golden matched his zeros by leaving Army runners in scoring position to end the fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings, keeping the deficit at three heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Killelea and DePerno continued their hot streaks with back-to-back doubles in the ninth, scoring Killelea, while another Army throwing error on DePerno's double put him on third base for junior Victor Izquierdo's RBI groundout, cutting the Army lead to 5-4. Brown then singled to bring the winning run to the plate, but Robbie Penswick got the game-ending strikeout to pick up the save and even the series heading into Sunday.
Berg wrapped up his career-best 8.1-inning outing by striking out eight and walking none, allowing just three earned runs to register the victory, while Penswick earned his second save of the year with his two-out appearance.
For Grenn, he suffered the loss after allowing five runs in 4.1 innings, but Beattie followed with two strikeouts in 2.2 shutout innings, Lucero went 1.1 scoreless frames and Golden retired both Army batters he faced.
