April 11, 2015

1 Game 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E Lafayette 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1 Navy 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 5 2 Box Score (HTML)|Box Score (PDF) 2

11 Game 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Lafayette 1 3 1 3 0 2 0 1 0 11 19 2 Navy 1 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 8 19 0 Box Score (HTML)|Box Score (PDF) 8

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Thanks to a season-high 19 hits in game two, the Lafayette baseball team earned a doubleheader split with Navy on Saturday afternoon in Patriot League action at Max Bishop Stadium.

Game one was a pitcher's duel between aces David Bednar and Luke Gillingham that Navy claimed 2-1 in extra innings, while game two was a slugfest that Lafayette won by a score of 11-8. Following the split, Lafayette owns a 5-5 record in the Patriot League and is 7-16 overall. Navy's record moved to 6-4 in conference play and 24-13 overall.

The first contest of the day was a showdown between two of the top pitchers in the Patriot League, as Gillingham and Bednar ranked first and fifth, respectively, in earned run average before play began. Bednar took the loss to fall to 1-5 despite lowering his ERA to 2.37. He went 7.2 innings, while allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and no walks. He retired the first 12 batters he faced struck out six. Gillingham entered the game as the nation's leader in strikeouts, averaging more than 10 per start, but he only managed to sit down six Leopards in this one. He allowed five hits and no walks over eight innings of work to improve his record to 6-1.

Reigning Patriot League Player of the Week Michael Coniglio scored the game's first run as part of a three-hit top of the third for Lafayette. After reaching with a double, Coniglio scored on an error by the Navy shortstop that followed an infield single from senior Brett Thompson.

Navy's Stephen Born broke up Bednar's perfect game in the bottom of the fifth with a double. Two batters later, Born moved to third when Adrian Chinnery reached on a fielder's choice. Logan Knowles immediately delivered a double down the left-field line that plated Born to tie the game, but Lafayette got out of the inning when Chinnery tried to score from first on the play only to be gunned down at home on shortstop Steven Cohen's relay throw from left fielder Alex Woinski.

The game was decided in walk-off fashion in the eighth for Navy. Chinnery led off with an infield single deep in the hole, but made it all the way to third on an errant throw by Cohen. Following two strikeouts from Bednar, Robert Currie hit the game-winning single to right-center to end the contest.

Game two was a high-scoring affair that featured a combined 38 hits from the two teams. The contest did not see a scoreless inning until the seventh, with zeroes being posted in only six of the 18 total half-innings.

Eight of the nine Leopard batters had at least two hits, with Thompson, Alex Woinski and Tyler Hudson each notching a career-high three hits apiece. Lafayette registered a season-high seven doubles in the game and recorded another season best with five hit-by-pitches. Two of the doubles came from catcher Parker Hills, who led the Maroon and White with three RBIs.

The Leopards never trailed in the game. After trading runs in the first inning with Navy, they plated three in the second and led the rest of the way, with the largest cushion being an 8-3 lead in the middle of the fourth inning.

The victory went to senior relief pitcher Alex Farina, who worked four innings to improve to 2-0. He entered in the fourth inning and allowed two runs on six hits and no walks, while striking out three. Connor McMahon tossed the final 1.2 innings for the Leopards to earn his third save.

The Leopards and Midshipmen will play two more games on Sunday, with game one being televised by CBS Sports Network at 1 p.m. Game two will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.