ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A sign of a winning college baseball program is production throughout the lineup, and the Sacred Heart University baseball team delivered just that on Friday. Every Pioneer in the lineup reached base while the bottom half of the order drove in five of the team's seven runs, powering a 7-3 series-opening win over Navy.
The win marked Sacred Heart's third straight victory and its first Friday win of the season.
Fresh off a 27-run explosion in the final two games of last weekend's series at Georgetown, the Pioneers kept their bats hot early. In the top of the second, Tim McGuire sparked a two-run rally, the game's first scoring, drawing a five-pitch walk. Zack Kovalchik followed with an infield single, and Ronan Donohue reached on a fielder's choice.
With two on and one out, Steak Newman found a gap between short and third, putting Sacred Heart on the board. JW Fitzgerald kept the inning alive with a two-out RBI single, extending the lead to 2-0.
Navy answered in the bottom half, plating its first run on a fielder's choice to first. Joey Trombley regrouped and kept the Midshipmen in check, stranding the tying run at second.
Dante D'Amore led off the third with a single to right, and Kovalchik followed by dropping a base hit in front of the Navy center fielder, bringing D'Amore home to make it 3-1.
The Midshipmen responded in the fourth, tying the game 3-3. Tyler Bouchard crushed Trombley's offer, bouncing one over the 360-foot sign in right-center for a ground-rule double and an RBI. Henry Mitchell followed with a single to center, bringing Bouchard home for the equalizer. Trombley recovered quickly, retiring the next two batters with a strikeout and a flyout, keeping the game tied.
Sacred Heart took control in the sixth, plating three runs to put the game out of reach. With two on and one away, Chuck Tallman roped a two-RBI double off the left-field wall, giving the Pioneers a 5-3 lead. Peter Link followed with a single to right, scoring Tallman and extending the advantage to 6-3.
After a strong bounce-back outing from Trombley, lasting five innings and holding Navy to three runs, senior Ryan Redmond shut the door on the Midshipmen bats in relief.
Making just his second appearance for the Red and White since transferring from Susquehanna, Redmond delivered four scoreless innings to earn his first Division I save. The right-hander struck out four and allowed just one hit, coming in his final inning of work.
The bottom of Sacred Heart's order gave Redmond some extra breathing room in the ninth. Kovalchik led off with his fourth hit of the day, a double roped down the third-base line, before coming around to score on Newman's second RBI single. That was all the Pioneers needed to seal the win and leave Terwilliger Brothers Field victorious.
The Pioneers continue their weekend set in Annapolis tomorrow at 1 p.m. Elijah Foster is the projected starting pitcher.
