Late in the Sunday rubber match with Navy, Nikolai Busko, Army’s play-by-play announcer, said, “THAT puts more candy in the pinata!” At that point, Navy held a 6-5 lead, having pulled themselves out of an early 5-2 hole. In addition to candy — the Army-Navy Star — this game had a lot at stake. Both the regular season series victory and pole position for the regular season title hung in those final innings.
In the bottom of the 9th, Addision Ainsworth tied the game with an RBI-double. Sophomore Chris Barr then scored pinch runner Zak Farrell on a deep line drive to win the game.
Final score: Army 7, Navy 6.
That secured both Army’s candy and everything else in the piñata.
BARR NONE, the best thing we've seen all weekend!!#GoArmy #BeatNavy@NCAABaseball pic.twitter.com/aax2TQBpCE
— Army Baseball (@ArmyWP_Baseball) April 28, 2024
Army Baseball Sets the Bar High
If you’ve just tuned into Army Baseball, you’ve missed a lot. Inevitably, expectations will soar for any 5-time defending conference champion. Having mounted a dominant 2023 Patriot League campaign, finishing a whopping 21-7 in the conference, the Black Knights became the consensus pick to win the conference this year. Three Army seniors swept the Patriot League’s pre-season individual awards — Sam Ruta (3B), Mike Ruggieri (RHP), and Derek Berg (C) as overall Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. Army also held five of the nine spots on the Patriot League Preseason All-Conference team.
Like most northern teams, the Black Knights traveled south for their early season games. After February and March warm-up trips to Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia, Army sat at 7-7 with a strong showing against Penn State and a dominant win against Air Force, 13-2.
A performance for the ages.
— Army Baseball (@ArmyWP_Baseball) April 27, 2024
Justin Lehman (and the defense) went the distance, giving us a Game 1 ⭐️ series win!#GoArmy #BeatNavy pic.twitter.com/Hu1oCAD0s3
The HOME Stretch
With their 2-1 series win over Navy, the Black Knights have all but clinched the regular season Patriot League title. The League championship and its automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament both now run through West Point. If things go well, Army will only go on the road again to play in the NCAA Regionals, i.e. the round of 64.
Get a few wins there, and who knows?
This weekend, the Black Knights will host a pair of doubleheaders at Doubleday Field – against Lehigh on Saturday and Lafayette on Sunday. Army only needs to win one of these four games to clinch the #1 seed for the 4-team Patriot League Championship Tournament. An additional win would give them sole possession of the regular season title. Navy has completed its Patriot League play and thus can only sit at home and watch.
The Patriot League Semi-Finals will take place on May 11-12 with a best-of-three series at the homes of the #1 and #2 seeds, likely Army and Navy, respectively. The highest remaining seed after the Semi’s will host a three-game championship series on May 18-19. All things considered, we will likely see a rematch of Army-Navy back at Doubleday Field.
.@ArmyWP_Baseball walks it off to take the ⭐️!
— Army-Navy Game (@ArmyNavyGame) April 28, 2024
What a weekend series between the Mids and Black Knights 👏👏👏#ArmyNavy pic.twitter.com/PElBHvv1LT
Beat Navy!
Army has now beaten Navy in twelve of their last fifteen meetings. As was discussed on the most recent As For Football Army Football Show, the Black Knights have now tied the overall series 131–apiece.
Given how far the program fell behind back in the Bad Old Days, that is actually amazing.
ESPN+ has coverage of the rest of Army’s regular season as well as the Patriot League Tournament. You can also follow the team via their Twitter account, @ArmyWP_Baseball. They do a great job keeping fans up to date inning-by-inning.
Go Army! Win the Patriot League!!!
Cover image via @ArmyWP_Baseball.
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