Four-Run Sixth Propels Baseball Past Harvard

Friday, March 18

Clearwater, FL

11 AM

Army West Point

8-9

Harvard

4-7

Army West Point

Harvard

Four-Run Sixth Propels Baseball Past Harvard

March 18, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Army West Point baseball team opened the front end of its twin bill against Harvard with a 6-4 victory after posting a four-spot in the top of the sixth at Jack Russell Stadium.

In the opposite fashion of yesterday's first inning between the Black Knights and Crimson that saw seven runs pushed across, only one baserunner was achieved as each side went down in order.

The following inning saw Army manufacture its first run of the game, once again capitalizing on a lead off baserunner. Catcher Jon Rosoff was hit by a 1-0 pitch and was sacrificed into scoring position. Freshman Josh White singled through the left side, plating the Durham, N.C., native.

Starting pitcher Matt Ball, who was recognized as the Patriot League Pitcher of the Week following a solid seven inning, three hit effort against UMass on Saturday, stayed in that groove in this game. Ball scattered seven hits through his first six innings of work. The sophomore right-hander struck out five and never faced more than four batters in a single inning.

The Crimson finally broke through in the fourth inning, after a couple of infield hits started the home half. A sacrifice fly to center plated Patrick McColl to tie the game.
The relentless Army offense responded yet again in the top of the fifth to retake the lead. Right fielder Trey Martin led off with a single down the right field line and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Pinch hitter Keegan Vega battled his way back to a full count walk before David Monge executed a sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch by Sean Poppen allowed Martin to break the stalemate. The Black Knights were on the verge of a big inning, but a failed squeeze and a fly out to deep center ended the threat.

The Black Knights broke through the next inning, pushing across four unearned runs. Rosoff started the rally with an infield single, followed by Schley who was the beneficiary of an errant throw to first by the pitcher on a sacrifice bunt. Rosoff was aggressive on the base paths by attempting to score from first, but was unsuccessful. White knocked his second hit of the game before a wild pitch allowed him to advance to second, but did not scurry far enough away for Schley to attempt to score from third. A Vega walk loaded the bases for Monge, who delivered a seeing-eye single through the right side scoring two. One-hole hitter Kris Lindner recorded another two-run single to stretch Army's lead to 6-1.

Ball would run into some trouble as he made an attempt at the complete game, but a double, single and three-run homerun by the Crimson forced Reid to bring in his closer, Justin French. Following Harvard's fourth-straight hit, French settled in with some help. A strike out by Mitch Klug was the first out of the inning, and the umpire deemed Klug did not give Rosoff a clear throwing lane to second on the attempted steal by pinch runner Ben Skinner. Harvard would mount one more single, but the Black Knights were able to hold on after getting the out at second to end the game.

Army and Harvard returned to the diamond at 2 p.m. to close out the doubleheader.

For more information on Army West Point baseball, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWP_Baseball on Twitter.

GAME NOTES: Army has three-game win streak, longest of season … snapped four-game streak of 10+ hits … 2-1 on season in front end of doubleheaders … Kris Lindner (9th), Josh White (6th) and Jon Rosoff (5th) recorded multiple hits … Lindner leads the team … Lindner (2nd) and David Monge (1st) drove in multiple runs … John McCarthy has recorded a hit in all 13 games he has played in this season.