Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Lehigh
Army Splits Doubleheader With Lehigh
April 19, 2011 | Baseball
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Steve May, Ben Koenigsfeld and Joey Henshaw each homered as Army outslugged Lehigh, 12-9, in the second game of the teams' Patriot League doubleheader Monday afternoon at Goodman Campus.
Lehigh rallied from an early four-run deficit to secure a 7-6 decision in the opening game of the twinbill.
Army (14-19, 7-5 PL) remains in a three-way tie for first place in the conference standings with Navy and Lafayette following today's split.
Lehigh (21-15, 6-6 PL) is in fourth place after taking three out of four games from Army this weekend.
Army jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the third inning in the nightcap as May crushed a grand slam home run over the fence in right-center field. Zach Price and Koenigsfeld hit consecutive singles to start the frame and Clint Moore reached on an error by the left fielder to load the bases. After Henshaw fouled out to third, May drilled his first home run of the season into the gap in right-center to give the Black Knights a four-run cushion.
Lehigh cut Army's lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the third inning as Joe Abeln doubled with one out and Brendan Pifer hit a two-run home run down the right field line.
Army blew the game open in the top of the fourth inning as the Black Knights scored seven runs on seven hits. Clayton Mosley singled with one out, moved to second base on a balk and scored when Price lofted an RBI double down the left field line. Koenigsfeld then ripped a two-run home run over the wall in right field, chasing Lehigh reliever Mike Burke from the game. Moore followed with a single and he scored when Henshaw blasted a two-run homer over the batter's eye in center field. May then reached on an error and Cody Murtle walked to put two men on for Brent Peterson, who hit an RBI single to score May from second base. Murtle stole third and he made it 9-2 as he scored on J.T. Watkins' sacrifice fly.
Andrew Russell led off the home half of the fourth inning with a solo home run to trim Lehigh's deficit to 11-3, and Sean Killeen ripped a two-run double into the gap in left-center field to make it 11-5.
Lehigh got another run back in the bottom of the fifth inning. Billy Goldman singled with one out and he moved to third base when Russell doubled into the gap in right-center field. Goldman then scored when Mihalik bounced out to second base.
Army scored an unearned run in the top of the sixth inning to push its lead to 12-6. Peterson singled to lead off the frame, and he scored all the way from first when a failed pickoff throw got away from the Lehigh first baseman and rolled down near the Black Knights' bullpen.
Lehigh closed to within 12-9 with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, but the Mountain Hawks would get no closer as Koenigsfeld worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the contest.
Price went 3-for-5 to lead Army's 16-hit attack. Watkins, Peterson, May, Henshaw and Koenigsfeld each collected two hits apiece for the Black Knights.
Russell and Abeln both recorded three hits for Lehigh, while Pifer drove in four runs.
Gunnar Carroll (1-1) earned his first career victory after pitching four innings of relief. Lehigh starter Cameron Phillips (1-2) took the loss after being touched for four runs in 2.1 innings of work.
Army got off to a fast start in the opener, scoring two runs in the first inning off Lehigh starter Brandon Sady. Price led off the game with a double to deep left-center field. Then, after Koenigsfeld grounded out to third base, Moore crushed an RBI double to scored Price with the game's first run. Henshaw followed with a run-scoring single through the right side of the infield.
After Army starter Chris Rowley retired Lehigh in order in the bottom of the first inning, the Black Knights doubled their lead in the top of the second as they scored two more runs on four hits. Murtle led off the frame by blasting a home run over the fence in left-center field. Peterson then singled, stole second, took third on an error by Sady and scored on Koenigsfeld sharp line drive single up the middle. Moore then hit a ringing single that caromed off the chest of Lehigh shortstop Brendan McGaheran to put runners on the corners and chase Sady from the game. Mountain Hawk reliever Luke Porter came out of the bullpen and got Henshaw to ground out, ending the threat.
Lehigh got two runs back in the bottom of the second inning as the Mountain Hawks trimmed Army's lead in half. Kevin Mihalik reached on an infield single to start the frame, moved to second when Killeen drew a two-out walk and scored on Chad Warga's base hit to center field. Brendan Pifer was then hit by a pitch to load the bases and Killeen scored LU's second run of the frame as he scampered home on a wild pitch. Rowley got McGaheran to foul out to catcher with runners on second and third to end the threat and avoid further damage.
Lehigh struck for four runs in the bottom of the third inning to move in front, 6-4. Russell, Mihalik and Casey Turner hit consecutive one-out singles to push across the first run of the frame. Austin Borden then drove in a run with a fielder's choice groundout, tying the score at 4-all. Killeen followed with an RBI double down the left field line, and Borden scored Lehigh's fourth run of the frame as he came home on Warga's RBI groundout to second.
Army came back to tie the score at 6-6 in the top of the fifth inning as the Black Knights pushed across two runs. Moore led off with a single, moved to second base when May walked and both runners moved up on Watkins' base hit. Then, with two outs, Peterson and pinch-hitter Sean McIlroy were both hit by pitches to force in a pair of runs.
Lehigh scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning as McGaheran reached third base on an error and scored on Goldman's RBI groundout.
Cory Kent worked around a leadoff single in the seventh to pick up his third save of the weekend. Thomas O'Malley (3-0) earned the win after pitching 1.1 scoreless innings. Carroll was saddled with the loss as he allowed Lehigh's game-winning run in the sixth.
Moore went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored to pace Army at the plate in the opener. May recorded a pair of singles for the Black Knights, who outhit the Mountain Hawks 11-7.
Army returns to action on Wednesday (April 20) when the Black Knights host Yale in a non-league contest at West Point's Doubleday Field. First pitch for the nine-inning game is slated for 3:30 p.m.
Game Notes: Army's all-time record versus Lehigh moves to 68-35 ... it marks the first time since 2003 that Lehigh has taken three out of four games from Army ... it marks the first time that Army has dropped a Patriot League regular-season series since losing three out of four games to Bucknell to start the 2009 conference season ... Murtle's home run was the second of his career ... May's home run was the second of his career ... it marked the first grand slam for the Black Knights since Ben Koenigsfeld hit one last season versus Eastern Illinois (March 19, 2010) ... May established a career high with four RBI in today's second game ... May led Army with a .533 batting average (8-for-15) and six RBI this weekend ... Army hit seven home runs this weekend after hitting just 14 in the first 29 games of the season ... Joey Henshaw has hit 20 career home runs ... Zach Price extended his hitting streak to 12 straight games ... Koenigsfeld has hit safely in eight straight games ... Army wore its gold jerseys and gray pants with black caps for both games of today's doubleheader.
