Rookies Pace Army in Doubleheader Sweep of Lehigh

Saturday, March 28

Lewisburg, Pa.

3:00 PM

Army West Point

12-9, 0

Lehigh

4-15, 0

Army West Point

Lehigh

Rookies Pace Army in Doubleheader Sweep of Lehigh

March 28, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

March 28, 2015

Box Score | Box Score (PDF)

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Freshman Jeremy Mortensen pitched six innings of one-run ball and classmate Brandon Lee drove in two runs as the Army baseball team came away with a 7-2 win over Lehigh in the nightcap of Saturday's twinbill at Depew Field.

The Black Knights moved to 12-9 on the season and Lehigh dropped to 4-15 overall with the doubleheader sweep.

Similar to game one, Army broke the ice in the fourth inning. The Black Knights put together a two-out rally that started with a walk to Jon Rosoff before Mark McCants was hit by a pitch to bring up Jacob Page. The Army centerfielder roped an RBI single to left field to chase home Rosoff and Army went in front 1-0.

Mortensen and Lehigh's starter Nick Macaione each surrendered two hits through the opening three innings before Page's single put Army on the board.

Mortensen shut Lehigh down in the bottom of the fourth before Army added to its lead in the fifth. Johnny Griffith started the inning with a base hit and Ben Smith's two-out single to right center pushed the advantage to 2-0. Mortensen worked around a leadoff walk in the bottom half of the frame to maintain Army's advantage.

The Black Knights scored for a third consecutive inning, plating a pair of runs against Lehigh reliever Connor Donovan. He replaced Macaione, who allowed two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks. A free pass and two hit batsmen had the bases juiced with nobody out in the top of the sixth. A groundout got the lead runner at home, followed by a strikeout brought Brandon Lee to the dish with two away. The reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Week came through with a two-run single through the middle and Army was up 4-0.

A leadoff triple by Justin Pacchioli set the table for the Mountain Hawks in the last of the sixth and he later scored on Mike Garzillo's one-out base hit. Mortensen limited the damage at one run with a pair of fly balls that ended the frame.

Army got the run back in its next trip to the plate when McCants brought home Smith with a single through the hole on the right side. With a 5-1 lead, the Black Knights dipped into the bullpen for Justin French as Mortensen's afternoon ended with the lead. The rookie left-hander scattered four hits, struck out four and walked three while yielding one earned run. He improved to 2-1 on the season.

French tossed a scoreless seventh and worked around two baserunners in the eighth to hold the four-run Army lead. Army added a pair of insurance runs on McCants' RBI double that gave him three hits in the game and Page's sacrifice fly.

Freshman relief pitcher Matt Ball entered the game in the bottom of the ninth and gave up a run-scoring single to Pacchioli before inducing a game-ending double play.

Army and Lehigh return to Depew Field on Sunday afternoon for a doubleheader set to begin at noon. Julian Larimer will take the ball for the Black Knights against Mountain Hawks' left-hander Peter Moore.

Game Notes: Mark McCants posted his 10th multiple-hit game of the year ... McCants has reached base safely in 10 consecutive contests ... Johnny Griffith recorded his first two-hit game of the season ... Ben Smith registered his fifth multi-hit game ... Brandon Lee has four two-RBI games ... senior Alex Jensen started his 176th consecutive game.