Cadets Clinch Home Field Advantage in Postseason

Sunday, April 29

West Point, N.Y.

12 p.m.

Army West Point

26-18, 0

Holy Cross

15-20, 0

Holy Cross

Army West Point

Cadets Clinch Home Field Advantage in Postseason

April 29, 2018 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army West Point baseball team split its doubleheader with Holy Cross here Sunday afternoon but still secured itself home field advantage for the upcoming Patriot League semifinals.

The Black Knights posted a 4-0 seven-inning, shutout victory in the opener before dropping the series final 5-3. Overall, the Cadets won their regular season series with the Crusaders, 4-1.

Heading into the final weekend of the league regular season, Army can finish no worse than second place. If the Cadets lose their last four games and Bucknell wins its final two games, the two would be tied at 15-10. However, since the Black Knights took the regular season series against the Bison, 3-2, Army would secure the second seed and home field advantage.

Now, achieving the regular season title is not out of the question for the Black Knights.

Navy currently sits in first with an 18-7 overall mark. The Mids wrapped up their conference slate on Sunday with a sweep of Lafayette. After Sunday's split, the Cadets hold a league record of 15-6 and will need to sweep their four games against Lehigh and Lafayette in order to secure the No. 1 seed in the upcoming tournament and have hosting rights throughout.

Leading Army's offense on Sunday was Jacob Hurtubise, who finished 3-for-6 with three runs scored. Six cadet-athletes notched two hits each, with Josh White accounting for a team-leading three runs batted in.

In the opener, junior Daniel Burggraaf was lights out for the Black Knights. He posted his first career complete game after pitching seven innings of just four hit baseball. The Belfair, Wash., native matched his season-high in strikeouts with nine, marking the third-straight outing he has achieved that mark.

The Cadets broke the scoreless deadlock with a run in the third inning. White converted on a sacrifice fly ball to score Hurtubise from third. The sophomore registered his third triple of the season during the previous at bat to set up White's RBI.

In the fourth inning, Drake Titus added to Army's total after drilling his first career long ball over the left center fence.

The Cadets then tacked on two additional runs in the fifth thanks to an RBI by Jon Rosoff and John McKenna to ultimately put the game out of reach.

In the nightcap, Holy Cross scored twice in the fourth inning following one hit and one error to create a 2-0 gap between the teams.

Army tied things up in the fifth after a two-out rally. Tim Simoes, Hurtubise and White all posted consecutive hits to bring home the Black Knights first two scores of the contest. That frame was highlighted by White's two-RBI triple.

The Crusaders answered with one run in the sixth to jump back on top at 3-2. Holy Cross then posted a two-run home run in the eighth to make it a 5-2 ballgame.

Rookie Anthony Giachin tried to spark a small rally in the bottom half for the home side with his two-out home run but the visitors registered the final out of the frame to end that hope. The Crusaders then held on in the ninth for their lone win of the series.

Carter Van Gytenbeek was credited with the loss in that game, after giving up four hits, three runs and two walk in 3.0 innings of relief work.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

White and Hurtubise both registered a triple on the day and they are now tied for leading the team with three on the year.
Giachin notched his sixth double of the season and first long ball.
White added to his season RBI total with three on the day. The junior now has 26 for the year, which has him second behind Rosoff's mark of 36.
Army posted five extra base hits compared to three for the Crusaders.
Hurtubise added to his stolen base record in Game 2 with his 33rd steal.
Cam Opp earned the start in the nightcap and pitched 5.0 innings allowing three hits and two unearned runs. The junior fanned a season-best seven batters while out of the hill.
Sam Messina also saw action in the second game, pitching one complete inning of hitless baseball.
For the day, the Army pitching staff compiled 21 strikeouts, compared to 15 for the visitors.
The Black Knights turned the day's only double play in the opener

FACTS & FIGURES

The Cadets finished with seven runs on 16 hits. Holy Cross posted five runs on 11 hits.
Army was credited with the only two errors throughout the twin bill and they both came during the nightcap.
The Black Knights left 11 runners on base to just eight for the Crusaders.

UP NEXT

The Cadets will play two midweek contests before welcoming Lehigh and Lafayette for a doubleheader over the weekend.
Army will host Sacred Heart on Tuesday for a 3 p.m. out-of-conference contest.
The following day the Cadets will head down to Villanova to play the Wildcats in a 3 p.m. road game.
The Black Knights will then close out their Patriot League regular season schedule with a doubleheader against Lehigh on May 5 and a twin bill against Lafayette on May 6. First pitch for both days is noon.