Black Knights Baseball Splits Twinbill with Lehigh

WEST POINT – The Army West Point baseball team split a doubleheader with Lehigh on Saturday by taking the first game, 10-3, but falling in the nightcap by a 12-5 score.

Army 10, Lehigh 3
After a delayed start due to weather conditions, the Black Knights jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom the first and cruised to the 10-3 victory.

Nick Manesis led the way offensively, going 2-for-2 with three runs batted in, and Ross Friedrick went 2-for-4 with a pair of hits and knocked in a couple of runs in the first inning.

Connelly Early tossed five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out nine.

Army came out of the gates on fire with Friedrick’s two-run single, followed by RBI singles from Derek Berg, Carter Macias and Braden Golinski to give the Black Knights an early 5-0 lead.

Manesis added to the Army lead in the third by taking an 0-1 slider the other way to deep right center for his sixth homer of the season. He was back up at the plate with a scoring opportunity in the fourth and came through with an RBI single, scoring Coleson Titus to make it 7-0 Black Knights.

After the Mountain Hawks cut the Army advantage with a pair of runs, Army responded with three more runs in the sixth to put the game away. Titus scored on a wild pitch and then Sam Ruta doubled to right center, plating Hunter Meade. Manesis added his third RBI of the game with a line-drive single that brought home Ruta to make it 10-2. Lehigh added a run in the seventh, but Early got the win for his sixth of the year.

Lehigh 12, Army 5
The second game was broke open by the Mountain Hawks with seven runs in the second inning.

Army got two runs back thanks to a wild pitch and Manesis being hit by a pitch and it was 7-2 after three innings of play. The Black Knights cut the Mountain Hawk lead to 7-3 in the fourth as Blake Ledoux grounded out, scoring Berg after he reached on a single to start the inning.

Golinski got the Black Knights back on the board in the sixth to get it to a three-run lead at 7-4. Macias singled and stole second and was driven in on a single by Golinski to left center.

Lehigh extended its lead back up to five runs after a walk with the bases loaded and a wild pitch. Manesis got one run back with his second homer of the doubleheader after taking an outside pitch and poking it over the right field fence to make it 9-5. The Mountain Hawks put the game out of reach with three runs in the final two innings to take game two.