Army Splits Sunday Doubleheader at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – For the second time in three days, Army played a doubleheader at Holy Cross. And for the second time, the teams split the two games. The result is an overall weekend split, after rain washed out Saturday’s regularly scheduled action.

Army remains above .500 in the Patriot League, at 8-7.

Both teams have one game remaining in the season series, an April 16 affair at West Point.

Game 1
Army was unable to hold onto a multi-run lead in Sunday’s opening game, and fell 4-3 in seven innings.

Starting pitcher Bryce Brownlee pitched 4.1 innings, striking out four and taking a no-decision.

William Parker opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single to score Addison Ainsworth. After Holy Cross tied the contest in the fourth, Army retook the lead in the fourth, on a Chris Barr sacrifice fly and Parker’s second RBI of the matchup.

However, the Crusaders get within one in the bottom of the inning and took the lead with two-runs in the sixth.

Robbie Penswick took the decision with an inning pitched, before Kevin Reavey retired a pair of batters in the sixth.

Game 2
The nine-inning series finale was the Joe Valchar show.

The senior from Wake Forest, N.C. doubled his previous career-high in innings pitched, tossing eight frames on just 95 total pitches, and struck out a career-high seven batters.

He also improved to 2-0.

Army scored six runs on just three RBIs. Barr drove in the first run of the contest in the second inning, drawing a two-out walk with the bases loaded.

In the fourth, the Black Knights doubled their cushion, when Ainsworth put the ball in play to score Coleson Titus on a fielding error.

A Titus strikeout in the fifth inning turned into another Army run, when he reached first base on a dropped third strike turned error on the catcher, advancing to second and allowing Zac Farrell to score from third. Titus himself crossed the plate later in the frame on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.

Ainsworth and Parker would give Army breathing room with RBIs in the eighth inning. Trey Ates then recorded the final three outs of the game out of the bullpen.