Army Baseball Season Ends in Championship Series

WORCESTER, Mass. – Army West Point Baseball fought to the bitter end.

Faced with adversity all season, the Black Knights were looking to find that late game magic at least one more time Monday night at Holy Cross.

And for moments at Fitton Field, Army was producing just that in Game 2 of the Patriot League Championship Series.

Unfortunately for Army, a Holy Cross base knock in the 10th would prove to be the difference in an 8-7 loss.

Down 7-5 with two outs in the eighth inning, Addison Ainsworth and Justin Lehman brought home the tying runs to even the contest.

Trey Ates—who was instrumental in the squad’s semifinal Game 3 win at Navy eight days earlier, entered in the seventh and kept the Crusaders off the board in the eighth and ninth on an evening he recorded three strikeouts to send the game to extra innings.

Lehman—who started on the mound while also batting in the DH spot—pitched 6.2 frames while allowing just one earned run, while also going 3-for-4 with an RBI, and all hits being infield singles. He delivered 108 pitches in the final outing of an exceptional career at Army.

Holy Cross struck first with an unearned run in the second, but Army would tie the contest a frame later with a two-out, opposite field RBI double to score Thomas Schreck.

After the Crusaders make it 3-1 in the third, the Black Knights got within one in the fourth with a Zac Farrell RBI double and would take the lead in the fifth on a two-run home run from Ainsworth. Army extended its lead to 5-3 on a Coleson Titus RBI squeeze bunt in the sixth.

But the Crusaders would respond, scoring four in the seventh to retake the lead briefly before Army’s eighth inning flurry would end up forcing extras.

“All year our team showed up. They showed up to getter better to compete regardless of the injuries, the adversity and the successes. I am proud of this team. The program is built on resilience, toughness and commitment to each other. To the final pitch, if you watched us play, you saw it on display to the final pitch. They never stopped showing up to put the program first,” said head coach Chris Tracz.