Army Black Knights Baseball Clinches No. 1 Seed

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Army West Point baseball clinched the No. 1 seed at the upcoming Patriot League Baseball Championships, with a series win at Navy on Sunday combined with a Bucknell loss to Lehigh in its series finale.

The Black Knights also claim the Patriot League Co-Regular Season Championship alongside Bucknell, with Army taking the head-to-head tiebreaker for the top postseason seed.

Army split its doubleheader with the Navy Midshipmen on Sunday, winning the nightcap after an emphatic, seven-run first inning capped by a Jack Quinlan grand slam. The Black Knights needed at least one win in its twin bill, plus a combination of either another win, or at least one Bucknell loss in the Bison’s season-ending doubleheader.

The Black Knights finish the regular season 28-18 overall and 17-9 in Patriot League action. Army will face Holy Cross from May 9-11 at Doubleday Field for the best of three Patriot League Semifinal series.

Game One (Game Two of the Series)
Army clawed by from an early 4-0 hole, but never got back on even terms in fell 7-4 in Sunday’s seven-inning daycap.

The Mids took the lead in the bottom of the first and extended their early cushion with a trio of runs in the second.

The Black Knights got back in the ballgame with a three-run third inning to make it 4-3. After Josiah Overbeek crossed the plate on an E4 off the bat of Thomas Schreck, William Parker recorded an RBI double just inside the third base line before Carter Hewitt collected a sacrifice fly.

Navy would restore its multi-run lead in the fourth, but Army once again got the game within one an inning later, when Hewitt found the right-center gap with two outs to score Parker from first base.

Army surrendered a two-run single in the sixth, making it a three-run lead for the home team. The Black Knights plated a runner in the final inning of the seven-inning contest, but couldn’t scratch out any runs and would fall in the contest.

Starting pitcher Kevin Reavey logged a complete game, tossing all six innings and striking out three, but took the loss.

Game Two (Game Three of the Series)
Army quickly turned the page from its daycap defeat to jump on the Mids for seven runs in the top of the first, and coasted to victory from there. With Bucknell’s doubleheader game two loss to Lehigh simultaneously, Army could savor earning the No. 1 seed for the Patriot League Championships.

After a pair of walks from Overbeek and Chris Barr to open the contest, Thomas Schreck poked an infield single before a William Parker sacrifice fly opened the scoring. Hewitt doubled to the left-center gap to make it 3-0, before Quinlan sent the first base dugout and Army fans into a frenzy with an opposite field grand slam, arching just behind the right field foul pole at Max Bishop Stadium.

Not satisfied with the early lead, the Black Knights added to their cushion an inning later with a Mason Scott RBI sacrifice fly, and in the fourth, they scratched across a Hewitt run on a double steal.

Then in the fifth, Overbeek stretched Army’s lead to 11-0 on a two-run home run to right field.

Trey Ates earned the win on the mound to move to 5-1 on the season and 2-0 in 2026 vs. Navy. The senior struck out three and didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning, retiring seven straight Mids from the second to the end of the fourth.

Navy showed signs of life in the sixth inning with a grand slam to cut the lead to 11-4. However, that would be the closest the home team got, with Army responding with five runs in the seventh to more than cancel out the grand slam allowed, and invoke the run rule. Each run in the seventh came with two outs. Scott started the rally with an RBI single before Hewitt scored on a wild pitch. Quinlan then drove in a pair with a double to left field before Zac Farrell logged a single up the middle to give Army a 12-run lead.

Michael Delph provided two innings out of the bullpen to shut the door in Sunday’s nightcap, striking out two and allowing just one hit.