The Bison baseball team traveled to Annapolis, Md. on March 16-17 to kick off Patriot League play in a set of doubleheaders against Navy at Terwilliger Brothers Field. The team lost the first two games on March 16 by scores of 9-4 and 15-2, respectively. On March 17, the Bison kept the scoring close but ultimately fell 6-3 and 11-10. The team’s overall record now stands at 4-14 with a 0-4 tally in league play.

The opening game of the March 16 doubleheader started off well, as the Bison struck first off of a sacrifice fly from Marc Chernin ’20, scoring Luke Hartman ’19. The lead was short-lived, as Navy plated a grand slam to take a 4-1 lead after one inning. After Navy scored two more, the Orange and Blue were in need of some more offense to get back in the game. An RBI from catcher Ben Smith ’21 double-cut the deficit to three, but the Midshipmen grabbed three more runs to put the game out of reach. Pitcher and infielder Tyler Wincig ’20 hit his second career home run in the fifth to make the final score 9-4.

In the afternoon game, Navy registered 15 hits, displaying a four-run second inning and a seven-run sixth inning. The Bison mustered some runs, with Alex Baumann ’20 and Jared Drizin ’19 both providing RBI singles in the seventh to get the team on the board for a final score of 15-2.

In the first game of the March 17 doubleheader, Navy got out to an early 6-0 lead after four innings of play. But in the fifth, the Bison were able to score three runs off of an RBI single from Caleb Broughton ’21 and a two-RBI double from Jack Schuler ’21 to make it a 6-3 ballgame. However, Navy only allowed one baserunner after the fifth and won 6-3. Despite Nicholas Sadd ’21 pitching 3.2 innings of no-hit relief, the offense could not find a way to help him out.

The final game of the doubleheader proved to be an exciting offensive battle. The game started off well for the Orange and Blue, as Baumann ripped an RBI double and later stole home on a double steal to grab an early 2-0 lead. In the third, Evan Madigan ’20 singled to score two and extend the lead to 4-0. After the Midshipmen picked up a run in the bottom half of the inning, the Bison scored twice more in the top of the fourth on a two run-double by Hartman. With the Orange and Blue were holding a 6-1 lead, Navy came back with a massive seven-run fourth to take an 8-6 lead. Drizin plated an RBI triple to cut the deficit to one in the fifth, but Navy responded with a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh. The Bison showed that they still had something left in the eighth, as Hartman registered another RBI and Baumann hit a double to left field to score two and bring the game back to within one. The Bison’s bats went quiet in the ninth, however, and the team went down 1-2-3 in the top half to lose 11-10.

“It was definitely a tough weekend for us, but I think that everyone on our team has mental toughness when it comes to adversity,” Baumann said. “We had a similar start to our season last year, and still made a playoff run and competed every game we played. I think that in order to rebound, we have to put this weekend behind us and take the positives out of it.”

The team traveled to Olean, N.Y. on March 19 for a game against St. Bonaventure in which the Bison fell 11-5.  The Orange and Blue were back home to Depew Field on March 20 and suffered a narrow 5-4 loss against St. Joseph’s.

The Bison will travel to West Point on March 23 for a doubleheader against Army.