Navy Men’s Baseball Will Host First Home Game of the Season Against Georgetown
Navy Baseball team embracing in a huddle before their very first game of the season, via NavySports.com.
Fans are gearing up for the Navy baseball season to see their team play at home for the first time in 2024. After a first series win at Elon 2-1, the boys are excited to play their first game on their home turf against Georgetown this Wednesday, February 21st.
At 3:00, first pitch is set for the hopeful group and new head coach Chuck Ristano to be able to clinch their third win in 2024.
2024 Navy Baseball Preview (Season and home game preview by Head Coach Chuck Ristano per Youtube Navy Sports).
The First Three
After an opening day loss at Elon 10-2, the group felt a quick turnaround in energy clinching day 2 in a long ball game taking the win 21-13. As the two teams went into day three tied up at one a piece, Navy claimed the win 9-7.
https://twitter.com/NavyBaseball/status/1759006996836061351 (Link to Twitter post of sights and sounds of Navy’s first season win per @navybaseball).
https://twitter.com/NavyBaseball/status/1759318988788539825 (Link to Twitter post celebrating series win at Elon per @navybaseball).
However, as the team makes the trek home today from North Carolina, they have their eyes set on their first game in Annapolis.
New head coach Chuck Ristano is excited to host Georgetown Wednesday as he tells fans, “Bring a jacket…But you know I think we are going to play a fun brand of baseball. We’ll play a dynamic brand of baseball that’ll be fun for [the fans] to watch, and hopefully we can put a heck of a lot of wins on the scoreboard.”
(Navy Sports Youtube Channel).
Currently, Navy is 2-1 on their season so far, and their opponent, Georgetown is 0-3 in the 2024 season.
How to Secure the First Home Win
For Navy, it is important that their offense comes with energy and optimism in the game. Looking at game 2 against Elon, it is clear guys in the lineup like Logan Keller, Zane Raba, and Andrew Manning can hit and can produce multi-homeruns in one game, it is just a matter of if they step up to the challenge.
https://twitter.com/NavyBaseball/status/1758966864258961447 (Link to back-to-back homers by Diaz and Raba in Game 2 against Elon per @navybaseball Twitter).
Note
- “Keller collected a career-high four hits for the sixth time in his four seasons at Navy.” (Navy Sports Game Notes).
- “Diaz’s four RBI set a career best, while Raba’s three RBI matched his career high.” (Navy Sports Game Notes).
So far, Georgetown has come up short on the offensive side of 2024, losing their first three games 2-5, 3-12, and 6-7. This means if Navy can keep the same momentum that gathered from game two, they have a good chance of securing their first home-game win.
However, pitching makes and breaks a game for both sides. This weekend we were able to see an opening day aces duel between Elon and the midshipmen through the first five innings. While the senior Friday night guy Matthew Shirah let up two runs in the bottom of the first, he remained scoreless in his next four, holding off the Phoenix. However, when relief pitcher Zach Ward and Nolan Jorgenson allowed a combined seven runs in 1.3 innings is what lost the game for the mids.
Note
- “Shirah has now had nine career starts where he has gone five-or-more innings and allowed two-or-less runs.” (Navy Sports Game Notes).
However, Georgetown is facing the same issue with relief hitters letting most of the runs be scored in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.
As for today’s final game against Elon that secured the mids first season win, the grit and back-and-forth of the nail biter will need to be brought at home on Wednesday. With the combination of pitching, strong offense, and intensity, Navy will look to be in the position they want at 3:00 when the first pitch is thrown.
If the midshipmen can secure all of these elements for Wednesday and bring their series win momentum back home,, they will be in good shape for their first home opener against Georgetown this Wednesday at 3:00 at Max Bishop Stadium.