Charlottesville, VA (cvillerightnow.com): Anchors Aweigh Baseball fans!  The Midshipmen of the Naval Academy will be the next squad entering Disharoon Park to battle the Virginia Cavaliers before they earn a weekend off for Final Exams.  The Hoos hung on for a 9-8 win last night after a much more competitive battle with the VCU Rams than their previous run-rule victory back on April 8th.  Now, they will take on a Navy team that has seen flashes of brilliance this season but has hovered around .500 for the majority of the year.   

The Midshipmen enter play Wednesday 23-22, coming off a Patriot League series defeat in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania against Lehigh University.  Before that, they fell to a William and Mary team that the Hoos blasted by run rule earlier in the year.  Navy lost to the Tribe, 9-3.  Despite their struggles, there have been several impressive offensive performances throughout this young squad.  Two-way star Ty DePerno leads regular starters with a .303 average and .435 on-base percentage.  Slugging outfielder Andrew Manning leads the team with 6 homeruns.  Second-year infielder Evan Brown is the team’s hits leader with 46, including ten doubles.  Finally, there’s third year infielder Brock Murtha, one of the better base thieves in the Northeast, going 20-23 in stolen base attempts.   

As a pitching staff, Navy is solid, with a respectable 4.85 ERA, opponents are hitting .260 against them, a mark that is not impressive, but is also not worrisome either.  All but one of their relievers who have made more than ten appearances for the Midshipmen this year can boast that they’ve kept hitters below the Mendoza Line (.250).  They will bring pitch arsenals with polished, well-trained, mixes, difficult to hit if you are not on your game.   

Like with VCU last night, every game matters for UVA.  Right now, they will not have a place on selection Sunday to play Baseball into June.  Winning as many games as possible in a convincing fashion if possible is the only way to finish the year and hold their heads high.   The game almost got away from them last night, but the point is, a win is a win.  The best way forward, is to head into the break with momentum, and to do that you need to beat Navy.  Will the Hoos run over Navy and get win #20 in the all-time series, or will the Midshipmen sink Virginia late in the year?  We will find out at 3:00pm at Disharoon Park.  You can listen along on WINA and enjoy pregame coverage beginning at 2:45pm.