Army West Point Baseball defeated archrival Navy May 20 at Doubleday Field to win its sixth consecutive Patriot League Tournament Championship with a 3-0 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-three series.
“It’s not set up to do this,” said Head Coach Chris Tracz on the program winning a sixth consecutive championship. “It’s a new team. We had to fight through a lot of stuff. But I’m really proud of them.”
CDT Matthew Ronnebaum ’25 pitched eight shutout innings and struck out nine batters. He tied his existing career highs in both categories, previously set at Navy last season, in a regular season game on April 23.
Having taken Game 1 of the best-of-three series Sunday, the Black Knights needed just two hits Monday to secure the conference title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
CDT Tanner Gresham ’24 worked around a pair of baserunners in the ninth inning to record his first save of the season in what was his fourth appearance back from Tommy John Surgery.
“[When I took the mound], there were a lot of things going through my head,” Gresham said. “That last out is still replaying in my mind right now. I didn’t just do it for myself; I did it for all of my teammates. It’s unbelievable.”
Army won the tournament title after claiming the regular season crown two weeks ago, with a 16-8 Patriot League regular season record. The Black Knights will take a 31-21 overall record to the NCAA Tournament.
By the Numbers
6: Army’s run of six consecutive conference tournament championships is the longest active streak in the country, across all leagues.
13: The Black Knights won their 13th Patriot League Tournament title, the most in the conference’s history.
15: Ronnebaum retired 15 straight batters from the first into the sixth innings.
5: Navy had just five total baserunners Monday.
Army extended its lead in the all-time series vs. Navy to 133-131 Monday after breaking a stalemate in Sunday’s Game 1 win. The Black Knights finished 5-2 on the year against Navy and 6-2 against service academy rivals, having defeated Air Force March 2. Army secured the Baseball Star over Navy with a three-game series win at West Point April 26-28. The program is 14-3 in its past 17 games against Navy. Army has also won 17 of its past 21 games over Navy and Air Force. Army’s shutout win was its fourth of the year and second against Navy. Ronnebaum was named Patriot League Tournament MVP and also secured a spot on the All-Tournament team. Additionally, CDTs Chris Barr ’26, William Parker ’26, and Steven Graver ’24 were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
Excerpt and images taken from https://westpoint.edu.
