Baseball Walks Off Navy in Opening Game of Star Series

Friday, March 27

West Point, N.Y

1:00 p.m.

Army West Point

13-10, 5-2

Navy

15-10, 2-5

Navy

Army West Point

Photo by: lynn fern photography

Baseball Walks Off Navy in Opening Game of Star Series

March 27, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army-Navy baseball rivalry has a tone for the dramatic.

Friday afternoon at Doubleday Field exemplified that in the best way possible for Army West Point baseball.

Faced with extra innings in the opening game of the baseball star series, and with an early 4-0 lead erased, the Black Knights needed to dig deep for the decisive run, and got just that in the bottom of the 10th.

Army (13-10, 5-2) went eight straight innings without a run, but kept themselves alive down the stretch and would get a leadoff double in the 10th from pinch-hitter John McKillop. Cue David Dubrule.

Dubrule would lay down a perfect bunt into the shallow infield, forcing an errant throw from the third baseman to the shortstop covering at third, and allowing pinch-runner JT Craig to score and give Army a 5-4 win in the three-game series opener.

The Black Knights will now need a win on Saturday or Sunday to secure the series and star win.

Army begun the rivalry game red-hot. After William Parker reached on an inning-extending error from the Navy second baseman, Thomas Schreck gave the home team an RBI infield single and a 1-0 lead.

Carter Hewitt stepped up to the plate an inning later and hit his first career home run, a three-run homer to make it 4-0.

From there, Army leaned on starting pitcher Andrew Berg, who struck out five and pitched 6.1 innings. He had to work around a run in the second and two in the fifth, before a solo home run in the seventh tied the contest. However, he stranded a pair of runners in the fifth to limit the damage, and worked a pair of perfect frames on the afternoon.

Robbie Penswick picked up the win, taking over for Berg in the seventh and pitching 3.2 innings, paired with a trio of strikeouts.

Penswick retired seven straight batters to get through the ninth, but ran into trouble in the 10th. Faced with two runners on and nobody out, he induced two ground ball outs before ending the frame with a strikeout to keeping the game tied to set up Army's win in the bottom half of the inning.

By the Numbers

9: Army's pitching retired Navy's leadoff batter in each of the first nine innings.

137: Army's win over Navy on Friday was its 137th all-time and breaks the all-time series tie for the moment.

Black Knight Notes

The Berg vs. Brady Bendik pitching matchup played out for the third time in the pitchers' careers Friday. On March 28 a season ago, the arms each tossed complete games in a seven-inning game at West Point, before meeting again in the opening game of the Patriot Leage Semifinal Series on May 10.

Penswick's win was his first winning decision over Navy, having previously earned a save against the Mids on March 15 on the back end of a doubleheader.

Army's win was its first walk-off win in 2026 and the first since April 9 vs. Marist a season ago.

The Black Knights won a game in extra innings for the first time in 2026. Chris Tracz is 7-4 in extra inning games at Army since taking the job ahead of 2023. Army has seen each of its past two games vs. Navy result in extra inning wins, dating back to the 2025 Patriot League Semifinal Series. Army is 3-0 in extra innings vs. Navy in the Tracz era.

The Black Knights have now won 23 of their past 34 games against academy rivals.

Next Up

The series continues with a 3:00 p.m. matchup at Doubleday Field on Saturday.

Follow the Black Knights

Follow Army Baseball on X @ArmyWP_Baseball and on Instagram @armywp_baseball. Fans can also like Army West Point Athletics on Facebook and learn more about baseball and other programs at goarmywestpoint.com.