Game One Box Score (Army 8, Holy Cross 1)

Game Two Box Score (Army 5, Holy Cross 2)

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Ben Koenigsfeld allowed one run in the first inning, then fired six scoreless frames for a complete-game victory in the opener and Clint Moore tripled, doubled, scored two runs and drove in two runs in the nightcap, leading Army to a doubleheader sweep of Holy Cross in Patriot League action, Sunday afternoon at Doubleday Field.

The Black Knights posted an 8-1 victory in the first game and a 5-2 win in the second contest to remain in the thick of the race for a Patriot League playoff spot.

One day after surrendering 21 runs and 26 base hits during two losses on a cold, blustery Saturday afternoon at West Point, Army’s pitchers reversed their fortunes in the warm sunshine on Sunday as Koenigsfeld, second game starter Kirk Porter and reliever Tyler Anderegg combined to limit the Patriot League leading-Crusaders to three runs and nine base hits in the critical pair of victories.

After jumping on the Black Knights’ starting pitchers for runs in the first inning of both games on Saturday, Holy Cross was at it again in the first game Sunday. John Sills smacked a single through the right side of the infield, Eric Oxford hit a hot smash off Koenigsfeld’s glove for an infield single and Nick Cardiello walked, loading the bases with one out. But Koenigsfeld limited the damage by inducing Tim Hughes to fly out to center field and retiring Jake Gorman on a combacker. Hughes’ sacrifice fly proved to be the only run Army’s sophomore right-hander would yield the entire game.

In fact, Koenigsfeld allowed just one base runner to reach scoring position the rest of the game, retiring the Crusaders in order during five of the final six innings. He allowed only two base runners over the final six frames, a leadoff single by Chris Sintetos in the fifth inning and a two-out single by Matt Perry later in the stanza. In all, he retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced.

Army wasted little time getting Koenigsfeld a lead, touching Holy Cross starter Matt Shapiro for three runs on five base hits in the bottom of the first. Zach Price sliced a leadoff double that hit the left-field line, stole third base and scored on Moore’s line-drive single to left. Joey Henshaw followed with a mammoth two-run home run over the right-field fence for a 3-1 Army lead.

Koenigsfeld help his own cause with a towering solo blast to straightaway center field with one out in the third to extend the Black Knights’ lead to 4-1. The score remained that way until the sixth when J.P. Polchinski smashed a leadoff double to the right-center field gap and Andy Ernesto drew a walk, chasing Shapiro. J.T. Watkins then greeted Crusader reliever Steve Anderson by ripping the sophomore right-hander’s first offering over the fence in left-center field for a three-run homer, his first collegiate longball and Army’s third round-tripper of the game.

The Black Knights closed out the scoring later in the inning when Moore smacked a double down the left-field line and scored on a single to left-center field by Henshaw.

Koenigsfeld leveled his record at 3-3 with the victory, striking out eight and walking one. He has registered two complete-game wins in two Patriot League starts this spring, allowing eight hits (all singles) over 14.0 innings of work. He has struck out 17 and walked only two during that span. Both of his complete-game wins came on the heels of a doubleheader loss by Army the previous day.

Koenigsfeld, who fell just a double shy of hitting for the cycle, went 3-for-4 at the plate as well, while Henshaw finished 2-for-4 with one run scored and three runs batted in. Moore collected two hits, two runs scored and one RBI, while Watkins finished 2-for-3 with one run scored and three runs batted in, and Polchinski added a pair of base hits.

Shapiro (1-3) suffered the loss for Holy Cross, allowing six runs (six earned) on 10 base hits over five-plus innings of work.

Army (12-13, 3-5 Patriot) jumped out to a 5-0 lead after five innings of the second game, scoring three runs on just one base hit against Crusader starter Bobby Holmes in the third inning, and two runs on two hits in the fifth.

Holmes opened the third by hitting David Darnell and J.T. Watkins in the head with pitched balls consecutively. Neither player was hurt and Army placed those runners at first and second with no outs. Following Price’s successful sacrifice bunt, Ernesto grounded out to first base to deliver the first run of the game. Moore’s clutch, screaming triple over the head of Holy Cross left-fielder Billy Cupelo in left-center field stretched the Black Knights’ lead to 3-0.

Moore found himself in the middle of another rally in the fifth as Ernesto drew a two-out walk and Army’s standout shortstop lined an RBI double to the right-center field gap. Henshaw’s opposite-field single to left-center field plated Moore with the Black Knights’ fifth run of the game.

Porter (1-3), meanwhile, was strong on the mound for Army. Making just his second Patriot League start, the sophomore right-hander blanked the Crusaders through the first five innings. He allowed just three hits and four base runners in that time. After allowing a Holy Cross runner to reach third before stranding him on base in the top of the first, Porter did not permit another Crusader into scoring position before Tim Hughes’ two-out, two-run home run in the sixth. Porter faced one batter after that, issuing a walk to Jake Gorman before being relieved by Anderegg.

Anderegg was magnificent the rest of the way, slamming the door with 3.1 innings of shutout relief to secure his first save of the season. He permitted only one base hit and two base runners, while striking out one and failing to walk a batter. Porter allowed four hits and two runs over a career-long 5.2-inning mound stint. He struck out two and walked three.

Holmes dropped to 0-5 on the season with the setback for Holy Cross (12-16, 4-2 Patriot). He allowed five hits and five runs (five earned) over five innings of work.

Moore went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two runs batted in to lead Army’s offense, which managed just six base hits in the second game after pounding out 13 hits in the first contest.

With the doubleheader sweep, Army moved to within one game of third place in the Patriot League standings, just behind both Lafayette and Bucknell who stand tied at 4-4. Those two teams split a conference twinbill on Sunday, while Lehigh swept two games from Navy. Despite Sunday’s losses, Holy Cross continues to stand atop the Patriot League standings at 4-2, followed by Navy at 5-3. Army (3-5) and Lehigh (2-6) trail behind Bucknell (4-4) and Lafayette (4-4).

Army, which hosts arch-rival Navy in a crucial four game Patriot Leagues series next weekend, returns to non-league action on Tuesday when the Black Knights entertain Iona. First pitch at Doubleday Field is slated for 3:30 p.m.

Black Knights Blog: Though the wind was still gusting at Doubleday Field on Sunday, temperatures touched 60 degrees after hovering in the 40s on Saturday ... Army outhit Holy Cross in both contests, holding a 13-4 advantage in the first game and a 6-5 edge in the nightcap ... the Black Knights committed one fielding error in each game ... Army handed Holy Cross its first two losses in Patriot League play this season ... the Black Knights tied a season high with three home runs in the first game ... Army ripped three round-trippers in their season-opening defeat of Ohio University as well ... Tyler Anderegg has not allowed an earned run over nine innings of Patriot League work ... he has permitted just five base hits, while fanning eight and failing to walk a single batter in that stretch ...  he notched his third career save on Sunday ... Joey Henshaw extended his career-long hitting streak to nine games with an RBI single in the second game ... J.T. Watkins hit safely in all five games this week and remains in the midst of his finest stretch of the season ... Army’s freshman catcher batted .455 (5-11) with one double, one home run, two runs scored and three runs batted in during the weekend series ... he hit .429 (6-14) in five games overall last week ... Watkins also threw out 1 of 2 potential base-stealers during the weekend and 2 of 5 for the week ... J.P. Polchinski enjoyed a solid weekend for the Black Knights as well, lifting his seasonal batting average 51 percentage points to .243 by hitting safely in all four contests ... Polchinski went 7-for-12 (.583) with three doubles, one run scored and three runs batted in during the series ... he is now batting .409 in 22 official Patriot League plate appearances ... he sports a .591 slugging percentage and a .481 on-base percentage in conference action ... Henshaw's titanic home run in the first game marked his team-best third longball of the season ... he also tops the squad in batting average (.407), runs scored (21), base hits (33) and RBI (20) ... Henshaw batted .385 (5-13) with two home runs, four runs scored and five runs batted in against Holy Cross this weekend ... he hit .474 (9-19) with six runs scored and eight RBI in five games overall last week ... Clint Moore heads the Black Knights in both multiple-hit games (11) and multi-RBI affairs (7) ... Army played without the services of first baseman and cleanup hitter Kevin McKague again on Sunday ... the Black Knights’ stalwart sophomore has been unavailable to bat for the past seven contests and is listed as day-to-day (shoulder) ... in other Patriot League action this weekend, Lafayette took three of four games from Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa., while Navy and Lehigh split four decisions in Bethlehem, Pa. ... Army has not dropped a Patriot League series to Holy Cross since 1999.