WORCESTER, Mass. – Juniors
Braden Connors and
John LaFleur each hit home runs and drove in three each as the Holy Cross baseball team swept the three-game series with Patriot League foe Army West Point earning a 10-2 victory Monday afternoon at the Ballpark at Fitton Field.
The win was the fourth straight for the Crusaders (13-16, 8-4 PL) and seventh over their last 10 games. The Black Knights fell to 15-14, 6-6 PL with the defeat. Holy Cross outscored Army 37-to-13 in the three-game series.
Connors finished the game going 2-for-4 with a triple, home run, three RBI and three runs scored while LaFleur was 1-for-4 with a three-run tater. Junior second baseman
Alex Sandell had a multi-hit effort finishing the contest 2-for-4 with an RBI, two runs scored, a walk and a stolen base.
Junior
Ryan Grundy extended his hitting streak to 13 games finishing the contest 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Grundy is hitting .400 (16-for-40) with six doubles, two homers, 18 RBI, eight walks, 13 runs scored and two stolen bases during the hot stretch.
Holy Cross pitching recorded 11 strikeouts of Army on Monday and 31 punch outs over the three game set. Sophomore left-hander
Derek Volz tossed a personal-high 100 pitches over 4.2 innings matching a career-high with six strikeouts. Junior
Nick Harnisch matched his personal-best with four punchouts across 2.1 hitless innings of work earning his first win of the year.
The Crusaders are 5-1 (.833) in 2026 against the Black Knights outscoring them 54-to-23 in those six contests. Dating back to 2025, Holy Cross is 10-3 (.769) over their last 13 meetings versus Army and have outscored its counterparts 95-to-54 over those 13 games.
STARTING ON THE MOUND:
- Sophomore Derek Volz: (ND), 4.2 innings pitched, one hit allowed, one run, seven walks, six strikeouts, 100 pitches
- Trey Ates: (L, 2-1), 3.0 innings pitched, six hits allowed, five runs, zero walks, three strikeouts, 69 pitches
OUT OF THE BULLPEN:
- Junior Nick Harnisch: (W, 1-0), 2.1 innings pitched, zero hits allowed, zero runs, zero walks, four strikeouts
STEPPING TO THE PLATE:
- Connors: 2-for-4, triple. home run, three RBI, three runs scored
- Sandell: 2-for-4, RBI, two runs scored, walk, stolen base
- Grundy: 2-for-4, RBI, two runs scored, stolen base
- Freshman Owen Stelzer: 1-for-2, run cored, two walks
- LaFleur: 1-for-4, home run, three RBI, run scored
- Jack Quinlan: 1-for-3, RBI
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Army flared an RBI single to right center for the 1-0 lead in the first.
- Senior CJ Egrie wore the first pitch of the bottom of the first then Connors tripled to center which plated Egrie to tie the game. Connors came around to score on Sandell's RBI single to take a 2-1 edge early.
- Grundy extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI single to right in the third, sophomore Simon Landry had an RBI groundout and sophomore Nick Andersen went the opposite way for an RBI single to lead 5-1 after three.
- Connors demolished a two-run homer on a 1-2 count for the 7-1 Crusader lead in the fourth.
- Army loaded the bases in the fifth and chased Volz from the game. Harnish came in and immediately struck out his first batter looking to end the scoring threat.
- In the sixth, LaFleur walloped a three-run shot for the 10-1 Crusader advantage.
POSTGAME THOUGHTS:
DUE UP:
- Holy Cross continues its six game week on Tuesday, April 7 against Stonehill (12-14, 10-2 NEC).
- First pitch is at 5 p.m.
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