WEST POINT, N.Y. – Sophomore outfielder
Nick Andersen reached base five times while junior right-handed pitcher
Thomas Skrobe tossed 2.1 innings of hitless relief as the No. 4 seeded Holy Cross baseball team downed No. 1 seeded Army West Point 5-3 Saturday evening in game one of the Patriot League Semifinal Series on Doubleday Field.
The win moves the Crusaders to 22-27 overall and puts them one victory away from reaching the Patriot Leage Championship Series for the second straight year. The Black Knights fall to 28-19 and need to win a pair of elimination games. Army has won 12 of its last 13 games when facing elimination.
Andersen doubled in the top of the second, singled in the top of the fourth, homered in the top of the sixth to break a 1-1 deadlock and walked in the top of the eighth and ninth innings. He was a perfect 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI and run scored.
Skrobe entered the game with the go-ahead run on third base in the bottom of the second and got a strikeout looking to get out of danger. He struck out two tossing 25 pitches in the outing picking up the victory, his third of the year.
The Crusaders are 6-1 (.857) in 2026 against the Black Knights outscoring them 59-to-26 in those seven contests. Dating back to 2025, Holy Cross is 11-3 (.786) over their last 14 meetings versus Army and have outscored its counterparts 100-to-57 over those 14 games.
STARTING ON THE MOUND:
- Senior Jaden Wywoda: (ND), 6.0 innings pitched, eight hits allowed, two runs, one walk, four strikeouts, 95 pitches
- Andrew Berg (L, 6-3), 7.1 innings pitched, six hits allowed, four runs, three walks, four strikeouts, 109 pitches
OUT OF THE BULLPEN:
- Junior Thomas Skrobe: (W, 3-1), 2.1 innings pitched, zero hits allowed, zero runs, zero walks, two strikeouts, 25 pitches
- Josiah Overbeek: 1.0 innings pitched, two hits allowed, one run, two walks, zero strikeouts, 30 pitches
STEPPING TO THE PLATE:
- Andersen: 3-for-3, double, home run, two RBI, two runs scored, two walks
- Freshman Owen Stelzer: 1-for-3, walk
- Senior CJ Egrie: 1-for-4, walk
- Junior Ryan Grundy: 1-for-5, RBI
- Junior Colin Brown: 0-for-3, sacrifice, RBI, stolen base
- Overbeek: 2-for-4, double, home run, RBI, two runs scored, walk
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Army loaded the bases in the bottom of the second with only one out, Wywoda got a pop out and Stelzer made a leaping snow cone catch at short to strand the bases loaded.
- Army hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third to lead 1-0.
- Brown tied the game in the top of the fourth via a sacrifice bunt to plate junior Gianni Royer making it 1-1.
- Andersen gave the Crusaders the lead 3-1 in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer.
- A sacrifice fly from Army in the sixth brought them within one, 3-2. Wywoda struck out his fourth batter stranding the tying run at second ending his outing.
- Another sacrifice fly by the hosts in the bottom of the seventh tied the game 3-3. Skrobe came in and stranded the go-ahead run at third base via punchout.
- Grundy regained the lead for the Crusaders in the eighth via an RBI single through the right side making the margin 4-3. Holy Cross loaded the bases with two outs, but could not cross the plate.
- A fielder's choice error plated junior Alex Sandell in the ninth for an important insurance tally.
POSTGAME THOUGHTS:
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