WORCESTER, Mass. (Interstat) — Matt Archibald dominated over five hitless innings and the Navy offense capitalized on early mistakes to power past Holy Cross 9-5 in the first game of a Patriot League doubleheader on Saturday.

The Midshipmen (25-14, 3-1 Patriot) seized control with a four-run first inning, all unearned, and never trailed to secure their third straight win in the series. The Crusaders fell to 16-22 overall and 1-3 in league play.

Archibald, Navy’s top star, was overpowering. The right-hander struck out five and walked three, allowing no hits and no earned runs. He faced minimal threat, with Holy Cross scoring two unearned runs in the first on a Navy fielding error, a walk, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly. Archibald exited after five innings with a 7-4 lead, having thrown 74 pitches. He has now allowed just one earned run over his last 12 innings, following a seven-inning, 12-strikeout performance against Lafayette on April 11.

The most important sequence of the game came immediately, as Navy exploited Holy Cross miscues in the top of the first. After an opening flyout, Victor Izquierdo singled and Van Brown reached on a throwing error. Patrick Walsh followed with an RBI single, Brown scored on a wild pitch, and Walsh later came home on an RBI single by Chris Klug. All four runs were unearned against Holy Cross starter Brett Mulligan, who recorded only one out before being relieved.

Navy extended its lead with small ball and timely hitting. They added a run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Noah Stead, another in the third on a solo home run by Evan Brown, and three more in the fourth. In the fourth, an RBI groundout by Will Howard, a run-scoring single by Izquierdo and a sacrifice fly by Brown made it 8-2. Navy finished with 11 hits, two sacrifice flies and two sacrifice bunts.

Holy Cross, limited to just three hits all afternoon, scraped across runs via Navy errors and wild pitches. They scored twice in the first without a hit, added two more unearned runs in the fifth, and got their only extra-base hit in the sixth when Alex Sandell hit an inside-the-park home run off reliever Timmy Virtudes to cut the deficit to 9-5.

Virtudes finished the game for Navy, allowing one earned run over two innings with two strikeouts. Thomas Skrobe was a bright spot for Holy Cross in relief, striking out five over 2 2/3 innings while allowing one run. Nick Harnisch pitched a scoreless seventh for the Crusaders.

Izquierdo went 2-for-3 with an RBI for Navy. Klug was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, and Howard drove in two runs. For Holy Cross, Sandell’s home run accounted for half of the team’s hits, as he finished 2-for-4. Colin Brown added an RBI double.

The victory went against pregame projections. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a Holy Cross 7-5 win, and its ELO system gave the Crusaders a 50.40 percent probability of victory.

The teams were set to conclude the doubleheader later Saturday. Navy will host Maryland-Eastern Shore on Wednesday, while Holy Cross travels to Dartmouth on Tuesday.