3/13/2002 - Baseball
Mids Fall to 25th-Ranked Hatters, 10-7
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DELAND, Fla. ? The Navy baseball team got its offense going Wednesday evening at Conrad Park, however the Mids were unable to outlast 25th-ranked Stetson, 10-7.
?We lost to a real good club tonight,? Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer said. ?Stetson is the kind of team that can score a lot of runs, and they throw the ball really well. We made a couple of errors that cost us, but it was a battle from start to finish. Their last two pitchers are probably the two best we have seen this year. We swung the bats a lot better and were more aggressive.?
Navy left fielder Dean Farmer (So./Knoxville, Tenn.) belted his third homer run of the season, a two-out blast on a full count to left center off Stetson starting pitcher John DeStefano, giving the Mids a 1-0 lead after the first inning.
The Mids continued to pound away on DeStefano in the top of the second inning. Four-straight singles by Navy, which included RBI-singles with the bases loaded by Brad Hager (Jr./Delray Beach, Fla.) and Orange City, Fla,, native Craig Candeto scored Neil Brubeck (Sr./Bryan, Texas) and John Cocca (Sr./Whitehall, Pa.). Chris Ashinhurst (So./Stafford, Va.) scored from third on a wild pitch by DeStefano, as Navy built a 4-0 advantage.
Stetson (17-2) cut the Mids? lead in half with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second on an RBI-double down the right field line by center fielder Josh Laws and a sacrifice fly to center field by Rusty Beale.
Back-to-back solo home runs by Brian Snyder and Bryan Zenchyk in the bottom of the third inning off the Mids? starting pitcher Matt Cooney (Jr./Mountaintop, Pa.) tied the game at four. However, a throwing error by Navy shortstop Matt Lukevics (Fr./Tampa, Fla.) allowed Chris Cole to score from second with two outs to give the Hatters a one-run lead.
Stetson?s four-run fourth inning, highlighted by Zenchyk?s two-run round-tripper to left field off Navy relief pitcher Ryan Naquin (Jr./Sweeny, Texas), gave the Hatters a five-run cushion.
In the top of the fifth, Farmer?s fourth double of the season scored Candeto from second and advanced Lukevics to third. Lukevics then scored on David Woolsey?s (Sr./Columbia, S.C.) ground out to short.
The Hatters pushed their lead to 10-6 on Ian Church?s RBI-single to left field in the fifth inning.
Navy got a run back in the top of the seventh on Dominic Nicolini?s pinch-hit single to left field, scoring Cocca.
Stetson reliever Jack Collins improved to 3-2 with the win, while Aaron Wilson earned his fourth save of the season. Cooney dropped to 0-2 for the Mids.
Farmer went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, while Candeto batted 2-for-5 with an RBI. Cocca has also had two hits and stole two bases for the Mids.
Navy will close out its Spring Break trip Thursday at 2 p.m., when the Mids travel to Jacksonville, Fla., to take on Butler at Harmon Stadium on the campus of North Florida University.
