3/13/2002 - Baseball
Navy Baseball Notebook: Talented Freshman Shortstop Making an Impact
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DeLAND, Fla. ? With 10 seniors on this year?s Navy baseball team, freshman Matt Lukevics is starting to settle in to his role on the experienced-laden squad.
The starting shortstop is the Mids? leading hitter on the team, boasting a .324 batting average. Lukevics also leads Navy in doubles (five), slugging percentage (.471) and is second in hits with 11. Like most freshmen, Lukevics has had to make the adjustment from the high school to the college game, but seems to be making it just fine.
?The college game is faster paced than high school and the players are a lot bigger and stronger,? Lukevics said. ?I have just worked harder. You have to keep up and compete hard to in order to get some innings.?
Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer said Lukevics has adjusted to the college game quite well, but isn?t putting in any extra pressure on the Tampa, Fla. native.
?I think he has made the transition very well,? Whitmyer said. ?He is competitive, plays hard and does not seem to be apprehensive about too many things like young freshmen are in their first year.
?I am not expecting any certain type of performance from Matt. As long as he approaches the game with maturity and desire, he should have a good year for us.?
Drafted in the 45th round of the Major League Baseball Draft last spring by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, baseball runs rampant through the Lukevics family genes.
Matt?s father, Mitch, has 27 years of experience in professional baseball. Mitch came up through the Chicago White Sox farm system as a pitcher, while his grandfather, Alfred Schaefer, played for the Detroit Tigers. Currently, Mitch works in the front office for the Devil Rays after stints with the New York Yankees and the White Sox.
His father?s wealth of baseball knowledge has rubbed off on Matt.
?My Dad just taught me how the game is suppose to be played and how to act on the field,? Matt said. ?He never forced the game on me though. With 27 years of experience, baseball is all he knows.?
Instead of trying to enter the professional ranks, Matt opted to bring his bat and glove to the Naval Academy. Several big baseball schools recruited him out of Jesuit High School, including 25th-ranked Stetson, Navy?s opponent tonight. He also looked at a few of the Ivy League schools but the Academy seemed to be a natural fit.
?Coming to Navy was just a great opportunity after looking at all the other schools,? Lukevics said. ?School is paid for, you get a great education and you have a job after graduation.?
So far, so good for Lukevics.
?I really like playing here,? Lukevics said. ?Everybody works really hard, and nobody is out trying to impress professional scouts. We just go out and have a good time, while playing ball.?
Lukevics still has hope that a chance to play professionally might come true down the road.
?It has been a dream of mine to play in the pros since I was little, but it will take a lot of extra work on my part,? he said. ?It doesn?t happen much at the Academy, so we?ll see what happens.?
Navy Baseball Visits St. Jude?s Children?s Hospital in Memphis
During Navy?s trip to Millington, Tenn., for the Service Academy Spring Classic, the Mids visited St. Jude?s Children?s Hospital in Memphis and were able to spread some joy among the cancer patients.
On February 21, a group of about 15 players and coaches spent three hours at the hospital, playing games with the kids and signing autographs. The team also handed out Navy pen and pencil sets and Navy baseball posters that were a big hit.
Notes
- Junior Matt Cooney (Mountaintop, Pa.) will get the start on the mound, as the Mids take on Stetson at 7 p.m. tonight at Conrad Park. Cooney is 0-1 in three appearances with nine strikeouts in 12 innings of work.
- The Navy defense has committed just two errors in the last 36 innings, while the Mids have recorded an extra base hit in all 13 games this season.
- Stetson has won nine of its last 10 games with tonight being the final game of the Hatters? 11-game homestand.
- Stetson right fielder Ian Church saw his 18-game hitting streak come to an end last night. The junior went 0-for-4, while teammate Bryan Zenchyk extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a 3-for-4 performance. Zenchyk is just two games from tying Rich Floyd?s school record of 21 straight games with a hit set in 1987.
- Tonight?s game can be heard live on the internet at www.stetson.edu/offices/athletics(.)
