4/14/2002 - Baseball
Navy Baseball Splits Sunday Doubleheader with Holy Cross
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy baseball team split a doubleheader with Holy Cross Sunday afternoon at Max Bishop Stadium to capture the four-game series after sweeping a doubleheader from the Crusaders Saturday. Holy Cross designated hitter Steve Buckley's solo home run in the top of the 10th inning gave the Crusaders a 3-2 win in the opener, while Navy captured the nightcap, 5-3.
"The first game today was a war of attrition, but I thought Holy Cross' relief pitcher Jason Lynch was the difference in the game," Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer said. "He did a great job and we could not get any runs on the board. I thought we pitched well all afternoon. We found a way to hang in there during that second game in order for us to win the series and keep in contention for a spot in the Patriot League Tournament."
In the nightcap, Navy (12-20, 7-5 Patriot League) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. John Cocca (Sr./Whitehall, Pa.) doubled to left field off Crusader starting pitcher Jay Carberry, scoring Pete Curnow (Fr./Morristown, N.J.) from second base. Cocca then stole second and scored on designated hitter Will Mahan's (Jr./Escondida, Calif.) RBI-single to right field.
After Navy starting pitcher Brian Pennell (Sr./Saratoga, N.Y.) hit center fielder Matthew McEvoy and catcher Dale Johnson to start the top of the second inning, first baseman Drew Bigda singled up the middle to scored McEvoy from second.
The Crusaders tied the game in the top of the fifth when left fielder Chris Doneski drove in Bigda with a single to center field, however the Mids responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Pinch hitter Brad Hager (Jr./Delray Beach, Fla.) tagged up from third and scored on Cocca's sacrifice fly to first, while Curnow advanced to second and Jason Guidos (Sr./Portland, Ore.) to third on the play. Third baseman Jake Miller (Jr./Santa Maria, Calif.) then ripped a single to left off Carberry, plating Curnow and Guidos to give Navy a 5-2 advantage.
Holy Cross (9-18, 4-8) cut the lead to 5-3 when Dan Powers scored from third on second baseman Peter Summa's ground out to shortstop. Bryan Koehler (Sr./Lutz, Fla.) came out of the bullpen to get the final out of the inning and closed out the top of the seventh for Navy to earn his second save of the weekend.
Pennell worked five innings, allowing two runs on four hits to improve to 2-1 overall, while Carberry dropped to 1-2.
In the first game, the Crusaders scored a pair of runs in the top of the second and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. Navy's offense finally got going in bottom of the sixth where the Mids tied the game at 2-2. Cocca's RBI-single to center scored pinch hitter Dominic Nicolini (Sr./Merrillville, Ind.). With one out and runners on second and third, Holy Cross elected to walk Miller to setup the double play, but it didn't work as Curnow tagged and scored from third on Hager's sacrifice fly to center.
Buckley homered to left field to start the top of the 10th inning off Navy reliever Zach Poelma (Jr./East Amherst, N.Y.), giving the Crusaders a 3-2 win to avoid a sweep. Poelma dropped to 1-2 with the loss, while Lynch allowed just one hit and struckout four batters in 3.1 innings to improve to 3-1 overall.
The white-hot hitting Curnow led the Mids at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a stolen base and scored a run, while center fielder John Raus led Holy Cross with three hits. Curnow, who went 2-for-4 in his first collegiate game against Maryland last Wednesday, batted 8-for-12 with a double, three walks, five stolen bases and six runs scored in four games against Holy Cross.
"(Curnow's performance) was a big shot in the arm for us this week," Whitmyer said. "If he continues to be a good leadoff hitter and get on base, then that will really help us. We are just real pleased with the way he is performing."
Navy returns to action Wednesday at 3 p.m. when the Mids play host to Maryland at Max Bishop Stadium.
