4/19/2002 - Baseball
Navy Baseball Travels to League-Leading Lafayette
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - With just eight-league games remaining, the Navy baseball team heads north to the Lehigh Valley Saturday for a doubleheader at 12 noon with undefeated Patriot League leading Lafayette. The teams will close out the four-game series Sunday with another doubleheader beginning at 12 noon.
Lafayette leads the league with an 8-0 league record, its best start in school history, followed by Lehigh in second-place with a 5-3 mark and Navy in third at 7-5. The top-three teams will advance to the Patriot League Tournament, May 11-12, which will be hosted by the regular season champion.
"Lafayette is a dangerous team with the way they swing the bat," Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer said. "(Lafayette head coach and former Naval Academy assistant coach) Joe Kinney has done a nice job with their program, and they are really making some noise this year. As a team, we are still working to try and put together a strong pitching, hitting and defensive performance all together. We need to continue to get solid pitching from our starters and come up with some hits in key situations this weekend."
Navy took three-out-of-four from Holy Cross last weekend in Annapolis, while dropping an 8-4 decision to Maryland Wednesday. The Mids have won four of their last six-league games, but are just 2-13 on the road this season.
As a team, Navy is batting .237 overall, led by outfielder Pete Curnow (Fr./Morristown, N.J.) who is hitting .526 (10-for-19) with 10 hits and 11 runs scored in just six games. Infielder Brad Hager (Jr./Delray Beach, Fla.) is hitting .361 with a double, a triple, a home run and five RBIs.
On the mound, right-hander Andy Froistad (So./St. Paul, Minn.) is 3-1 with a 2.19 earned-run average in nine appearances for the Mids. Out of the bullpen, right-hander Bryan Koehler (Sr./Lutz, Fla.) has made a team-high 15 appearances and is 3-1 overall with two saves and a 3.97 ERA.
Lafayette leads the league with a .324 batting average, while four Leopards are ranked in the top 10. Third baseman Vince D'Angelis is the league's top hitter, boasting a .412 average with (42-for-102) to go along with six doubles, a triple, three home runs, 31 RBIs and 28 runs scored. Catcher Craig Alexander is second in the league with a .390 average and has a team-high 10 doubles along with two triples, two home runs and 19 RBIs.
Right-hander Joe Saporatti has been strong on the mound for Lafayette this season, posting a 5-2 record in six starts, while tossing three complete games with a 3.40 ERA. Marcus Ward is 4-1 overall and leads the team in innings pitched (48.2), strikeouts (40) and complete games (four).
Last season in Annapolis, Lafayette won the opener 7-3 before Navy got on track to win the final-three games of the series, including a pair of 4-3 victories. The Mids lead the overall series, 36-15-2.
