2/18/2005 - Baseball
Baseball Opens 2005 Season Saturday at Savannah State Tournament

Files associated with this release:
Baseball Notes (Games 1-4)

Leading Off For Navy...
Games #1-4 - Savannah State Tournament

Who: Navy (0-0) vs. Savannah State (0-0) (DH)
**Sat., Feb. 19, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Navy (0-0) vs. Villanova (0-0)
**Sun., Feb. 20, 12 p.m.
Navy (0-0) vs. Virginia Tech (0-0)
**Sun., Feb. 20, 3 p.m.

What: Savannah State Season-Opening Invitational

Where: Tiger Field (300), Savannah, Ga.

Coaches: Navy -- Steve Whitmyer (94-137-1 entering his sixth season overall;
79-110-1 entering his fifth season at Navy)
Savannah State -- Jamie Rigdon (297-121-1 entering his ninth season at
Savannah State)
Villanova -- Joe Godri (75-75-1 entering his fourth season overall)
Virginia Tech -- Chuck Hartman (1,401-755-8 entering his 47th season
overall; 918-530-8 entering his 28th season at Virginia Tech)

Quick Hits
** Navy opens its 110th season of baseball Saturday with a doubleheader versus Savannah State.
** Navy and Savannah State are meeting for the first time.
** Navy leads the all-time series with Villanova 29-9-1, as both teams last met in 2002. The Mids are 162-86-3 all-time against teams from the Big East Conference.
** Navy leads the all-time series with Virginia Tech 2-0, as both teams have not met since 1938. The Midshipmen are 75-90-3 all-time against teams from the ACC.
** Navy was just 3-21 on the road during the 2004 season.
** The Midshipmen were 0-2 in neutral site games last season.


About Savannah State
Savannah State enters the 2005 season after posting a 24-22 record during the 2004 campaign. The Tigers return five position players and six pitchers, including outfielder Brandon Pope, who batted .325 with four home runs and 27 runs batted in last season.

About Villanova
Villanova returns 22 letterwinners from its 2004 team which went 31-20. The Wildcats are led by third baseman Angelo Petracca, who batted .323 in his first season with Villanova, tops among all returning players.

Last Time Out Versus The Wildcats
Navy opened play in the 2002 Service Academy Spring Classic (Millington, Tenn.) with a 6-5 come-from-behind win over Villanova on Feb. 22. Navy, trailing 5-2 after six innings, won it in the top of the ninth on Craig Candeto's (Class of ?04) fielders choice grounder, which brought home Jason Guidos. Mitch Eliason earned the win for the Mids, while Steven Goocey tossed a scoreless 2/3 of an inning to earn his first save of the season.

About Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech enters its first season in the ACC this spring. The Hokies went 29-27 in their final season in the Big East in 2004 and have several returnees and newcomers sprinkled throughout the 2005 roster. Virginia Tech will have the services of just three seniors this season, but one will be third baseman Chris Stanton, who batted .308 and led the team in hits (69), runs scored (47) and stolen bases (34-for-37) in 2004.

Last Time Out Versus The Hokies
Navy and Virginia Tech last met during the 1938 season, with the Mids pulling out a 3-1 victory on April 13. First baseman R.R. Wooding led the way for Navy by driving in a pair of runs.

Georgia Ties
Junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Heykens (Cleveland) and freshman first baseman Anthony Kozycki (LaGrange) will be making a homecoming this weekend as they both hail from the state of Georgia.

Tournament Play
The Midshipmen will open their 2005 season with the first seven games coming in tournament play. Navy will play four games in the Savannah State Invitational this weekend and three in the Service Academies Spring Classic (Feb. 25-27) in Millington, Tenn.

Looking to Snap String Of Season-Opening Losses
Navy has lost five-straight season openers dating back to the 2000 season. Navy's last season-opening win came back on Feb. 20, 1999, as the Mids defeated Guilford, 9-1.

Navy picked fifth in the patriot league
The Patriot League's coaches and sports information directors picked Navy to finish fifth according to the 2004-05 Preseason Patriot League Baseball Poll. The Mids posted a 14-36 overall record and a 7-13 league mark in 2004, and finished tied for fifth out of six teams in the league standings.

2005 Patriot League Preseason Poll
Rank...School...Pts....2004 Overall Record...2004 PL Record
1...Army (10)...50..37-15...17-3
2...Lehigh (2)...36...25-21...9-11
3...Holy Cross...28...14-22-1...9-11
4...Lafayette...26...23-26...11-9
5...Navy...22...14-36...7-13
6...Bucknell...18...20-24...7-13
(#) -- first-place votes

Senior Captain Trevor Thompson
Senior Trevor Thompson will serve as captain of the 2005 Navy baseball team. The Kent, Wash., native owns a career .242 batting average with two home runs and 13 RBI. Thompson, who can play all three outfield positions, was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in November.


Thompson Awarded Rhodes Scholarship
Navy baseball senior captain Trevor Thompson was one of three midshipmen to receive a Rhodes Scholarship, which was announced in November by a regional committee of the Rhodes Trust. The scholarship is a grant for American college students to attend the prestigious Oxford University in England. The 22-year-old Thompson intends to study economics and social history at Oxford.

Projects Thompson is a part of:
**1st Regimental Commander (there are two regiments of 2,000 midshipmen each at the Academy)
**Plebe Summer Company Commander (summer of 2004)
**2nd Battalion Sergeant Major (fall of 2003)
**Mini-BUDS Screener Boat Crew Commander (November of 2003)
**Moderator at the Academy's foreign affairs conference
**Led a service program for students to travel to Nicaragua

New Faces
Twenty-one (21) freshmen appear on the 2005 Navy baseball roster. A total of 49 players comprise the squad with just five of those being seniors.

Returning All-Patriot League Performers
Navy welcomes the return of two First-Team All-Patriot League performers from the 2004 season. Junior Jared Munde (27 starts in 34 games) earned the honor as a first baseman last season after batting a team-high .356 (minimum 60 at-bats) with two home runs and 20 RBI. Sophomore Burgess Nichols garnered the league honor after going 2-0 with a team-leading 3.54 earned run average. Nichols also led the team with four saves while starting four games with one complete-game performance.

Hitting Machine
Senior Matt Lukevics enters the 2005 season with a three-game hitting streak. Lukevics recorded a team-high 10-game hitting streak from (April 18-24) during last season.

Navy Adds jason Ronai to Coaching Staff
Navy baseball head coach Steve Whitmyer recently announced that Jason Ronai has been added to the coaching staff. A Springfield, Ohio, native, Ronai was a four-year starter at UNC-Asheville. Ronai, who earned four letters, was named the team MVP his junior season and captained the squad during his senior campaign. He graduated from UNC-Asheville in 2001, ranking second all-time in total hits and stolen bases. Ronai played one season of independent professional baseball (2002) for the Alexandria Aces of the Central League.During that time, he began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Indiana State (2001-02). His duties included working with hitters, outfielders and improving their baserunning. Ronai moved on and spent a year as the Director of Onfield Sessions for the recruiting service "Baseball Factory" in 2003. He was promoted to Director of The Exclusive Program in 2004, where he helped guide high school players through the recruiting process.

Navy To Face Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Navy will step onto the diamond March 2 and live the dream of a lifetime when it faces the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in an exhibition at Progress Energy Park in St. Petersburg, Fla. (1:05 p.m.). Navy is one of just seven NCAA Division I-A schools scheduled to face Major League Baseball teams this spring. The others include Miami, Fla. (vs. Florida, March 1); Georgia Tech (vs. Atlanta, March 2); Florida Atlantic (vs. St. Louis, March 2); Northeastern (vs. Boston, March 4); Boston College (vs. Boston, March 4); and San Diego State (vs. San Diego, March 30).

Major Conference Opponents
Navy will be prepared for Patriot League-play this season as it will face several teams from major conferences in the non-conference portion of its 2005 schedule. The Mids will face teams from the ACC (Duke and Virginia Tech), Big East (Boston College, Georgetown and Villanova), Big Ten (Indiana) and Big 12 (Missouri). In addition to those conferences, Navy will face East Carolina from Conference USA, Buffalo from the MAC and Air Force from the Mountain West Conference.

Making Sure It Doesn't Happen Again
The 2004 season was one of firsts for Navy in two categories. The Mids failed to qualify for the Patriot League tournament for the first time in school history after posting a 14-36 record and a 7-13 mark in league play. Navy also posted a losing record of 11-13 at home, marking the first time since 1964 (40 years) the Midshipmen had a losing record at home. Navy went 7-10 that season.

Returning Statistical Leaders
Hitting
Category...Player (Stat)
Average...Jared Munde (.356)
Home runs...J.P. Temperilli (5)
Runs batted in...J.P. Temperilli (24)
Runs scored...Matt Lukevics (21)
Hits...Matt Lukevics (36)
Doubles...D.J. Faldowski and Matt Lukevics (8)
Triples...Dominic Lopez (2)
At-bats...Matt Lukevics (158)
Slugging percentage...Ryan McGinn (.506)
Walks...Matt Lukevics (12)
Strikeouts...Matt Lukevics (44)
Multiple-hit game...Matt Lukevics (8)
Multiple-RBI games...J.P. Temperilli (6)
Longest hitting streak...Matt Lukevics (10)

Pitching
Category...Player (Stat)
Wins ...Ryan Hefner and Jeff Lange (3)
Losses ...Ryan Hefner and Rob Molinaro (6)
Earned run average ...Burgess Nichols (3.54)
Saves ...Burgess Nichols (4)
Appearances ...Joe Koessler (27)
Starts ...Ryan Hefner (11)
Complete games ...Ryan Hefner (2)
Innings pitched ...Ryan Hefner (60)

Fielding
Category ...Player (Stat)
Percentage ...J.P. Temperilli (1.000)
Assists ...Matt Lukevics (99)
Errors ...Matt Lukevics (27)
Putouts ...Jared Munde (196)
Fielding double plays ...Jared Munde (17)

Next Up
The Midshipmen will be back on the road Feb. 25-27, as they compete in the Service Academies Spring Classic in Millington, Tenn. Navy will face Missouri, Friday, Feb. 25, at 10 a.m., and take on service academy-foe Air Force on Saturday at the same time. Navy will conclude competition in the Classic, Sunday, when it faces Indiana at 9 a.m. Other teams competing in the tournament will be Indiana State and Memphis. All games will be played at USA Stadium.