2/27/2005 - Baseball
Baseball Downs Indiana 6-5 in 12 Innings
Millington, Tenn. - Junior Jared Munde (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the 12th inning Sunday to force in Lewis Hobbs (Wilmington, N.C.) for the game winning run and a 6-5 Navy win over Indiana in the final game of the 2005 Service Academies Classic at USA Stadium in Millington, Tenn.
Navy (3-3-1) loaded the bases in the 12th with three-consecutive singles by freshmen Thomas Hamilton (Houston, Texas) and Renaldo Hollins (Virginia Beach, Va.) and junior Jonathan-Matthew Johnston (Hamilton Township, N.J.).
Indiana put in reliever Matt Saba to face Munde, but he left a curveball hanging which grazed the batter on the side to force in the run.
The win marked the first time Navy beat Indiana, as the Hoosiers had won the previous two contests, including a 5-4 win in 11 innings in last season's Service Academies Classic.
?This is an exciting win for the team,? Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer said. ?To come out of this tournament with two wins in three games is a tremendous accomplishment.?
Johnston led Navy by going 2-for-5 from the plate with four runs batted in. Sophomore James Lee (Asheville, N.C.) earned the win by pitching 4 2/3 scoreless innings and scattering just three hits.
Indiana (3-1) scored a pair of runs in the third inning and one in the fourth to go up 3-0.
Navy worked some two-out magic in the bottom of the fifth with three runs to tie the game. After Navy's first two batters were retired, freshmen William Maugeri (Edgewater, Md.) and Hamilton stroked back-to-back singles before classmate Hollins worked a walk off Indiana starter Adam Poole to load the bases. Johnston then stepped to the plate and put the first pitch he saw into the corner in left field for a three-run double.
The Midshipmen went to work again in the seventh as they loaded the bases with nobody out. Maugeri and Hamilton walked to leadoff and both advanced on Hollins' bunt single. Johnston followed with an RBI sac fly, while Munde lined a hard shot to center field, but Indiana outfielder Reggie Watson made a diving catch. Harris, though, got Navy another run when he drove in Hamilton from second with a single to left to put the Mids up 5-3.
Indiana scored twice in the top of the eighth on a home run by Zach Boswell and an RBI single from Watson.
Navy will be back in action Wednesday as it faces the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in an exhibition at Progress Energy Park at 1:05 p.m.
