3/7/2005 - Baseball
Baseball Opens 2005 Home Schedule Tuesday

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Notes (10)

Leading Off For Navy...
Game #10 - Coppin State

Who: Coppin State at Navy (3-5-1)
Tue., March 8, 2:30 p.m.

What: Navy's 2005 home opener

Where: Max Bishop Stadium (5,000); Annapolis, Md.

Coach: Navy -- Steve Whitmyer (97-142-2 in his sixth season overall;
82-115-2 in his fifth season at Navy)
Coppin State -- Guy Robertson

Quick Hits
* Navy owns a 3-1 all-time record versus Coppin State. Coppin State knocked off the Mids, 10-7, last season at Max Bishop Stadium.
* The Midshipmen went 3-4 versus teams from the state of Maryland during the 2004 season.
* Navy enters its home opener on a two-game losing streak, as it dropped a doubleheader Sunday at VMI.
* The Midshipmen have posted 39 winning records in the last 40 seasons at home. Navy went 11-13 at Max Bishop Stadium in 2004.
* Navy is 715-255-14 in 59 seasons at Max Bishop Stadium.
* Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer will be coaching in his 200th game on The Yard Tuesday when the Mids play host to Coppin State. Whitmyer is 82-115-2 at Navy, including a 46-34 mark in Patriot League play.

About Coppin State
Coppin State returns 15 letterwinners from the 2004 season. The Eagles have experienced players throughout the lineup with 14 members being upperclassmen. Coppin State was swept in a three-game series earlier this season against VMI, who swept Navy in a doubleheader Sunday.

Last Time Out Versus The Eagles
Navy commited five errors and walked nine batters en route to a 10-7 loss to Coppin State back on April 15, 2004, at Max Bishop Stadium. The Mids jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the second inning, but the Eagles scored nine runs over the next four frames to take the lead for good. Doug Silverman went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the loss for Navy.

Maryland Ties
Three members of the Navy baseball team hail from the state of Maryland and will be facing a school from their home state Tuesday. The three mids are sophomores Ben Mulloy (Gaithersburg) and Daniel Sydnor (Huntingtown), and freshman William Maugeri (Edgewater).

Whitmyer Moving In On 100 Career Wins
Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer is three wins shy of 100 victories for his career. He is 97-142-2 during his sixth-year career, including an 82-115-2 mark in his five seasons in Annapolis.

Navy Baseball Head Coaches With 100 Career Wins
Name...Years...Career Record
1...Joe Duff...1962-93...595-332-11
2...Max Bishop...1937-61...317-161-7
3...Bob MacDonald...1994-00...178-152-3

It's Not How You Start, But How You Finish
Facing an early deficit is not a reason to stress for the 2005 Navy baseball team. The Mids are 3-3-1 when the opponent scores first and have scored 24 of their 52 runs from the seventh inning on (16 in the seventh, six in the eighth, one in the ninth and one in extra innings).

KKKKKKKKK
Navy pitchers have combined to record at least nine strikeouts in seven of nine games this season, including the last-five contests.

Other Quick Pitching Notes
* Left-handed batters are 0-for-6 against Navy starter Daniel Kovalcik this season.
* Sophomore starter Burgess Nichols has recorded 6.5 strikeouts per walk issued.
* Senior relief pitcher Jeff Lange has recorded 4.7 strikeouts per walk allowed.
* Navy pitcher have allowed opponents to produce double-digit hits in seven of nine games.
* Opposing hitters are batting .494 (39-for-79) when leading off an inning.

Six Mids Batting Over .300
Six Midshipmen are batting over .300 heading into Tuesday's game. The six include Trevor Thompson (.667), Jonathan-Matthew Johnston (.364), D.J. Faldowski (.333), Lewis Hobbs (.333), Jared Munde (.314) and Mitch Harris (.314).

Two-Out Magic
Navy, as a team, has collected 27 of its 46 RBIs with two outs. The Mids are batting .301
(37-for-123) in those situations.

Now Batting Cleanup...Mitch Harris
Freshman Mitch Harris was moved to the cleanup spot (No. 4) in the batting order for the past four games and he has responded by batting .375 (6-for-16) with two RBIs and two runs scored. The Midshipmen are 2-2 in those contests.

Other Quick Batting Notes
* Junior Jared Munde has driven in at least one run in six of Navy's nine games.
* Senior Doug Silverman's three hits this season have all been doubles.
* Silverman has averaged one RBI per double this season.
* Jonathan-Matthew Johnston has collected a hit in seven of the eight games he has played in this season.

Johnston Named Patriot League Player of the Week
Junior catcher Jonathan-Matthew Johnston was named the Patriot League Player of the Week (March 1) for his performance in the 2005 Service Academies Spring Classic in Millington, Tenn. (Feb. 25-27). In the three-game tournament, Johnston went 5-for-12 (.417) with five RBIs, three doubles and a run scored. He capped the tournament with a four-RBI performance in Navy's 6-5 win in 12 innings over Indiana.

Career High For RBIs In A Season...ALREADY!
Jonathan-Matthew Johnston has already set a career high for RBIs in a season with nine. Johnston, who turned the trick in just six games in 2005, drove in a pair of runs during his freshman season and totaled seven in 2004. Johnston set the mark with a four RBI performance in Navy's 6-5 win in 12 innings over Indiana on Feb. 27.

Tournament Play
The Midshipmen opened their 2005 season with the first seven games coming in tournament play. Navy went 3-3-1 in the seven games, including a 1-2-1 mark in the Savannah State Invitational (Feb. 19-20) and a 2-1 record in the Service Academies Spring Classic (Feb.25-27).

Lots Of Runs
Navy scored 34 runs in its first-three games to open the 2005 season. The 34 runs scored are an exact opposite of how the Midshipmen opened the 2004 campaign when they pushed across just four runs in their opening three contests.

Double-Digit Runs
Navy has already equaled its number of double-digit run games in 2005 (2) that it produced during all of the 2004 season. It took the Midshipmen only three games to turn the trick in 2005.

Recapping The VMI Series
* VMI's two wins over Navy were its first victories over the Mids in the program's history.
* Navy committed four errors in its 4-0 loss in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader.
* The Midshipmen jumped out to a 5-0 lead midway through the third inning of the second game, but the Keydets pushed nine runs across the plate over the following three innings to take the lead for good in their 18-5 win.
* Freshman Renaldo Hollins collected the first RBIs of his collegiate career as he drove in a pair of runs in the second game.
* Sophomore J.P. Temperilli went 2-for-4 with an RBI, double and triple in the second game.

Recapping The Service Academies Classic
* Navy tied with four other teams for the best record (2-1) at the Service Academies Spring Classic ... the Midshipmen's win over Air Force was just their fifth one in 16 tries versus the Falcons. Navy's last victory over Air Force was a 2-1 decision back in the 1998 season ... the win over Air Force also snapped Navy's five-game losing streak in the Classic ... Navy's 12th-inning 6-5 win over Indiana was the Mids first win over a Big Ten team since the 2000 season when they knocked off Ohio State, 4-3. It was also Navy's first win over the Hoosiers in three tries all-time ... the extra-inning victory was also the first for Navy in a regular nine-inning game contest since April 29, 2002, when it defeated Lehigh 8-7 in 11 frames.

Recapping The Savannah State Invitational
* Navy snapped its five-game losing streak in season openers with its 17-8 win over Savannah State in game one of the doubleheader last Saturday ... freshman first baseman Mitch Harris turned in a fine collegiate debut by going 3-for-5 with a double, triple, three RBI and three runs scored in game one of the doubleheader against the Tigers ... three freshmen combined to drive in nine of Navy's 29 RBI in the four games. Thomas Hamilton drove in four runs, while Harris and William Maugeri drove in three and two runs, respectively ... the Midshipmen exploded for 10 runs in the seventh inning of the first game against the Tigers to expand a slim 3-2 lead into a commanding 13-2 advantage ... Doug Silverman collected two doubles and drove in three runs for Navy in the second game versus Savannah State ... Jared Munde ripped a two-out, two-run double in the seventh inning to pull Navy into a 10-10 with Villanova before the Wildcats needed to call the game in the eighth due to prior travel arrangements ... Virginia Tech pitchers combined to register 18 strikeouts in the Hokies' 9-0 win over Navy in the tournament's final game.

Senior Captain Trevor Thompson
Senior Trevor Thompson will serve as captain of the 2005 Navy baseball team. The Kent, Wash., native owns a career .255 batting average with two home runs and 16 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.

Navy Adds Jason Ronai To Coaching Staff
Jason Ronai was added to the Navy baseball coaching staff during the 2004 fall practice. A Springfield, Ohio, native, Ronai was a four-year starter at UNC-Asheville. Ronai 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). Ronai then 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.

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.

Next Up
Navy will begin its week-long spring break trip in North Carolina with a three-game series at East Carolina (March 11-13) in Clark-LeClair Stadium. Friday's game will begin at 7 p.m., while Saturday's is slated for 6 p.m. The series finale on Sunday will begin at 1 p.m. The Mids will then head to Durham, N.C., to compete in the Duke Tournament. Navy will face Yale at 4:30 p.m., on March 15, and then face the Blue Devils on March 16, at 1 p.m.