4/16/2005 - Baseball
Baseball Splits Doubleheader with Lafayette

Files associated with this release:
Lafayette-Navy, April 16 (Game One)
Lafayette-Navy, April 16 (Game Two)

Annapolis, Md. - The Navy baseball team rallied to win the second game of Saturday's doubleheader with Lafayette and split the two games with the Leopards at Max Bishop Stadium. Lafayette pulled out a 5-1 victory in the first game, but the Mids pushed across a run in the eighth inning of the second contest to grab a 3-2 win.

Navy improved to 9-22-1 on the season and 4-6 in the Patriot League, while Lafayette improved to 11-19 and 1-5 in league play.

The Leopards scored twice in the second inning of the second game, but could not hold onto the lead.

Navy began to slowly chip away at the deficit in the fourth inning as senior captain Trevor Thompson (Kent, Wash.) led off with a towering home run that easily cleared the left-field wall. The homer was the first one hit by Navy in its home park this season and it was the fifth overall in the last six games. The Midshipmen had produced just one homer in their first 26 games of the 2005 season.

Thompson, who would score all three runs in the game, came across for the second run in the sixth to tie it at 2-2 on classmate Doug Silverman's (Foster City, Calif.) RBI single to right field. It was one of two hits for Silverman on the afternoon.

The Mids went ahead for good in the eighth as Ryan McGinn (Arvada, Colo.) lined a single back through the middle of the infield to bring home Thompson from second. Thompson ended the game 3-for-4.

Lafayette tried to mount a comeback in the ninth and had runners on first and second with just one out, but senior reliever Tom Van Dam (Haworth, N.J.) came on and recorded the final two outs to nail down his second save of the season. It was Navy's third win its last four games.

Senior Jeff Lange (Springfield, Va.) started for Navy and pitched 7 1/3 strong innings and yielded just the two runs on six hits with five strikeouts. Classmate Matt Lukevics (Tampa, Fla.) had a hit in the game and also had a double in the first game. It marked a special day for the five seniors, as they were honored before the first game with Senior Appreciation Day. The five seniors, accompanied by their parents, were each given a plaque with a senior group shot and the lineup card from Navy's exhibition with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays earlier this season.

Reliever Kevin Heasley (Cincinnati, Ohio) earned his first collegiate win (1-0) by pitching a scoreless frame.

"This was a special day for the seniors and I was glad that we got a win for them," Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer said. "Both teams pitched well today."

Navy held a 1-0 lead in the first game of the day, but Lafayette scored four times in the sixth inning off starter Mark McCoy (Parkland, Fla.) to earn the win.

Both teams will conclude their series Sunday with a doubleheader beginning at noon at Max Bishop Stadium.