4/3/2005 - Baseball
Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader from Bucknell
Files associated with this release:
Bucknell-Navy Boxscore (Game One)
Bucknell-Navy (Game Two)
Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer |
Annapolis, Md. - The Navy baseball team completed a doubleheader sweep of Bucknell Sunday at Max Bishop Stadium. The Mids handed the Bison an 11-0 setback in the first game and won the second in their last at-bat to pull out a 3-2 victory.
Navy improved to 6-16-1 overall and 2-0 in the Patriot League, while the Bison fell to 3-14 and 0-2 in the league. The Midshipmen have won three of their last four after a 12-game losing streak.
The two wins also gave Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer 100 for his career. He became just the fourth coach in the 110-year history of Navy baseball to reach the century mark in wins. The other three coaches are Max Bishop (317-161-7), Joe Duff (595-332-11) and Bob MacDonald (178-152-3).
"It's nice to reach 100-career wins, but I'm more excited for the team today," said Whitmyer, who is 100-153-2 in his six years of being a head coach. "We hit the ball extremely well in the first game and got great pitching from our two starters today. Burgess (Nichols) attacked the hitters in the first game and Mark (McCoy) had strong control of his pitches in the second game."
The Mids completed the doubleheader sweep in dramatic fashion in the second game. Navy took a 2-0 lead into the top of the ninth, but Bucknell received RBI singles from Kyle Walter and Ryan Gryskevicz to tie it at 2-2.
Navy, though, fought back in the bottom half of the frame as senior Matt Lukevics (Tampa, Fla.) led off the inning with a double to the wall in left-center field. Lukevics was lifted in favor of pinch runner Lewis Hobbs (Wilmington, N.C.). Bucknell starting pitcher Tim Peacock, who throw 116 pitches in the first eight-plus innings, was pulled and replaced by reliever Jacob Moss.
Mike Garcia (Kailua, Hawai'i) then stepped to the plate and smacked a grounder back to Moss, who threw over to third to get the lead runner. However, Hobbs beat the throw and was safe while Garcia reached first in time. Renaldo Hollins (Virginia Beach, Va.) was intentionally walked to set up a possible double play. Jonathan-Matthew Johnston (Hamilton Township, N.J.) followed and smashed a hard grounder to the drawn in shortstop Matt Capece. Capece came up throwing, but his throw was wide of the catcher Matt Belmont, who was pulled off the bag as Hobbs slid in for the game-winning run.
Reliever James Lee (Asheville, N.C.) got the win after pitching in the ninth inning and ran his record to 2-2 this season. McCoy started for Navy and went seven innings while allowing no runs and scattering eight hits with 10 strikeouts. It marked the second-straight start McCoy pitched seven innings. He has also lowered his earned run average 12 points during his last three starts (16.80-to-5.19).
"Mark had a couple rough spots, but he got out of jams by trusting his stuff," Whitmyer said."
Thomas Hamilton (Houston, Texas) and Lukevics each had two hits and a run batted in during the second contest.
Navy took advantage of four Bucknell errors in the fourth inning of the first game to tack on eight runs. Navy sent 14 batters to the plate during the pivotal frame.
Nichols, who improved to 2-3, earned his first win since Navy's season-opening 17-8 victory over Savannah State back on Feb. 19. Nichols allowed no runs and scattered four hits over six innings. Bison starter Nathan Mittag was saddled with the loss and fell to 0-3 after allowing nine runs - only one earned - over just 3 2/3 innings of work.
Hamilton was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI, while freshman Mitch Harris (Mt. Holly, N.C.) also pounded out three hits, including an RBI triple.
"We were aggressive at the plate during the first game and that's been something we haven't been in a while," Whitmyer added.
The back-to-back Patriot League wins were the first for the Mids since they took three straight versus Holy Cross, April 3-4, of last season.
The Mids and Bison will conclude their Patriot League-opening series Monday at noon with a doubleheader at Max Bishop Stadium.
