April 15, 2006

• Game One Box Score
• Game Two Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Lehigh cleanup hitter Andrew Smith went 3-for-7 with a triple, home run, three RBIs and a stolen base as the Mountain Hawks came into Annapolis and swept Navy, 3-2 in eight innings and 6-2, in a baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The Midshipmen fell to 26-12-1 on the year and 6-4 in Patriot League play, while the Mountain Hawks improved to 16-21 overall and 6-4 in league action.

"Today was the same old story for the last three weeks with our offense," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "We need to keep working and hope the bats come alive, that's all we can go for. Hopefully our offense will break out in a game and that would get us on a roll."

Kostacopoulos added, "Our pitching was outstanding today. Our starters did their job and the relievers came through on many occasions. However, you can't continue to hold a team to two or three runs in every game."

In the opener, Lehigh struck first with a run in the top half of the third inning. Matt Geiger delivered a two-out single to drive home Mike Sandonato to give the guests a 1-0. The Mountain Hawks pushed the margin to 2-0 in the fourth on a solo-home run off the bat of Smith.

Lehigh starter Kyle Collina kept Navy off balance over the first six innings, yielding only three hits and no runs. However, the Midshipmen rallied with two outs and nobody on in the seventh to force extra innings. Sophomore Thomas Hamilton (Houston, Texas) got things started with a single to center then moved to second on a full-count walk drawn by pinch-hitter Jack Ferrick (Stafford, Va.). After senior Will Sheehan (Bayonne, N.J.) came on to pinch run for Ferrick, sophomore Renaldo Hollins (Virginia Beach, Va.) singled to center to plate Hamilton and advance Sheehan to second. The next batter, junior Dominic Lopez (Quincy, Mich.), singled to center and Sheehan's head-first slide into the plate beat the catcher's tag to knot the game at two. Following a Lehigh pitching change, senior Jonathan Johnston (Hamilton Township, N.J.) drew a walk to load the bases, however, Mountain Hawks reliever Geoff Campbell induced a popout to get out of the inning.

"There's no clock in baseball, so we had to keep going," commented Kostacopoulos. "We scored the two runs to tie, but we needed one more hit and we didn't get it."

The Mountain Hawks manufactured a run in the top of the eighth to take a 3-2 lead. Matt McBride led off the inning with an infield single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Nick Bet proceeded with a single to left to score McBride.

Navy went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth as Campbell picked up his first victory of the season to improve his mark to 1-2.

Navy starter Mark McCoy (Parkland, Fla.) produced another solid outing, yet did not receive any run support for his second-consecutive start, in getting a no decision on Saturday. McCoy held the Mountain Hawks to two runs on seven hits over six innings of work.

Sophomore Mark Foris (Maspeth, N.Y.) was tagged with the loss as he gave up one run on one hit in one inning of work. Foris' record dropped to 1-1 on the year.

Collina also received a no decision despite a strong showing against the Midshipmen. Collina scattered six hits and two runs with three walks and three strikeouts in a 6.2-inning outing on Saturday.

Senior Jared Munde (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) posted three hits in the opener with a double and a stolen base.

In the nightcap, Lehigh plated a run in the top of the first, but Navy brought home the tying run in the bottom of the inning. Hollins led off with a walk and stole second before Hamilton singled to left to knot the game at one.

Both teams were held scoreless over the next four innings before Lehigh tallied two runs in the sixth. McBride delivered an RBI-double and would score on a Smith triple to give the Mountain Hawks a 3-1 lead.

Navy threatened in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back walks to lead off the inning, but Lehigh reliever Greg Mortka came in and struck out the side to preserve the Lehigh's two-run cushion.

The Midshipmen cut the deficit in half with a run in the eighth. Senior Ryan McGinn (Arvada, Colo.) brought in senior team captain D.J. Faldowski (Washington, Pa.) with a single to left-center to make the score 3-2 with two outs and runners on the corners. Once again, Mortka used a strikeout to end the threat and keep Lehigh's lead intact.

Lehigh would respond to Navy's rally attempt with three insurance runs in the ninth to push the score to 6-2.

Making his third-consecutive start after appearing out of the bullpen in 60 of his first-61 career appearances, senior Joe Koessler (Knoxville, Tenn.) was tagged with the loss despite a strong effort. Koessler allowed five hits and three runs, two of which were earned with no walks and three strikeouts in six innings. The senior's record fell to 4-2 on the year.

Hollins, Hamilton, Faldowski, McGinn and junior Michael Garcia (Kailua, Hawai'i) each tallied two hits to account for all of Navy's 10 hits in the nightcap.

Lehigh starter Jed Davitt improved to 3-2 on the year with a five-inning performance which he scattered five hits and one run with four walks and two strikeouts. Mortka picked up his first save of the season with four innings of one-run relief. Mortka allowed five hits, but did not walk a batter and fanned six.

Navy will look to salvage a series split in tomorrow's doubleheader against Lehigh, starting at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available via GameTracker on www.navypsorts.com and Navy All-Access will carry a live audio broadcast of tomorrow's doubleheader, with Joe Miller calling all the action. Navy All-Access is a subscription service on www.navysports.com that allows subscribers access to numerous live and archived events for only $6.95 a month.