May 10, 2006
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy sophomore right-hander Mitch Harris (Mt. Holly, N.C.) tossed a no-hitter in the opener as the Midshipmen swept a baseball doubleheader from Coppin State on Wednesday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The Mids won the first game, 2-0, before taking the nightcap by an 11-3 final.
Navy concluded its season with a 32-21-1 record, while the Eagles dropped to 12-38-1 on the campaign. Navy's 32 wins this year rank as the second-highest total in its 111-year program history.
Harris recorded the program's fifth complete-game no-hitter and the first since Scott Kozink performed the act against Lehigh on April 11, 1999. The sophomore used 90 pitches, 64 of which were strikes, to pick up his 10th victory of the campaign. Harris faced only one over the minimum, which came on a full-count walk in the third inning. Only two balls left the infield on the afternoon, both of which came in flyouts during the sixth inning.
Harris broke his career-high with 12 strikeouts and pushed his season total to 113, the highest mark in Patriot League history and the second-best effort in program history.
"It's fitting for him to cap his season with a no-hitter and win his 10th game of the year," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "He rehabbed so hard after what looked to be a devastating injury and I am really happy for him to be rewarded for his efforts today. Mitch had just an incredible year, was as close to a completely dominating pitcher as you can get. Over 45% of his outs came on strikeouts this year, which really underscores what he has done this year."
Navy produced Harris' support in the bottom of the fourth. Senior team captain D.J. Faldowski (Washington, Pa.) led off the inning with a single and moved to second when senior Ryan McGinn (Arvada, Colo.) was hit by a pitch. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up 90 feet, junior Lewis Hobbs (Wilmington, N.C.) lifted a sacrifice fly to plate Faldowski. Junior Michael Garcia (Kailua, Hawai'i), who collected two hits in the opener, brought home McGinn on a single to right to give the Mids a 2-0 lead.
Coppin State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap before the pitching staff shut down the Eagles while the Midshipmen offense plated 11-unanswered runs.
Navy struck back with four runs in the bottom half of the first, highlighted by a McGinn two-run double to left that scored senior Jared Munde (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) and Faldowski. The Midshipmen tacked on two more runs in the second on a Munde triple down the right-field line to make the score 6-3.
After crossing the plate once in the fifth, the Mids pulled away with a four-run sixth inning. The big hit came from freshman Jack Ferrick (Stafford, Va.) with the bases loaded and two outs, as he delivered a bases-clearing, pinch-hit double to push the advantage to 11-3.
Senior southpaws Joe Koessler (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Ryan Hefner (Creve Coeur, Ill.) came out of the bullpen to provide six innings of no-hit baseball. Koessler walked only one and struck out three in five innings to improve his record to 5-3 on the year. Hefner used only 10 pitches to record two strikeouts in a scoreless seventh inning of work. The seniors combined to retire the final-16 batters in order.
"Our pitching has been our strength all year," stated Kostacopoulos. "It was no surprise to me that Mitch (Harris), Joe (Koessler) and Ryan (Hefner) were involved in not allowing a base hit in 13 innings today. It really describes how they were all year and what they meant to us."
McGinn tallied three hits, two of which were doubles, with two runs scored and two RBIs to lead the offensive attack in game two. Munde went 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and three RBIs, while Garcia collected a pair of base hits and scored once. Faldowski crossed the plate each of the three times he reached base in the nightcap, as he walked twice and singled in the fifth.
Wednesday's doubleheader served as the final collegiate baseball contests for Navy's seven seniors. D.J. Faldowski, Ryan Hefner, Jonathan Johnston, Joe Koessler, Ryan McGinn, Jared Munde and Will Sheehan combined to hit .313 (217-for-693) as a group and drove in 117 runs, while posting a 3.13 ERA and having a hand in 20 of Navy's 32 victories this year.
"We really had a great group of seniors," commented Kostacopoulos. "After 14 wins in 2004 and 12 wins in 2005, our seniors really stepped up and not only led us, but performed as well. Their impact was daily, not only in performance and not only in presence. The whole makeup of that group was the cause for our turnaround this year."
