March 25, 2007
Box Score
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy freshman third baseman Drew Lydon (White Plains, Md.) hustled home from second on a throwing in error in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Midshipmen a 6-5, come-from-behind win over Yale in the rubber game of the three-game set on Sunday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium in Annapolis.
The Midshipmen, playing in their first extra-inning contest of the season, improved to 17-9 on the year. The Bulldogs fell to 6-12 with the loss.
"Both teams had a chance to win the game before the 11th inning, but both pitchers performed well in the clutch situations," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "Now, we just have to play well going into Patriot League action next weekend."
With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 11th inning, Lydon grounded the ball to short, but Trey Rallis' throw sailed into the Yale dugout to put the Navy freshman on second base. Up came freshman pitcher JD Melton (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), who hit a slow roller to short and Rallis' throw drew first baseman Marc Sawyer off the bag. Lydon rounded third and beat the strike at home with a head-first slide for the win.
Yale took a 3-0 lead in the second inning with a pair of two-out singles. Navy chipped away at the deficit, scoring once in the third and twice in the fourth to tie the game. Lydon singled home junior center fielder Renaldo Hollins (Virginia Beach, Va.), who reached with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch, to make the score 3-1. One inning later, freshman left fielder Mike Hoosier (Pomona, N.Y.) ripped a two-run, two-out double to the gap in left center to score senior second baseman Michael Garcia (Kailua, Hawai'i) and freshman catcher Steven Soares (Coral Springs, Fla.).
The Bulldogs took the lead back with two runs in the fifth, but were held scoreless by the Midshipmen for the final-six innings of work.
The Midshipmen began to chip into the Yale advantage once again, scoring in the sixth and plating the tying run in the eighth inning. Garcia belted a one-out triple down the right-field line in the sixth inning and came in to score on Soares' RBI-groundout to make the score 5-4. Two innings later, sophomore designated hitter Joshua Martinez (Denver, Colo.) smacked a one-hopper off the left field fence to start the inning. After senior B.J. Bickel (Benson, N.C.) came in to pinch-run for Martinez, Garcia smacked his second triple of the game, this one to the gap in left-center, to score Bickel and tie the game at five.
Each team had its opportunity to strike in the 10th inning, but pitching prevailed to force another inning. Yale led off the extra frames with a double off the bat of cleanup hitter Ryan Lavarnway. After a fly ball moved him to third with one down, Melton beared down and struck out the next hitter and induced a groundball to get out of the inning.
Navy freshman shortstop Kendall Bolt (Stockton, Calif.) was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom half of the 10th and stole second on a strikeout. After a groundout moved Bolt up 90 feet to third base, Yale reliever Brian Irving got the final out of the inning on a deep fly ball to left.
The Midshipmen bullpen of freshman Oliver Drake (Gardner, Mass.) and Melton limited Yale to two runs in 7.1 innings of work. Drake retired 10 of the final-11 batters he faced in firing 4.2 innings of four-hit baseball with six strikeouts and only one walk. Melton came on in the ninth and delivered two innings of one-hit, shutout work with no walks and one strikeout to get his second win of the series and improve to 2-0 on the year.
"Our bullpen of Oliver (Drake) and JD (Melton) did a great job for us today," said Kostacopoulos. "Oliver really settled down after the fifth inning and kept giving us chances to chip away, which is exactly what you ask a middle reliever to do. JD really pitched in some clutch spots for us."
Navy sophomore starting pitcher Matt White (Yorba Linda, Calif.) left the game in the fourth inning after allowing three runs on five hits with five walks and four strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work.
Garcia led the Midshipmen offense with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate with two triples, two runs scored and a RBI. Martinez went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, while Hoosier and Soares each reached base safely twice on the afternoon.
"Michael (Hoosier) had some good at bats today," commented Kostacopoulos. "He really hit the ball hard during each of his times at the plate, especially with his double to left, a liner to third and a deep fly ball."
The Midshipmen will play the first of five-straight road games on Tuesday afternoon when they travel to Emmitsburg, Md., to take on Mount St. Mary's. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m.
