April 22, 2007
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Navy baseball team was held to three runs over two games on Sunday afternoon as the Midshipmen dropped both contests against Army at Doubleday Field. Navy fell in nine innings during the opener, 1-0, before coming up short in a 11-3 decision in game two.
Navy's record went to 30-16 overall and 10-6 in the Patriot League with the setbacks. Army improved to 16-18-1 on the year and 7-7 in league action.
"It was tough to get much of anything going offensively all weekend," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "To strike out as much as we did, we really needed to get three hits to score a run. I have to tip my hat to their entire pitching staff this weekend."
In the opener, Navy freshman starter Oliver Drake (Gardner, Mass.) and Army starter Cole White delivered one of the best pitching duels in Army-Navy series history. Drake went the distance for the Mids, scattering eight hits and one run with two walks in two strikeouts, but was tagged for the loss to fall to 2-2 on the year. White was equally impressive, yielding five hits and no runs without a walk and 12 strikeouts. For the first time in the 101-year history, the two teams battled in a 1-0 contest.
"Oliver showed me a lot of guts on the mound today," said Kostacopoulos. "He pitched very well in a big ballgame. I can't say enough about his performance this afternoon. Basically, Army won on a bouncer to first where the runner on third had a great jump."
With the score knotted at zero going into the bottom half of the ninth, Army's Kyle Stramara led off with a single to center. J.P. Polchinski laid down a bunt single down the first base line to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners up 90 feet, Andy Ernesto hit a slow chopper to first with the infield drawn in. Navy first baseman Thomas Hamilton (Houston, Texas) grabbed the ball and fired to home, but Stramara was able to beat the tag with a head-first dive for the win.
Drake worked his way out of several jams with clutch efforts to keep the Black Knights off the board. With runners on first and third with one out in the fourth, Army attempted a squeeze bunt that was popped in the air and caught by Drake, who threw over to third to end the inning. Two innings later in the sixth, Army's Chris Simmons tripled down the right field line with one down. However, Drake induced a short flyout to center that could not plate the catcher and induced another flyout to get out of the jam. In the seventh, the Black Knights led off with a walk and moved the runner to third with a sacrifice bunt and a groundout. The Navy freshman delivered once again, getting a flyout to force extra innings.
During the nightcap, Navy plated a run in the second and fourth innings to establish a 2-0 lead. Freshman Drew Lydon (White Plains, Md.) and freshman Michael Speciale (Pearland, Texas) produced back-to-back singles to lead off the second before junior Mitch Harris (Mt. Holly, N.C.) singled through the left side to plate Lydon.
Two innings later, Harris blasted a solo shot over the left field fence to extend the Midshipmen advantage to 2-0. The round tripper was his eighth of the year, moving him into sole possession of third place on Navy's all-time single-season list.
However, the Black Knights came back with 10 unanswered runs between the fourth and sixth innings to pull away.
The Midshipmen offense produced 14 hits in game two, but stranded 11 runners on base. Lydon led the way with four hits in five at bats, while junior Renaldo Hollins (Virginia Beach, Va.), Hamilton, Harris and freshman Mike Hoosier (Pomona, N.Y.) each had multi-hit performances. Lydon became the first Navy player to record four hits in one game against Army since John Cocca went 4-for-4 in 2001.
"We're excited about Drew because he's only going to get better," stated Kostacopoulos. "He has swung the bat very well over the last month or so. He had another solid weekend at the plate for us, getting six hits in the series."
Navy freshman starter Yale Eckert (La Selva Beach, Calif.) saw his record drop to 4-2 on the year, as he gave up eight hits and six runs, four of which were earned, with a walk and two strikeouts over 4.1 innings.
The Midshipmen are next scheduled to head to Dover, Del., to take on Delaware State in a non-league contest on Wednesday at 3 p.m. before wrapping up the Patriot League regular season slate at home against Bucknell next weekend.
