April 8, 2007
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy baseball team dropped a pair of contests against Lafayette during Sunday's baseball doubleheader at Terwilliger Brothers Field in Max Bishop Stadium in Annapolis. The Mids fell 3-2 in eight innings during the opener before coming up short on a 5-0 decision in the nightcap.
With the losses, Navy fell to 22-11 overall and 4-2 in the Patriot League. Lafayette improved its mark to 15-10 and 6-0 in league play.
"The starting pitching was there for both teams today," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "Mitch (Harris) and Mark (McCoy) both pitched well, but Lafayette's duo was just as good.
"Baseball is all about the next day. You can't get too excited or too down after each game. We'll see tomorrow if we can come back and play."
In the opener, Lafayette jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third when James Conrad tripled and scored on a wild pitch. That score would remain the same until the sixth, when Kevin Leasure hit a solo shot to right.
Navy answered back with two runs in the bottom half of the sixth. Junior Renaldo Hollins (Virginia Beach, Va.) singled with one out and moved to third on senior Michael Garcia's (Kailua, Hawai'i) single and a fielding error by the center fielder. Junior Mitch Harris (Mt. Holly, N.C.) drove in Hollins with a fielder's choice in which the shortstop dropped the throw from second. Junior Thomas Hamilton (Houston, Texas) laced a single to the gap in right-center to plate Garcia and send Harris to third with one out. After Lafayette starter Ted Gjeldum was lifted for Brad Woodfield, Harris was gunned down at the plate on a groundball to third.
The Midshipmen had an opportunity to win the ballgame in the seventh, as freshman Mike Hoosier (Pomona, N.Y.) reached on a fielding error and senior Dominic Lopez (Quincy, Mich.) came in as a pinch-runner. After a sacrifice bunt and a groundout to the right side move Lopez to third with two outs, Woodfield forced extra innings with a strikeout.
In the top half of the eighth, Lafayette's Conrad hit a ground-rule double to center to open the inning. After Navy's Harris got two outs without the runner advancing, Conrad stole third and came home to score as catcher Joshua Martinez's (Denver, Colo.) sailed into left field.
Navy would make things interesting yet again in the bottom half of the eighth, as Garcia singled to left-center, advanced to second on a one-out walk and moved to third on a fly ball to right. However, he would remain at third as Woodfield closed out the contest with a strikeout.
Harris went the distance on the mound for the Midshipmen, as he allowed only four hits and two earned runs with four walks and nine strikeouts in a 127-pitch afternoon. Despite falling to 6-3 on the year, Harris fanned more batters than innings pitched for the ninth time in as many starts this year.
Garcia was the lone Navy hitter to post a multi-hit performance in the opener, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Navy out-hit Lafayette, 5-4, in the first game.
In the nightcap, Lafayette took a 2-0 lead in the third with a RBI-groundout and run-scoring single with one out. The Leopards extended their margin to five in the seventh with a run-producing fielder's choice, a RBI-single and a sacrifice fly.
Mark McCoy pitched well for the Mids in game two, but was tagged for the loss to drop to 4-4 on the campaign. He went seven innings, gave up ten hits and five runs, four of which were earned, with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Lafayette starter Matt Kamine shut out Navy for the second-straight year, as he scattered six hits with one walk and ten strikeouts in a 126-pitch effort.
Martinez went 2-for-3 in game two with a double and a walk, while freshman Drew Lydon (White Plains, Md.) contributed with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate.
Navy and Lafayette will close out the four-game series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader in Annapolis. Live stats will be available for both contests via GameTracker on www.navysports.com, and live audio coverage will be provided for the first game through Navy All-Access, as Pete Medhurst will call the action in Monday's opener.
