April 9, 2007
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy freshman starting pitcher Yale Eckert (La Selva Beach, Calif.) tossed 5.1 innings of two-run baseball in the nightcap as the Midshipmen split their twinbill with Lafayette at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium on Monday afternoon. The Leopards won the opener, 6-3, before the Mids took game two, 4-3.
The Midshipmen moved to 23-12 overall and 5-3 in the Patriot League, while the Leopards went to 16-11 on the year and 7-1 in league action.
"I told our guys afterwards that this was our biggest win of the year," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "Coming back from three tough games, we won in one of our best games of the year. As a coach, you can't be anything but happy about that."
Eckert earned his second win in as many career Patriot League starts, as he scattered six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. The Navy southpaw held the visitors to only one hit over his first-four innings of work.
"Yale pitched very well today," said Kostacopoulos. "He had two very good get-outs, meaning runner on third with less than two outs and not allowing the runner to score. For a freshman fourth-game starter, he gave us exactly what we needed."
Navy jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the nightcap during the third inning. Senior B.J. Bickel (Benson, N.C.) laced a triple down the right field line and would come home to score on junior Renaldo Hollins' (Virginia Beach, Va.) single up the middle in the next at bat. After Hollins stole second, he would cross the plate on senior Michael Garcia's (Kailua, Hawai'i) single through the left side. Following Garcia's swipe of second base, junior Thomas Hamilton (Houston, Texas) smacked a RBI-double down the left field line.
That score would remain until the sixth, when Lafayette plated two runs before Navy senior reliever James Lee (Asheville, N.C.) induced a groundout and a flyout to get out of the inning unscathed. Lee provided the Mids with 2.2 innings of two-hit, shutout relief on Monday afternoon. The Navy right-hander threw 32 pitches, 25 of which were strikes.
"James did a solid job of getting out the inherited jam without any damage," commented Kostacopoulos. "He pitched is some very tough innings for us, but got eight outs without yielding a run."
Lafayette would mount a tying threat in the eighth inning, but Navy came up with two key defensive plays to maintain the one-run lead. The Leopards posted back-to-back singles to lead off the inning before Lee induced a double play with the lead runner advancing to third. With the tying run standing 90 feet away, Navy third baseman Drew Lydon (White Plains, Md.) laid out and snared a line drive to protect the one-run cushion.
"Drew's effort at third was obviously a very big play," stated Kostacopoulos. "We played very well defensively. I think our defense took four hits away and also turned of double plays on the afternoon. I thought that our defense was the difference in the second game."
Navy scored a significant insurance run in the bottom half of the eighth, with freshman Michael Speciale (Pearland, Texas) singling home Garcia with two out. In the top of the ninth, Lafayette would produce a lead-off double that would come home to score following back-to-back groundouts. Navy closer JD Melton (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) completed his seventh save of the year with a come-backer with two outs and nobody on.
Garcia went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a RBI in game two, while Hamilton provided a 2-for-4 effort at the dish with a RBI.
In the opener, the Midshipmen claimed an early 2-0 lead in the second inning with a two-out, two-run single from Bickel. The Leopards would tie the game at two in the next half inning before the Mids reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the third. Speciale doubled down the left field line with two outs to give the hosts a 3-2 advantage.
The Mids would maintain the 3-2 lead until the fifth, when Lafayette led off with a triple to center and scored on a fielding error one at bat later. The Leopards took the lead for the first time in the sixth, crossing the plate three times.
Navy freshman starting pitcher Oliver Drake (Gardner, Mass.) was tagged for the loss, as he yielded four hits and six runs, five of which were earned, over 5.2 innings with three walks and two strikeouts.
Hamilton went 2-for-3 in game one with a double and a run scored. The Navy junior finished the doubleheader with a 4-for-7 effort at the plate with a pair of doubles.
Navy will play the first of seven-straight road games tomorrow when it heads to UMBC for a 7 p.m. contest at The Baseball Factory Field.
