March 16, 2008
Box Score
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy baseball team had its three-game winning streak snapped on Sunday afternoon, as Duquesne handed the Midshipmen an 11-4 setback at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The Mids, playing in their ninth game in as many days, fell to 9-7 on the year, while the Dukes upped their mark to 3-10.
"As a general statement, I would say that were pretty flat all game - offensively and defensively," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "Duquesne's starter (Paul Bugajski) did a nice job against us today. But we couldn't make two routine plays that led to two big innings in the second and the ninth. We can't afford to play like that."
Duquesne took a 3-0 lead in the second frame with a bases loaded, two-out triple from Andrew Heck. The Dukes made the score 4-0 one inning later with an Aaron Janusey triple followed by a wild pitch.
After being held off the board for five innings, Navy trimmed the deficit to two at 4-2 in the sixth. Matthew Curley (So./Boston, Mass.) drew a leadoff walk and Thomas Hamilton (Sr./Houston, Texas) was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Following a flyout that advanced Curley to third, Michael Speciale (So./Pearland, Texas) laced a double to right that scored Curley and put Hamilton on third, who would eventually score on a Steven Soares (So./Coral Springs, Fla.) RBI-groundout.
However, Duquesne immediately answered with two runs in the seventh and chased Navy starter Yale Eckert (So./La Selva Beach, Calif.), who picked up the loss to fall to 1-2 on the year. The Dukes would put the game out of reach with a five-run ninth.
The Midshipmen closed out the scoring in the bottom half of the ninth inning, as Jonathan Berkowitz (So./Parkland, Fla.) blasted a two-run, pinch-hit home run over the right-centerfield fence.
Duquesne out-hit Navy, 10-4, on Sunday afternoon. The Midshipmen pitching staff walked seven batters and hit two more, while the Dukes issued six bases on balls and one hit by pitch.
Eckert gave up six runs on six hits over six-plus innings with four walks and five strikeouts. Drew Carlson (So./Boca Raton, Fla.) fired two scoreless innings in relief of Eckert between the seventh and eighth to maintain his unblemished 0.00 ERA over 9.1 innings in four appearances this spring.
"Two weeks ago, we weren't quite certain what we had in Drew," said Kostacopoulos. "His performances this year have been rock solid. Today, he came in a tight spot and gave us six ground balls."
The Midshipmen will play the fourth game of their nine-game homestand on Wednesday when they host Belmont-Abbey in a 3:30 p.m. contest. Live stats for all of Navy's home games will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)
