March 8, 2008
Box Score
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy baseball catcher Steven Soares (So./Coral Springs, Fla.) went 2-for-3 with three runs scored, highlighted by a mammoth home run to left-center, to lead the Midshipmen to a 6-4, come-from-behind victory over Rhode Island on Saturday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The Midshipmen jumped back to the .500 mark at 4-4, while the Rams fell to 4-5 with the setback.
"Steven truly played a complete game, both offensively and defensively," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "With runs being hard to come by, he truly was a catalyst for us. On the defensive end, he made a real nice play getting the lead runner on a sacrifice attempt and throwing out two base stealers."
Soares played a vital role in leading the Midshipmen back from an early deficit. Trailing 3-0 in the bottom half of the second, he belted a 420-foot blast over the scoreboard in left-center to put the Mids on the board. It was his first-career round-tripper. In the fourth inning, this time down 4-1, Soares delivered a two-out single, advanced to second on another single, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a fielding error.
Staring at a two-run, 4-2, hole in the fifth, Michael Speciale (So./Pearland, Texas) smacked an opposite-field, solo home run to right field. With Soares and Speciale hitting a home run in the same game, it marked the first time Navy had belted multiple home runs in a game at home since Feb. 5, 2006, against Coppin State, a span of 65 home contests.
The Midshipmen took the lead for good in the sixth, as Soares started a three-run inning with a walk. Following a sacrifice bunt, Renaldo Hollins (Sr./Virginia Beach, Va.) came up with a bloop single to right to put runners on the corners. After Jonathan Wright (Fr./Arden, N.C.) drew a walk to load the bases, Soares scored the tying run on a passed ball and Hollins crossed home on a wild pitch to take the lead for the first time on the day. Wright would end up coming around to score on a Thomas Hamilton (Sr./Houston, Texas) RBI-groundout.
Navy starter Oliver Drake (So./Gardner, Mass.) battled through a rough stretch in the first-three innings to fire four scoreless frames to pick up the win and improve to 2-1 on the year. Drake scattered 10 hits and four runs over the seven innings with two walks and four strikeouts. The Navy sophomore threw 120 pitches on the day, 70 of which were strikes. Drake and Soares also combined to gun down 2-of-3 base stealers.
"This is the third start where we have felt Oliver came out slow and got stronger as the game went on. That is something we are going to have to work on," said Kostacopoulos. "To his credit, he battled in some very tough conditions - wind, mud, rain - against a good Rhode Island team. He let the team get back into the game and gave us a chance to win."
Relief pitcher Chris Murray (So./Navarre, Fla.) fired two innings of shutout baseball with no walks and two strikeouts in support of Drake to earn his second save of the season.
"From a team perspective, we have struggled a little bit over the last week," stated Kostacopoulos. "Trailing 4-1 today, we clawed our way back without a big inning. Then we got good relief work out of Chris (Murray). That's how you draw it up - get seven innings out of your starter and then two clean innings from your relivers."
The Midshipmen will host Central Connecticut State in the third day of the Navy Baseball Round-Robin Tournament tomorrow, starting at 2:30 p.m. Live stats for all of Navy's home games will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)
