April 12, 2008
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy baseball team suffered a 14-3 setback in the series opener against Army at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium in Annapolis on Saturday afternoon. The Midshipmen fell to 20-14 overall and 6-3 in Patriot League play, while the Black Knights improved to 12-18 and 4-5 in the league.
The second scheduled game for Saturday was postponed, as two rain delays combined to last three hours and 10 minutes forced the series opener to finish past 5:30 p.m. The back end of Saturday's twinbill will be played on Monday afternoon, with first pitch to be determined.
Army jumped on the board early, plating three runs on two outs in the opening frame. The score remained 3-0 after two innings before a 29-minute rain delay. One-half inning later, the contest was again delayed due to rain, this time for two hours and 41 minutes.
"You have to give credit to Army - they fouled off every tough pitch and hit every ball that was in the zone," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "They had a great offensive approach today.
"That's baseball - it's the one game that has the weather component. Again, to their pitcher's credit, he came in and filled up the zone. He pitched well with the lead and had three pitches working for him."
Both starters would remain in the game after both delays, but Navy right-hander Oliver Drake (So./Gardner, Mass.) would be chased during the fourth inning, as Army pushed across five runs to make the score 8-0.
The Midshipmen plated their first run of the game in the fifth inning. With two outs and nobody on, Nick Driscoll (Fr./Riverview, Fla.) legged out an infield single before Renaldo Hollins (Sr./Virginia Beach, Va.) ripped a RBI-triple to the gap in right-center. Army came back with a run in the sixth, but Navy responded with a two-out, RBI-double off the bat of Kendall Bolt (So./Stockton, Calif.).
Hollins belted his second triple of the game in the seventh inning, this time down the right-field line, and would score on a Jonathan Wright (Fr./Arden, N.C.) two-out infield single.
Hollins and Bolt each had two base knocks for the Midshipmen on Saturday. Thomas Hamilton's (Sr./Houston, Texas) single in the sixth inning extended his hitting streak to a career-best 15 games.
"We did a better job of putting on good at bats later in the game," said Kostacopoulos. "When you fall behind eight runs in a seven-inning game, it becomes quite a difficult situation."
Drake was tagged for the loss, as he allowed seven runs on six hits over 3.2 innings with two walks and four strikeouts. Army starter Drew Clothier went the distance, as he yielded three runs on seven hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
Prior to the contest, Navy's new indoor batting facility was dedicated to longtime former head coach Joe Duff. Duff served as head coach of the Midshipmen for 32 years from 1962-93, accumulating a school-record 595 victories.
The Midshipmen and the Black Knights will play a doubleheader at 12 noon tomorrow, with the first contest to be televised nationally on CBS College Sports Network. In addition, live stats for all of Navy's home games will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)
