Feb. 22, 2009
Box Score
MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Navy pitchers Zach Sipe (Fr./Huffman, Texas) and Chris Murray (Jr./Navarre, Fla.) combined to fire a two-hitter to lead the Midshipmen to a 3-1 victory over Pittsburgh on the USA Stadium side field on Sunday afternoon at the Service Academy Spring Classic. The Midshipmen improved to 1-1 on the year, while the Panthers dropped to 1-2 on the young season.
In his first-career start, Sipe allowed just one run on two hits - both in the second inning - over 5.2 innings with seven strikeouts. The Navy right-hander retired 11 of the final-13 batters he faced on the afternoon to earn the win. Murray came on in relief of Sipe and threw 2.1 perfect innings of relief and needed just 20 pitches to get the seven outs to pick up the save.
"A combined two-hitter by your pitching staff is pretty good work," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos, who earned his 100th career win with the Midshipmen on Sunday. "Zach had his three pitches really working for him. For a freshman to pitch like that in his first start against a Big East team, that's a solid showing. Chris came in and did a nice job closing the door. He attacked the zone with his offspeed pitch and made the fastball effective."
Pittsburgh scored its lone run of the game in the second inning. Chris Sedon reached on an infield single, stole second and touched home on a Frank Mercurio single to right. With a runner on second and two outs, Michael Speciale (Jr./Pearland, Texas) made a diving catch in right-center field to end the threat.
Navy answered in the bottom half of the third with all three of their runs in the game. Nick Driscoll (So./Riverview, Fla.) led off with a single to right before advancing to second on a Jonathan Wright (So./Arden, N.C.) walk. Speciale stepped to the plate and laced a two-run double down the left-field line to give the Mids a 2-1 lead. Speciale would come around to score on the very next pitch, as Kendall Bolt (Jr./Stockton, Calif.) ripped a double to the gap in right-center.
Driscoll recorded a multi-hit performance for the second-straight game at the leadoff spot, going 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base. Speciale also had two hits and a stolen base for the Midshipmen, who out-hit the Panthers, 8-2. Four of the Mids base knocks were doubles and they were a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen-base attempts.
"I liked how hard the offense worked the counts today," said Kostacopoulos. "I thought we really competed and executed our offense. However, we cannot leave nine runners in scoring position. That is usually a stat that will cause you to lose."
The Midshipmen will return to Annapolis to host Delaware State in their home opener on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Admission is free at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium and live stats will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)
DIAMOND NOTES
- Head coach Paul Kostacopoulos recorded his 100th career win with the Midshipmen on Sunday ... he becomes just the fourth coach in school history to win 100 games with Navy, joining the exclusive list of Joe Duff (595 wins, 1962-93), Max Bishop (306 wins, 1938-61) and Bob MacDonald (178 wins, 1994-00).
- Navy improved to 18-5 all-time against Pittsburgh ... it was the first meeting between the two teams since the Mids edged the Panthers, 4-3, in 1964.
-With the win, the Midshipmen improved to 31-33 all-time at the Service Academy Spring Classic ... under the guidance of Kostacopoulos, Navy is 8-3 at the annual event.
- The Midshipmen now own a 20-6-1 all-time record in the month of February under Kostacopoulos ... prior to his arrival, Navy was 29-63-1 in the second calendar month.
- Navy pitchers Zach Sipe and Chris Murray combined to hold the Panthers hitless over the final-6.2 innings on Sunday ... the Navy duo faced only one batter over the minimum during that span.
- Southpaw reliever Chris Murray moved into a tie for ninth place on the Navy career saves list with four saves ... he joins seven other Navy hurlers to reach that mark.
- Leadoff hitter Nick Driscoll recorded his second-straight multi-hit game for the Mids, a first for him in his career.
- Navy's offense forced Pittsburgh's pitchers to throw 174 pitches on Sunday, good for an average of 22 pitches per inning ... meanwhile, Sipe and Murray combined for 104 pitches, an average of only 13 pitches per frame.
- Navy had a runner on base in each of the eight innings on Sunday ... however, the Mids stranded 10 runners, nine of which were in scoring position.
- Sunday's contest was finished after eight innings upon mutual agreement due to air travel for both squads.
- Sunday's game was originally scheduled to be the completion of Saturday's suspended game, but Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos and Pittsburgh head coach Joe Jordano agreed to restart the game after the Panthers defeated Air Force, 10-9, earlier in the day.
- Because of the rainfall Saturday and freeze that night, Navy's newly scheduled game against Bradley was cancelled due to unplayable field conditions on the side field next to USA Stadium.
