March 19, 2009
Box Score
EMMITSBURG, Md. - The Navy baseball team was unable to fully rebound from an eight-run first inning by Mount St. Mary's as they fell by a 10-7 decision on Thursday afternoon at Straw Family Stadium. The Midshipmen dropped to 5-9-1 on the year, while the Mountaineers improved to 3-7.
"Giving up eight runs and spotting the other team a seven-run lead in the first tells the story," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "We had our relievers and six position players really play hard out there today. We were able to get some life out of some players that had been struggling for us. However, we had three or four players completely not show up for us today. We have to have that hard effort and expectations from everyone in order to be successful. It's hard to beat a team without that in place."
Navy jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, as Michael Speciale (Jr./Pearland, Texas) led off the game with a double and scored on an Alex Azor (Fr./Miami, Fla.) single to right. However, the host Mountaineers would explode for eight runs in the bottom half of the frame and sent 11 batters to the plate. Shane Eyler hit a grand slam to make the score 5-1 and Buddy Fields capped the stanza and chased Navy starter Jonathan Berkowitz (Jr./Parkland, Fla.) with a two-run longball.
The Midshipmen began to chip away at the deficit with a two-run second inning. Mike Guadagnini (So./Virginia Beach, Va.) singled and Speciale was hit by a pitch before both were driven in on consecutive RBI-singles from Azor and Kendall Bolt (Jr./Stockton, Calif.).
The Mountaineers plated a run in the bottom of the second to make the score 9-3 and both teams played scoreless baseball over the next-three frames before the Midshipmen pulled within three at 9-6 in the sixth. Guadagnini delivered a one-out double down the left-field line before Matthew Curley (Jr./Boston, Mass.) blasted his first-career home run over the centerfield fence. Speciale followed suit during the next at bat, depositing the pitch well beyond the fence in left-center.
Mount St. Mary's took advantage of a Bolt throwing error in the bottom of the sixth to extend the lead back to four at 10-6. However, Navy would not go quietly, as it again pulled within three runs in the eighth as Jeff Bland (So./Basking Ridge, N.J.) came off the bench and smashed a home run to left on the first pitch of his at bat. Guadagnini and Speciale both drew walks to bring the tying run to the plate with one out in the same inning, but back-to-back flyouts ended the rally.
Berkowitz was tagged for the loss to fall to 0-3 on the year. He allowed eight runs on seven hits over 0.2-inning with one walk and no strikeouts.
Navy relievers Chip Tengler (So./Alamo, Calif.), Luke Roberts (So./Midland, N.C.) and JD Melton (Jr./Myrtle Beach, S.C.) stepped up and delivered 7.1 innings of two-run baseball - only one of which was earned - with one walk and five strikeouts. Tengler came in and fired 4.2 innings with four strikeouts, while Roberts delivered 1.2 innings of scoreless relief and Melton worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
"Those three relievers just went out there and pitched," said Kostacopoulos. "Chip was able to keep the ball down and had his offspeed working today. Luke again went out there and did a great job. It was good to see JD back on the mound and certainly those were positives."
Five Midshipmen recorded multi-hit afternoons on Thursday. Speciale went 2-for-3 with walk, double, home run, three runs scored and two spectacular diving catches in the outfield. Guadagnini finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk, while Curley, Azor and Steven Soares (Jr./Coral Springs, Fla.) each contributed two base knocks. The Midshipmen were narrowly out-hit by the Mountaineers, 13-12, but struck out 15 times on the day.
The Midshipmen will begin a four-game series with Princeton tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. Admission is free to all Navy home games and live stats will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)
DIAMOND NOTES
- Navy went deep three times against Mount St. Mary's pitchers on Thursday afternoon ... the three long balls were the most for the Mids this season and the most since they went deep three times at Delaware State on April 29, 2008 ... in Navy's last-two games at Straw Family Stadium, it has belted eight home runs.
- Jeff Bland's pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning was the second for the Midshipmen in 2009 ... Steven Soares came off the bench and blasted a game-tying, three-run shot in the sixth inning against Central Connecticut State on March 7 in Annapolis ... Bland would remain in the game on Thursday and made his collegiate debut in the outfield, manning left field for the bottom half of the frame.
- Matthew Curley and Michael Speciale hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning ... it was the first time since March 27, 2007, at Mount St. Mary's that Navy went deep in consecutive at bats.
- The Midshipmen received significant contributions from their eighth-through-two hitters on Thursday ... they combined to go 8-for-15 at the plate with six runs scored ... meanwhile, Navy's three-through-seven hitters went 4-for-22 with one walk and 12 strikeouts.
- As a team, Navy struck out 15 times on Thursday ... it was the most by the Mids since they fanned 17 times against Old Dominion on Feb. 18, 2006.
- Alex Azor made his first-career start in the field for the Mids, starting at first base ... defensively, he made several nice stretches on the bag while recording his first-career multi-hit game with the bat.
- Southpaw reliever Chip Tengler tied his career high in strikeouts with four on Thursday ... his total matched the performance he had in his first-career start at Maryland-Eastern Shore on March 13, 2008.
- Thursday's game was pushed back from a 3 p.m. start to 4 p.m. due to rain showers that fell during the morning in Emmitsburg.
