April 19, 2009
Game One Box Score (Bucknell 6, Navy 4)
Game Two Box Score (Bucknell 9, Navy 4)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy baseball team dropped both ends of its doubleheader against Bucknell, 6-4 and 9-4, on Sunday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. The Midshipmen saw their record drop to 15-23-1 on the year and 7-9 in Patriot League action, while the Bison improved to 18-20 overall and 10-6 in league games.
Navy's defense, which had committed only 42 errors all year coming into the day, made six fielding miscues that led to four of Bucknell's 15 runs on Sunday being unearned.
"We really did not play well defensively today," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "The game is only designed for a certain number of outs. We gave a good Bucknell team too many extra chances and they made us pay."
During the opener, Navy took a 2-0 lead after four innings. In the first, Mike Guadagnini (So./Virginia Beach, Va.) led off with a single and would score two batters later, when Kendall Bolt (Jr./Stockton, Calif.) smacked a single to center. In the fourth, JD Melton (Jr./Myrtle Beach, S.C.) singled before coming around to score on a two-double down the left-field line by Mike Hoosier (Jr./Pomona, N.Y.).
Navy starter Zach Sipe (Fr./Huffman, Texas) rolled through the first-four frames, but would not make it out of the fifth, as Bucknell strung together five hits and took advantage of two Navy errors to plate four runs and grab the lead.
The Midshipmen fought back to tie the game at four in the sixth and had an opportunity to re-take the lead. Three-straight doubles to lead off the inning from Michael Speciale (Jr./Pearland, Texas), Jonathan Berkowitz (Jr./Parkland, Fla.) and Melton plated two runs and put the go-ahead run on second base with nobody out. However, a foul popout, a flyout and a strikeout ended the threat.
"That was a big missed opportunity for us after three doubles in a row," said Kostacopoulos. "We needed to execute an at bat to get the go-ahead runner over to third and could not do it. We then get a hard line out to left field and finished it off with a strikeout. That was somewhat symbolic of how our season has gone."
In the seventh, Bucknell's Andrew Brouse belted his ninth long ball of the season to lead off the stanza and back-to-back two-out doubles with two outs brought in an insurance run to make the score, 6-4.
Navy had another opportunity in the bottom of the seventh, as Bolt singled and advanced to second on a two-out, pinch-single by Steven Soares (Jr./Coral Springs, Fla.). Once again, the rally was thwarted by Bucknell starter Trey Frahler, as he induced a flyout to right on his 132nd pitch of the afternoon to close out the ballgame.
Relief pitcher Chris Murray (Jr./Navarre, Fla.) had his record drop to 1-3 on the year with the loss on Sunday. He allowed two runs on six hits over 2.1 innings with one walk and two strikeouts. Sipe allowed four runs - only two of which were earned - in 4.1 innings of five-hit baseball with two walks and five strikeouts.
Bolt, Berkowitz and Melton each had two hits to help account for Navy's 10-hit performance in the opener.
In game two, Bucknell grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first before the Mids plated a pair of runs in the third to take a 2-1 advantage. Soares and Hoosier led off with back-to-back singles before a failed attempt to cut down the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt at third base loaded the bases with nobody out. Guadagnini proceeded to drive in Soares with a bloop single to left-center, followed by a one-out sacrifice fly to center by Bolt that scored Hoosier.
The Bison regained the lead in the fourth, 4-2, with a three-run frame. However, the Mids battled back to knot the game at four in the fifth. Hoosier worked a leadoff walk before moving to third on a Guadagnini double to the gap in left-center. Melton fell behind in the count, 0-2, but took the next offering and sent it into centerfield for a two-run single.
Once again, Bucknell had an answer in the sixth, as made Navy pay for one of its four fielding errors in game two to claim the lead for good. With one out and a runner on second, Navy starter TJ Kerins's (Fr./Marietta, Ga.) pickoff attempt glanced off the glove of Guadagnini and went into centerfield, allowing the runner to move up to third before coming home on a sacrifice fly to make the score 5-4.
In the seventh, Kerins retired the first-two batters before allowing back-to-back doubles that ended his afternoon. The latter of the two hitters that doubled, Doug Shribman, would score on a single to left that increased the margin to three at 7-4. The Bison would put the game away in the eighth with two more runs, one of which was aided by a throwing error.
Meanwhile, Bucknell starter Dylan Seeley posted the team's second complete-game performance of the day, as he retired the Mids on 111 pitches.
"Both Bucknell pitchers (Trey Frahler and Dylan Seeley) competed real well out there," stated Kostacopoulos. "They were able to pitch to our holes and did a solid job of getting outs when they really needed to."
Kerins was tagged for the loss and had his record fall to 2-2 this spring. He allowed seven runs - six earned - on 10 hits over 6.2 innings of walk-free baseball with three strikeouts.
"TJ threw better and had some positives today," said Kostacopoulos. "He got us deeper into the game with a chance to win. That is precisely what a starting pitcher's job is."
Guadagnini and Soares each had two base knocks with a double, while Hoosier scored twice in a 1-for-3 performance at the plate with a walk. The Midshipmen were out-hit in the nightcap, 13-9.
The Midshipmen will return to action on Tuesday when they host Maryland-Eastern Shore for a 4 p.m. non-league game. Live stats will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)
DIAMOND NOTES
- Navy is now 59-48-1 all-time against Bucknell ... the Midshipmen own a 41-23-1 advantage over the Bison in the all-time series in Annapolis.
- Navy's four errors in the nightcap matched a season high ... the Mids also made four errors in a 5-2 loss to Princeton on March 22 in Annapolis ... Navy is now 4-9 overall and 1-4 in the Patriot League when it commits two-plus errors in a game this year.
- The Midshipmen (7-9) head into the final weekend of Patriot League play one game behind Lafayette (8-8) for the fourth and final league tournament spot ... Navy took three-of-four from the Leopards earlier this spring in Annapolis ... Lafayette dropped both of its home games to Holy Cross (8-6) on Sunday, 4-1 and 7-4 ... Army (10-6) completed a four-game weekend sweep at Lehigh (3-11) this Sunday, 5-2 and 21-8 ... Navy heads to Holy Cross next weekend, while Bucknell (10-6) travels to Lehigh and Army hits the road to take on Lafayette.
- Game two starter TJ Kerins did not walk a batter in his 6.2 innings on Sunday ... it was the third time this year he did not issue a walk during a starting role, as he did so previously against Princeton (March 22) and Lafayette (March 29) ... for the year, he has walked only 10 in 44.1 innings of work.
- Navy's offense has recorded at least nine base knocks during each of its last-six games ... within that span, the Mids are hitting .364 (76-for-209) as a team with 47 runs scored.
- Mike Guadagnini went 3-for-7 at the plate on Sunday to continue his solid hitting ways ... over his last-25 games, he's batting .441 (45-for-102) with 27 runs scored, nine doubles, four triples, three home runs and 16 RBIs ... among those games, he's recorded 17 multi-hit efforts.
- JD Melton finished his weekend 5-for-10 at the plate with five runs scored, four RBIs and two doubles ... prior to this weekend, the primarily-used reliever had not recorded an extra-base hit since his freshman season at Wofford (S.C.), when he smacked three doubles and a walk-off home run.
- Sunday's opener was shown on CBS College Sports Network, as Tom Hart and Kevin Stocker delivered the call from Annapolis ... the game will be re-aired on the network tonight at 9 p.m. ET, tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET and 9:30 p.m. ET and Tuesday at 3 a.m. ET and 12 noon ET.
