April 29, 2010

Box Score

Speciale reached base safely in all five of his plate appearances on the day en route to three runs scored. The Navy senior tripled to right-center in the first, singled in the third, walked in the fifth, homered down the left-field line in the sixth and singled to left in the eighth.

"It's been really good to see the kind of at bats Michael's been having," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "In the last couple of weeks, he's swung the bat better. Whenever you have four hits, that's a pretty good day."

With the help of Speciale, Navy's offense collected 16 hits. Leadoff hitter Mike Guadagnini (Jr.Virginia Beach, Va.) went 3-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBIs, while Kendall Bolt (Sr./Stockton, Calif.), Josh Moore (So./Mills River, N.C.) and Dylan Wheeler (Fr./Novato, Calif.) each collected two base knocks.

Navy jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first courtesy of a two-run blast off the bat of Mike Hoosier (Sr./Pomona, N.Y.). Coppin State answered with a three-run bottom of the first, but the Mids answered back with a three-run second to take a lead that they would not relinquish. Guadagnini delivered a RBI single and Matthew Curley (Sr./Boston, Mass.) lifted a sacrifice fly to right in that frame.

Following a RBI single from Moore in the third, Navy put the game out of reach with a five-run fifth in which it sent nine batters to the plate. Wheeler, Curley and Alex Azor (So./Miami, Fla.) each had RBI base knocks in the frame with one out to push the lead to 11-3. Speciale tacked on an insurance run in the sixth with his seventh long ball of the season.

Reliever Stephen Geiss (Fr./Baltimore, Md.) earned his first-career win on Thursday. Coming out of the bullpen in the second inning, Geiss scattered two runs on five hits over 3.1 innings of work with two walks and two strikeouts. Wes Olson (Jr./Indianapolis, Ind.) and Joe Rinehart (Fr./Kingwood, Texas) combined to hold the Eagles scoreless over the final-3.2 innings with only two hits and no walks, to along with a pair of strikeouts.

"Stephen did a good job considering he hadn't pitched in a while," said Kostacopoulos. "He came into a close ballgame early on and got some outs to get us deeper into the game and to our regular relievers."

The Midshipmen will return to action this weekend with their final-four Patriot League regular season games of the spring at Lafayette. First pitch for both Saturday and Sunday's doubleheaders is slated for 12 noon and live stats will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)

DIAMOND NOTES:
- Navy recorded its 27th win of the year on Thursday, which is tied for the eighth-highest win total in program history with the 1999 Mids.
- Navy is now 11-3-1 all-time against Coppin State and has won each of the last-seven meetings ... the Midshipmen scored 25 runs in their two games against the Eagles this spring.
- Michael Speciale was just a double shy of hitting for the cycle on Thursday ... only one player in school history has ever hit for the cycle - Andy Loferski against Harvard on April 3, 1981.
- Michael Speciale's four hits pushed his career total to 231, which is just one off the program record of 232 base knocks by Thomas Hamilton from 2005-08.
- The Midshipmen were able to force Coppin State to strand 13 runners on the afternoon, 12 of which came in the first-six innings ... it was just one shy of the season high of 14 runners left on base by Air Force back on Feb. 27.
- Navy's pitching staff issued eight walks on Thursday, all of which came in the first-6.1 innings of work ... coming into the contest, Navy was ranked 32nd nationally in fewest walks per nine innings (3.01).
- The Midshipmen committed just one error in Thursday's win ... over the last-12 games, Navy has committed just five errors, good for a .988 fielding percentage.