March 11, 2011

Navy Heads to Florida for the RussMatt Invitational
Navy will head south for the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational where it will play four games in four days, beginning on Sunday against Central Michigan. Sunday's game will begin at 10 a.m. and will be played in Auburndale, Fla., at Lake Myrtle Park. Navy's final three games will be in Winter Haven, Fla., at Chain of Lakes Park Stadium where it will meet UMass at 3 p.m. on Monday (March 14), Chicago State at 11 a.m. on Tuesday (March 15) and Jacksonville State at 10 a.m. on Wednesday (March 16).

About Central Michigan
CMU returned 20 letterwinners, including six starting position players and 12 pitchers, from last year's team that went 36-22 and won the regular-season MAC title. Through 11 games this season, the Chips had a team batting average of .256 and Tyler Hall led all players with a .395 batting average. The pitching staff had an ERA of 4.61.

About UMass
UMass enters play at the RussMatt Invitational on March 12 with a 0-4 record. Senior Eric Fredette is the team's top returning hitter after posting a .384 average at the plate last season as he earned Atlantic 10 Second Team honors. UMass went 19-37 last season and has a total of 14 freshmen on its roster this year.

About Chicago State
As of March 10, Chicago State was 1-2 with an upcoming three-game series against Southern-Illinois Edwardsville. CSU returns eight players, including four position starters from the 2010 team that went 3-48.

About Jacksonville State
Jacksonville State returns 20 letterwinners, including six pitchers and three position starters, from last year's team that went 32-26 and competed in the NCAA Championship for the third time in school history. Catcher Sam Eberle is one of the Gamecock's top returners at the plate as he hit 16 homers and drove in 60 runs last season. As of March 10, JSU was 8-3 with a team batting average of .287 and team ERA of 4.18.

Mids Unbeaten in Last Five Games
Since its March 2 loss to Coppin State, Navy is unbeaten at 4-0-1. The Mids defeated UMBC, 4-3, took a rain-shortened two-game set from Central Connecticut State (3-2, 9-2), edged Coppin State, 4-3, in 12 innings and then played to an 8-8 tie with Towson.

The key to the Mids' recent success has been the performance of the pitching staff, as it has an ERA of just 3.06 in its last five games and has racked up a total of 54 Ks and issued just 20 walks. Of the 39 hits the pitching staff has surrendered, only seven have been for extra bases.

While Navy is hitting just .218 as a team over the five-game span, Alex Azor (.333, four RBIs), Jonathan Wright (.333, six RBIs) and Dylan Wheeler (.308, four RBIs) have been the chief catalysts at the plate as they have accounted for over half of the team's RBIs in the last five contests.

Spreading the Wealth
Several different players have come through offensively for the Mids so far this season, as through 13 games, there are six players all with at least seven RBIs. Jonathan Wright (10) leads the way, followed by Dave Milanes (9), Dylan Wheeler (8), Andrew Hahn (8), Alex Azor (7) and Jeff Bland (7). Collectively, the six players have accounted for 74.2% (49-of-66) of the team's RBIs.

Schoberl Shuts `Em Down
In his last three outings, starting pitcher Johnny Schoberl has lowered his ERA by over 6.00 runs to just 2.87 - best among all Navy starters. In his last start on March 5, the right-hander earned his first win of the season as he limited Central Connecticut State to just two runs off two hits in 6.1 innings. He also struck out 12 batters - the most by a Midshipman since Sam Long had 13 Ks vs. Monmouth on March 13, 2009.

Schoberl's 20 strikeouts lead the team.­

All Even After 10...
Navy's 8-8 tie in 10 innings with Towson on March 9 was its first since a 5-5 deadlock with Delaware in the third game of the 2009 season. In its 116-year history, Navy has 37 ties.

Both Ends of the Spectrum
Navy has proven it can win with both pitching and hitting this season - even when neither is at its best in the same game. In the 13-3 win over Air Force on Feb. 27, the Mids pounded out 20 hits, marking the seventh time they put up 20 or more hits in a game since 2008.

Conversely, Navy was able to pull out a 4-3 win over UMBC on March 4 despite just three hits. It was the fewest hits for Navy in a nine-inning game since a season-opening 2-0 loss to Air Force Feb. 20, 2009.

Young Mids
After graduating 10 seniors last spring, the Mids return with a much younger squad in 2011 as 25 of team's 35 players are either freshmen or sophomores.

Navy's Opening Day lineup in 2011 included two seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and one freshman that, entering the season, had collectively started a total of 335 games with 457 total combined appearances. By comparison, Navy's lineup on Opening Day 2010 featured far more experience with four seniors, three juniors and two sophomores that had a combined 841 appearances and (+384 games) 733 games started (+398 games).

This season's Navy roster includes the most freshmen, and highest total of underclassmen, since the NCAA instituted a 35-player roster limit in 2009.

Bland Moves Up Career Charts
With three home runs through 13 games this season, senior captain Jeff Bland now has 12 for his career and has moved into a tie with Edward Abner (1975-77) for ninth place on Navy's all-time home run list. Bland started the season with two home runs in the series at Presbyterian and then added another in the Mids' 13-3 win over Air Force on Feb. 27.

Behind the plate, Bland threw out a career-best four runners in Navy's March 9 game at Towson, giving him a career total of 27 runners caught steeling. He is now in a tie for fourth on Navy's all-time caught steeling list with Mark McCoy (2005-08). Steven Soares (2007-10) holds the school record with 77 runners caught stealing.

Bullpen Getting the Job Done
Over the last five games, five Navy relief pitchers have combined to to allow just four runs (two earned) in a total of 21.0 innings. Wes Olson, Dwayne Gammage and Harrison Pollard haven't allowed a run in the past five games, as the trio has combined for four appearances and a total of 7.2 innings.

Joel Rinehart leads the pitching staff with a 1.04 ERA in team-high six appearances this season. The sophomore has 16 strikeouts and four walks in 17.1 innings as he has limited opposing hitters to a batting average of just .177.

Jordan Heller had his best performance of the season vs. Towson, as allowed one run off four hits and struck out four batters in 4.1 innings.

Kostacopoulos Registers 150th Win at Navy
Head coach Paul Kostacopoulos became the fifth coach in Navy history to hit the 150-win mark when the Mids defeated Air Force, 6-4, on Feb .26. This season marks his sixth at the helm of the Navy baseball program and his 22nd year as a head coach.

Last season, Kostacopoulos led the Mids to 30 wins, marking the fourth time in the last five seasons Navy won at least 30 games. Prior to his arrival in 2006, the Mids won at least 30 games in just three of their previous 109 seasons.

Offense Comes to Life Against Air Force
After going 0-3 at Presbyterian to start the season, Navy came out of its early-season slump to go 2-1 against Air Force as it batted .362 against Falcons and collected 42 hits. Navy outscored its service academy rival, 21-15, in the three-game series.

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Highlights Azor, Nelson
In CollegeBaseballInsider.com's 2011 Patriot League season preview that compiled answers from coaches around the conference, sophomore pitcher Ben Nelson and junior outfielder Alex Azor both received praise. Azor was named the "Toughest Hitter to Strike Out," and the "Most Underrated Hitter." He was also selected as one of the "Three-Best Pure Hitters."

Nelson was chosen as one of the conference's "Top-Three Starting Pitchers."

Patriot-League Preseason Poll
The Patriot League Preseason Poll, as voted on by the conference's head coaches and sports information contacts, selected Navy to finish fifth.

The league's defending champion, Bucknell, was picked to finish second as Army, which received six first-place votes, was selected to win the conference. Holy Cross was picked third and Lehigh was selected fourth.

Up Next
Upon returning to Annapolis, Navy will host Yale in two doubleheaders, beginning on Saturday, March 19 at 12 p.m.