April 1, 2011

Navy| LehighGames 3 & 4

Navy Begins Patriot League Slate at Lehigh
Navy will open Patriot League play this weekend when it travels to Lehigh to meet the Mountain Hawks in a four-game set, beginning on Saturday at 12 p.m. The Midshipmen enter the series at 14-11-1, overall, and 6-4 in their last 10 games. Lehigh has an overall record of 15-8 and enters play on Saturday with a six-game winning streak.

About Lehigh
After splitting a four-game set with Iona (Mar. 18-20), Lehigh has won its last six games, which included a four-game sweep of NJIT and wins over St. Joseph's and Maryland-Eastern Shore...Lehigh is currently hitting .286 as a team, with five starters hitting over .300...Kevin Mihalik leads the Mountain Hawks with a .346 batting average while Brendan McGaheran is the leader in RBIs with 19...At 5.32, Lehigh posts one of the best team ERAs in the conference...Reliever Kent Cory has logged the most appearances (nine), the second-most innings (21.1) and leads the staff with a 2.11 ERA and three saves...As a team, the Mountain Hawks have a fielding percentage of .951...The Mountain Hawks lead the league with 55 stolen bases.

Common Opponents
Navy and Lehigh share three common, non-league opponents in Yale, Central Michigan and Coppin State. Lehigh went 4-1 against the three teams as it defeated Coppin State three times, downed Yale, 8-6, and fell to Central Michigan, 15-3.

Navy went 3-4 against the three teams - splitting a four game set with Yale, going 1-1 against Coppin State and falling in a one-run game to CMU.

Navy in Patriot League Openers
Navy is 13-5 all-time in Patriot League-opening games and has a 52-16 mark in conference-opening sets. This season marks the second-straight year, and the fourth time overall, that Navy and Lehigh have met in a Patriot League-opening series. The two teams split last year's series, while Navy took three of four games from the Mountain Hawks in 2000 and `01.

Dupell Named Player of the Week
Greg Dupell was named Patriot League Player of the Week on Monday as he became the second consecutive Midshipman to garner the award. Dupell played a key role in Navy's three wins over Princeton last weekend as he had multiple hits in all three victories and hit .438 in the four-game series.

Dupell went 6-for-11, had six RBIs and stole three bases in the three wins over the Tigers. Trailing 7-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning in game two of Saturday's doubleheader, Dupell hit a two-RBI triple that sparked the Mids' 6-run inning as they came back to win, 8-7. He went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in Navy's 7-2 win in game one.

The Tampa, Fla., native follows Jeff Bland, who won the award last week and was the first Mid to be honored this season. It marks the first time Navy players have won the award in consecutive weeks since 2008 when Michael Speciale and Mike Guadagnini earned the honor back-to-back.

Azor One of the Nation's Top Hitters
Alex Azor has been the Mids' most consistent hitter this season. When NCAA statistics were released on Monday, Azor was tied for 19th in the nation with 40 hits. With just five strikeouts in 105 at-bats, Azor was ranked as the nation's 24th-toughest hitter to strike out. His 105 at-bats were the highest of any player ranked in the top 30 on the list.

He is currently hitting .376 and though his .381 batting average at the beginning of the week ranked second in the Patriot League, he had 25 more at-bats than any other player in the top five in the conference in batting average. When statistics were released on Monday, Azor was the league-leader in hits (40) and runs scored (29).

Mids Go 12-6-1 in March
After a tough 2-5 start to the season in February, Navy responded to go 12-6-1 (.658) in the month of March. The month included two, four-game winning streaks as Navy posted its most wins in the month since 2008 when it went 15-8 (.652).

Rinehart Leads the `Pen
Sophomore reliever Joel Rinehart has been Navy's top arm out of the bullpen this season. Rinehart entered the week as the Patriot League leader in appearances with 11, while his three saves tied for second most in the conference.

Rinehart, who currently has a 2.25 ERA, picked up two saves last weekend and with a career total of six, he is now in a tie for fifth place on Navy's all-time saves list.

The Kingwood, Texas, native has limited opponents to a .208 batting average this season and just two of the 22 hits he has allowed have been for extra bases.

Milanes Leads in RBIs
Sophomore designated hitter and catcher Dave Milanes entered the week as the Patriot League's leader in RBIs with 25. After picking up two more on Wednesday, Milanes brought his total to 27 as he now has nine RBIs in Navy's last six games.

Milanes established a new career high with four RBIs in Navy's loss to Princeton last weekend. Coming into this weekend, Milanes raised his batting average .032 in the last five games and is currently hitting .327 - third best on the team.

Rising to the Challenge
Navy is 3-0 this season against teams that played in last year's NCAA Baseball Championship. The Midshipmen defeated Central Connecticut State twice (3-2, 9-2) and most recently, they defeated Jacksonville State, 8-5, on March 16. In the three wins, Navy hit .295 as a team and limited the two opponents to a combined batting average of just .208.

The Midshipmen will have the opportunity to improve their record against teams that took part in last year's NCAA Tournament when they meet conference-foe Bucknell on April 16-17.

Keeping Runners Honest
The Navy pitching staff already has seven pickoffs this season, which is the most by the Midshipmen since 2008 when they had seven in the entire season. The Mids did not record a pickoff last season and had just two in 2009.

Hold `Em Under Five
Navy is 11-2 this season when holding its opponents to under five runs. In fact, Navy is 11-0 in nine-inning games where it has held its opponent under five runs, as its only losses came to Yale, 1-0, in a seven-inning game and at Mount St. Mary's in a game that was called after seven innings.

Freshmen Stepping Up
Several young players have had the chance to step into the Navy lineup through the first 26 games.

Freshman Brandon Beans, who started the first eight games before missing the next eight due to injury, is currently hitting .254 and earlier this season had a team season-high 11-game hitting streak.

Though he has had five appearances on the mound, freshman Taylor Cato has also made nine starts in the outfield where he has hit 14-for-41 (.331) with four doubles. A third freshman that has made an impact in the outfield is Matt Kilby, who is hitting .286 at the plate this season in seven games, including two starts.

Young Guns Out of the Bullpen
Freshman pitchers Dwayne Gammage and Preston Gainey have made the most out of their combined 13 appearances this season. With 7.2 innings pitched in eight appearances, Gammage has been one of the team's most dependable relievers so far this season. Gammage, who has an ERA of 1.17, hasn't allowed a run since his first-career appearance on Feb. 19 at Presbyterian and has only allowed a total of five hits.

Gammage earned his first-career win on March 8 vs. Coppin State and picked up his first-career save vs. Jacksonville State.

In five appearances this season, Gainey is holding hitters to a .182 batting average and has a 3.72 ERA.

Bouncing Back
Navy has shown resiliency this season in bouncing back after close losses. In all four losses that have been by two or fewer runs this season, Navy has responded each time to win the next game. Three of those four Navy wins have been by four or more runs.

Nelson Returning to Form
A year after earning Freshman All-America and All-Patriot League honors, Ben Nelson is back in the familiar position near the top of the conference in strikeouts. When statistics were released on Monday, his 30 Ks were second most in league and his 34.2 innings pitched were third in the conference.

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.

The 5-for-5 Club
Both Alex Azor and Jeff Bland have gone 5-for-5 in games this season. Bland went 5-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs in Navy's 15-7 win over Yale on March 19. Azor started the Mids' trip to Florida with a 5-for-5 performance against Central Michigan. His five-hit game was the first by a Midshipman since April 26, 2008 when Mike Guadagnini had five hits against Holy Cross.

Lighting Up the Scoreboard
When Navy and Chicago State met for the first time in program history on March 15, the two teams combined for one of the most-high scoring games in recent Navy history. The Mids defeated the Cougars, 17-14, while the two teams combined for 32 hits. The 31 total runs were the most combined runs in a game for Navy since it defeated Lafayette, 30-2, on March 28, 1998 in Easton, Pa.

Bland Moves Up Career Charts
With four home runs this season, senior captain Jeff Bland now has 13 for his career and is now alone in 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, and is now fourth on Navy's all-time caught stealing list having thrown out 32 runners.

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.

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
Navy will host Georgetown on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. and will hit the road to face Army next weekend. Doubleheaders at West Point will begin at 12 p.m. on Saturday and at 1 p.m. on Sunday.