Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Luke Gillingham (Jr., Coronado, Calif.) continued his stellar start to the 2015 season with a dominant performance on Saturday at home versus the New York Institute of Technology. The junior allowed just two first-inning singles and struck out 15 batters as Navy's offense scraped across the eventual game-winning run in the second inning to earn the 1-0 victory. With the win, the Mids improve to 13-4 on the year, while the Bears fall to 0-2.

"That was another great performance by Luke," exclaimed Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "He gave up two hits in the first inning and then didn't give up one the rest of the way, while striking out 15. He was the catalyst for the game."

"Sean Trent swung the bat well for us offensively. He had three hits and barreled the ball up pretty good all day, but it was just one of those games where pitching really dominated. Luke definitely did that for us today."

The game began in a slightly up-and-down manner for Gillingham and his Navy teammates as he struck out the first batter, but then gave up two singles over the next three at bats. A swinging strike out of NYIT's Louis Mele ended the Bears' early threat.

Navy challenged NYIT's starting pitcher Elias Martinez in the bottom of the first with two runners on and two outs, but the Mids were unable to break through. After Gillingham quickly dispatched of the Bears in the top of the second with two more strikeouts, the Mids' offense got back after it in the bottom of the inning. The duo of Adrian Chinnery (So., Wilmington, Del.) and Jack Keller (Sr., Ballston Spa, N.Y.) started the frame by reaching base in back-to-back at bats; Chinnery via a walk and Keller an infield single. After a throwing error helped Chinnery advance to third base, a ground ball off the bat of Sean Kamhoot (Fr., Gainesville, Fla.) plated Chinnery for the first and only run of the game.

"We missed a few opportunities early on," remarked Kostacopoulos. "In the second inning we scored our one run, but had men on second and third with one out and then we don't pick them up, or at least one more for an extra run. To their credit though, they did a good job of pitching on the edges. We hit the ball, but at the same time they were very manageable outs. You've got to give them credit."

A one-run lead was all that Gillingham would need as the junior southpaw was locked in versus NYIT. At one point between the first and eighth innings he retired 19 straight batters, including 11 via strikeouts. His streak ended in the top of the eighth as Anthony Martelli, the inning's first batter, worked a full count walk. Martelli eventually reached second base, but was stranded by back-to-back strikeouts from Gillingham.

On his way to 15 punch outs, Gillingham struck out at least one batter in every innings, including all three Bears that he faced in the top of the fourth. The rest of his final line for the afternoon was 9.0 innings, two hits and one walk on 99 total pitches. With the victory, he improves to 3-0 on the year. Through 38.0 total innings, he's retired 65 opponents on strikeouts.

In the 1-0 win, Navy outhit NYIT, 7-2. Sean Trent (Jr., Sorrento, Fla.) led the attack with three hits; two singles and a double. Robert Currie (Jr., Atlanta, Ga.), Connor Deneen (Jr., Tustin, Calif.) Keller and Kamhoot registered the other four hits for the Mids on Saturday.

Navy and NYIT will conclude their four-game series with a doubleheader on Sunday. First pitch between the Mids and Bears is slated for 12 p.m. Game two is slated to start 30 minutes after the completion of the first contest. RHP Stephen Moore (Sr., Roswell, Ga.) is scheduled to start game one, while game two should see RHP George Coughlin (So., Arvada, Colo.) get the start.

Notes:

Gillingham now has three of the top-seven single-game strikeout performances in DI in 2015 ... His 16 strikeouts at North Carolina A&T is ranked second ... His 15 versus NYIT is tied for fourth ... His 14 versus UMES is tied for seventh.