Navy Rally Comes Short in 7-4 Loss Against Army :: Mids score twice in the ninth, sent game-tying run to the plate

April 14, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy baseball team rallied to score twice in the ninth inning and had the game-tying run at the plate, but a flyout ended the comeback bid as the Midshipmen dropped the series finale to Army, 7-4, on Monday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.

Army completed the four-game sweep on Monday to win its seventh straight and improve to 15-18 overall and 7-5 in the Patriot League. Navy saw its record fall to 20-17 on the year and 6-6 in league play.

"I thought we battled hard out there today," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "We continued to push forward, but Army made some nice defensive plays that kept us off base and out of big innings. Also, I thought we pitched out of jams better than we had over the last-five games. Army kept the pressure on us, but we made the key pitch several times."

Trailing 7-2 going into the home half of the ninth inning, Navy's bats came alive after reliever Tyler Anderegg recorded the first-two outs of the frame. Matt Sweisthal (So./Spring, Texas) singled before Michael Speciale (So./Pearland, Texas) drove a ground-rule double over the fence in center. Jonathan Wright (Fr./Arden, N.C.) came to the plate and legged out an infield single to bring in Sweisthal. Thomas Hamilton (Sr./Houston, Texas) followed with another ground-rule double to center, this time plating Speciale to make the score 7-4. With runners in scoring position, Mitch Harris (Sr./Mt. Holly, N.C.) battled off several two-strike offerings before flying out to center to end the ballgame.

Army jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first-half inning of play, but Navy chipped away to knot the contest at two after four innings. In the first, Harris singled in Wright with two outs for Navy's first run of the game. Three innings later, Jeff Bland (Fr./Basking Ridge, N.J.) brought home Kendall Bolt (So./Stockton, Calif.) from second on a single to left-center.

The game would not remain tied for long, as the Black Knights responded with a run in the fifth, two in the sixth, one in the eighth and one in the ninth.

Navy starter Yale Eckert (So./La Selva Beach, Calif.) dropped to 1-4 on the year, as he allowed five runs on 11 hits over 5.2 innings with no walks and three strikeouts.

Eight different Midshipmen collected at least one hit in Monday's 12-hit performance. Speciale led the way with a 3-for-4 effort with two doubles and a run scored, while Wright and Bolt each contributed a pair of base knocks.

"Michael was right on the ball today, which was good to see," said Kostacopoulos. "However, it's been the same story with our offense. You should be able to produce more than four runs on 12 hits, but we haven't found a way over the last-10 games. We are struggling and throwing away some at bats in critical moments."

The Midshipmen will return to action tomorrow with a 4 p.m. ballgame in Annapolis against Coppin State. Live stats for all of Navy's home games will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)