Navy Sports

GreatAmerican
Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:50:50 +0000

For Immediate Release
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Maggart (410) 293-8771

Navy Pounds Out 31 Hits to Sweep Holy Cross on Saturday

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy’s top-two hitters in the lineup, Renaldo Hollins (Sr./Virginia Beach, Va.) and Mike Guadagnini (Fr./Virginia Beach, Va.), combined to go 13-for-19 with seven runs scored on Saturday to lead the Midshipmen to a baseball doubleheader sweep of Holy Cross at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. Navy rallied in the opener and won in nine innings, 6-5, before taking the nightcap, 9-3.

The Midshipmen totaled 31 base knocks on the day to improve to 27-20 on the year and 10-8 in Patriot League play, while the Crusaders fell to 19-24 overall and 10-8 in league action. By virtue of its two wins on Saturday and Army’s two victories over Lafayette, Navy has clinched a spot in the Patriot League Tournament.

Hollins finished Saturday with a 5-for-9 effort at the plate with three runs scored and two RBIs, followed by Guadagnini’s impressive 8-for-10 performance with a double and four runs scored. Guadagnini went 5-for-5 in the nightcap, marking the first five-hit showing by a Navy batter since Ryan McGinn at Holy Cross on April 10, 2005.

“We had a really good 1-2 punch going for us today with Renaldo and Mike,” stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. “The two of them together were a great unit. They both put on great at bats all day. Mike’s 8-for-10 at the plate really speaks for itself.”

Saturday’s twinbill opener featured a tight contest that had Navy holding a 4-3 cushion going into the seventh, but Holy Cross plated a pair of unearned runs to take its first lead of the game, 5-4. However, the Midshipmen responded in the bottom half of the frame to force extra frames.

Hollins drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Guadagnini’s bunt single past the charging-in third baseman. After a popout on a sacrifice attempt, team captain Thomas Hamilton (Sr./Houston, Texas) singled through the right side to plate Hollins and knot the game at five.

Two innings later, Hollins reached base on a throwing error by the third baseman to begin the stanza. Guadagnini followed and laid down a bunt to the pitcher, who tried to throw out Hollins at second base, but the toss went into the outfield for the second error of the inning. After a flyout, Hamilton walked to load the bases. With a drawn-in infield, Kendall Bolt (So./Stockton, Calif.) ripped a lineout to the second baseman. Stepping to the plate was Jeff Bland (Fr./Basking Ridge, N.J.), who took the first pitch he saw and drilled it off the fence in left-center to bring home Hollins for the game-winning run.

“Given the way Holy Cross took the lead in the seventh, it was impressive for us to come back and tie the game and then found a way to win the game,” said Kostacopoulos. “That first game was a grinder. It showed a lot of character out of our team to come back and work its way back to get the win.”

Navy jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first-two innings of play. Hollins led off the first with a bunt single and would score on a Guadagnini double down the left field line. Guadagnini would come home a Speciale two-bagger down the line in left. One stanza later, Bill Maugeri (Sr./Edgewater, Md.) was hit by a pitch, stole second and touched home on a Nick Driscoll (Fr./Riverview, Fla.) single to left.

Holy Cross bounced back with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth to tie the game at three. Navy immediately re-took the lead in the bottom half of the fifth, as Guadagnini made an athletic move around the catcher to avoid the tag at home to score on a Hamilton single to right.

The Midshipmen out-hit the Crusaders in the opener, 15-9, with the top-four hitters in the Navy lineup combining to go 10-for-18 at the plate. Hollins and Guadagnini each had three hits at the first and second spots in the lineup, respectively, followed by two-hit efforts from Speciale and Hamilton.

Navy starter Mitch Harris (Sr./Mt. Holly, N.C.) struck out five and walked only one in 4.1 innings of work. He threw 84 pitches on the day, 59 of which were strikes, in allowing the Crusaders three runs on seven hits. Relief pitchers Drew Carlson (So./Boca Raton, Fla.) and JD Melton (So./Myrtle Beach, S.C.) each threw 2.1 innings and did not allow an earned run. Melton did not issue a walk and struck out one to earn the win and improve to 2-1 on the year.

In the back end of Saturday’s doubleheader, Navy starter Mark McCoy (Sr./Parkland, Fla.) ran into some trouble in the third, as he gave up two runs, but settled in afterwards with four-straight scoreless frames to pick up his fifth win of the year. The Navy right-hander finished with seven innings of seven-hit, three-run baseball with two walks and seven strikeouts.

“Coming to the park assuming he was going to throw tomorrow and then turning in that kind of performance was a great lift for us,” stated Kostacopoulos. “His breaking balls were working well and when he has them going, he is a difficult guy to hit against. He did a nice job of bouncing back after the third to get us into the eighth then just got a little tired.”

Navy’s offense came to the aid of McCoy immediately after the two-run Holy Cross third, as it sent 12 batters to the plate in scoring six runs and taking the lead for good. Hollins and Guadagnini each had two hits in the frame, while Speciale had a RBI-triple and Hamilton and Harris had run-producing doubles.

After Holy Cross chased McCoy out of the game in the eighth with a run, southpaw reliever Kevin Heasley (Sr./Cincinnati, Ohio) retired all-six batters he faced to earn his first-career save.

The Midshipmen tacked on three insurance runs in the bottom half of the eighth. With the bases loaded with one out, Bland greeted Holy Cross reliever Dan Seip with a bases-clearing double off the fence down the left-field line.

Each Navy starter recorded a base knock in the nightcap to out-hit Holy Cross, 16-7. In addition to Guadagnini’s 5-for-5 performance, Hollins, Bolt and Bland each came up with a pair of hits. Bland drove home four runners in the second game.

With Saturday’s sweep of Holy Cross, the Midshipmen have won 11-straight contests over the Crusaders, dating back to the 2005 campaign.

Navy will look to clinch a No. 2 seed and a home series for this year’s Patriot League Tournament, as it closes out league regular season play with a doubleheader tomorrow against Holy Cross.

“We cannot get too far ahead of ourselves,” said Kostacopoulos. “The game is hard enough to play on its own merits. We just need to stay locked in, worry about the first game tomorrow and then shift our focus to the second game.”

Live stats for all of Navy’s home games are available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)