Navy Sports

GreatAmerican
Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:06:41 +0000

For Immediate Release
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Maggart (410) 293-8771

Navy Cruises Past Coppin State, 13-3

HANOVER, Md. – Navy third baseman Kendall Bolt (So./Stockton, Calif.) went 3-for-6 with a double, home run and five RBIs to lead the Midshipmen to a 13-3 win over Coppin State at Joe Cannon Stadium on Thursday afternoon. The Mids improved to 25-20 overall, while the Eagles dropped to 3-42.

Bolt also scored twice and set a career high in RBIs to lead a Navy offense that tallied 17 base hits and drew nine walks.

“Kendall was certainly the key for our offense, as he came up with five of our first-eight RBIs of the game,” stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. “He really delivered in the clutch and set the tone for the game. He has had a much better approach at the plate over the last couple of weeks and has began to see more results.”

Nick Driscoll (Fr./Riverview, Fla.) finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs, a run scored and a walk. Thomas Hamilton (Sr./Houston, Texas) crossed home plate three times in going 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk, while Bill Maugeri (Sr./Edgewater, Md.), Jeff Bland (Fr./Basking Ridge, N.J.) and Mike Hoosier (So./Pomona, N.Y.) each collected two base knocks for the Mids.

In his first-career start, Navy southpaw Sam Long (Fr./Newnan, Ga.) did not allow an earned run over five innings of four-hit baseball with two walks and five strikeouts to pick up his first-career win. Reliever Luke Roberts (Fr./Midland, N.C.) fired two hitless, shutout innings with three strikeouts to close out the ballgame.

“This is the second-straight good start by a freshman for us,” said Kostacopoulos. “With Wes Olson’s performance on Tuesday, on freshmen starters have not allowed an earned run over 10-consecutive innings. It’s good to see them performing well at the end of the year, which they can use to springboard into next season.”

Navy jumped out to a 9-0 lead after four innings and never looked back. Bolt delivered a two-run single in the first, before blasting a two-run home run over the right-field fence. The long ball was Bolt’s fourth of the season and the 31st for Navy as a team, breaking the previous school record of 30 held by the 1998 Midshipmen.

In the fourth, Michael Speciale (So./Pearland, Texas) and Bolt each had RBI singles, followed by a two-run single off the bat of Bland and a run-scoring single by Driscoll.

Coppin State trimmed the Navy advantage to eight with an unearned run in the fourth, but that would be as close as it would get for the remainder of the contest.

The Midshipmen pushed their cushion to double digits with a four-run seventh. Maugeri smashed a 400-foot home run over the fence in left-center, the first of his career, to start the frame. Driscoll produced a RBI single to right, proceeded by bases-loaded walks by Jonathan Wright (Fr./Arden, N.C.) and Speciale that made the score 13-1.

Navy will return to action this weekend, when it closes out Patriot League regular season play with first-place Holy Cross in Annapolis. The two teams, separated by two games in the standings, are slated to play 12 noon doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. Live statistics for all of Navy’s home games are available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)