May 8, 2008
• Navy Patriot League Semifinal Series Media Notes
No. 2 NAVY (30-22-1, 11-9 PL) vs. No. 3 HOLY CROSS (20-26, 11-9 PL)
Patriot League Semifinal Best-of-Three Series |
| Dates |
Sat., May 10, 2008; Sun., May 11, 2008 |
| Times |
12 p.m. (Sat.-DH & Sun.-if necessary) |
| Location |
Annapolis, Md. |
| Stadium |
Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium (1,500) |
| All-Time Series |
Navy leads, 50-19 |
| Streak |
Navy, 1 |
| This Year's Series |
April 26: Recap | W, 6-5 (9) | W, 9-3
April 27: Recap | L, 11-5 | W, 2-1 |
| Statistics |
Navy | Holy Cross |
| Live Audio |
Navy All-Access |
| Talent |
Joe Miller (Saturday), Pete Medhurst (Sunday) |
| GameTracker |
Game One | Game Two | Game Three |
|
THIS WEEKEND'S ACTION
• The Navy baseball team, the No. 2 seed in this year's Patriot League Tournament, will host its first playoff game since the 2002 season when third-seeded Holy Cross comes to Annapolis this weekend for a best-of-three semifinal series. The two teams will play a pair of nine-inning contests on Saturday, starting at 12 noon. If necessary, the Midshipmen and the Crusaders will meet for a nine-inning game on Sunday at 12 noon.
• The winner of the series will take on the winner of the Army-Bucknell series on May 17-18 at the site of the higher seed. Two weeks ago in Annapolis, Navy took 3-of-4 from Holy Cross.
HOLY CROSS ... A CLOSER LOOK
• In his first season as head coach at Holy Cross, Greg DiCenzo has guided the Crusaders to their first Patriot League Tournament appearance since 2001 to earn Patriot League Coach-of-the-Year recognition. Holy Cross comes into the weekend as the No. 3 seed by virtue of its 11-9 record in league play.
• Southpaw Matt Shapiro shared in the limelight with DiCenzo on Thursday, as he was named the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year. In league play, Shapiro went 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA. In five league starts, he went the distance three times and posted a pair of shutouts.
• At the plate, freshman Eric Oxford leads the team with a .324 batting average in playing in all-46 games this spring. First-Team All-Patriot League catcher Brendan Akashian is hitting .312 with a .449 on-base percentage, as he reached base by a hit batsman 18 times.
• Defensively, the Crusaders own a .961 fielding percentage and have turned 44 double plays.
IT'S TOURNEY TIME!
• The Navy baseball team is making its 13th and second-straight visit to the Patriot League Tournament this weekend since joining the league during the 1993 campaign. In their previous 12 trips, the Midshipmen have come away as the league champion five times.
• The Mids are 14-13 (.519) all-time in Patriot League Tournament contests, including a 6-4 (.600) mark on their home field in Annapolis. Navy has won the Patriot League Championship three times at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium (1994, '98 and '02).
• This year marks the first year in which the Patriot League has employed a four-team tournament. The winners of each semifinal series will meet next weekend in a best-of-three championship series. The 2008 Patriot League Champion will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, which starts with regional play on May 30-June 2.
HISTORY OF SUCCESS IN THE PATRIOT LEAGUE
• The Navy baseball team has enjoyed significant success since joining the Patriot League in 1993. Over that span, Navy has gone 191-131 (.593) in league play and advanced to the NCAA Tournament four times. The Midshipmen have won the league postseason title five times, more than any other school in the league.
THREE-STRAIGHT 30-WIN SEASONS
• For the first time in school history, the Navy baseball team has won 30 games in three-consecutive years -- all under Navy third-year head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. In fact, prior to Kostacopoulos's arrival, Navy had posted just three 30-win campaigns in 110 years of the program.
• Coming into this week, the Midshipmen are one of just 36 Division I teams in the nation to have won 30-plus games in each of the 2006, '07 and '08 campaigns. Among that elite list, only four teams are located within the Northeast and East Regions, as declared by the NCAA (Navy, UNC Charlotte, St. John's and Louisville).
97 WINS AND COUNTING SINCE 2006
• The Midshipmen have set a school record for most wins over a three-year stretch in the 113-year history of the baseball program. Since the start of the 2006 season, Navy has won 97 games, matching the topping the previous mark of 84 triumphs produced by the 1981-83 Midshipmen.
NAVY PRESEASON PATRIOT LEAGUE FAVORITE IN MANY CIRCLES
• The Navy baseball team was tabbed to win the Patriot League Championship and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament by a slew of preseason publications.
• The Midshipmen were picked to finish first in the Patriot League by the league's coaches and sports information contacts in the preseason poll. The Mids claimed 43 points and four first-place ballots to lead the way, while Lafayette came in a close second with 42 points and four first-place votes.
• Navy has also been picked to win the Patriot League according to Baseball America, CollegeBaseballInsider.com and CSTV.com. In CSTV.com's preseason prediction, the Mids will advance to the NCAA Tournament and compete in the Columbia, S.C., regional against No. 8 national seed South Carolina.
FAST-STARTING MIDS
• Since taking over the reigns in 2006, head coach Paul Kostacopoulos has started Patriot League play on the right foot. Over his first-three seasons, Navy is 11-1 (.917) in its league-opening weekend. The Midshipmen swept Holy Cross in a four-game set in 2006 and '07, followed by a 3-1 mark at Lafayette this season.
• Navy's 6-2 mark in Patriot League play after the second weekend of action ranks as one the best in school history. The 1994, 1997 and 1999 squads each went 7-1 to start league play, while the 1995, 1998 and 2006 teams each jumped out to a 6-2 start. In four of those six years, Navy went on to win the Patriot League Tournament.
KOSTACOPOULOS GETS CAREER WIN NO. 600
• Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos claimed his 600th career victory in just 19 seasons as a head coach with a 17-5 victory over Delaware State on April 29. The third-year Navy skipper owns a career record of 601-395-4 (.603). Kostacopoulos has won 30-plus games in each of his last-eight seasons and 12 times in his career.
KOSTACOPOULOS NEARING WIN NO. 100 WITH NAVY
• Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos is approaching another milestone mark in 2008, attempting to become the fourth Navy coach to earn 100 career victories with the Mids. Over his first-two-plus seasons in Annapolis, he owns a career mark of 97-63-2 (.605).
HOME SWEET HOME
• Navy will be playing its school-record 34th and 35th home games this weekend against Holy Cross. The previous mark of 33 games was set by last season's squad, as the Mids went 22-11 (.667) on their home field. Through 33 home games this spring, the Midshipmen own a 19-13-1 (.591) record.
• Since the installation of FieldTurf at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium before the start of the 2006 season, Navy has gone 57-35-2 (.617) in its 94 home games.
NAVY BREAKS SCHOOL'S HOME RUN RECORD
• The 2008 Navy baseball team has belted 36 home runs, breaking the school record of 30 long balls hit by the 1998 Midshipmen. The record-setting blast came off the bat of Kendall Bolt in the third inning of Navy's 13-3 win at Coppin State on April 24.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!
• One year after hitting just one home run in 33 home games, the 2008 Midshipmen have belted 12 home runs in their first-33 games on its home field. The most prolific shot came against Rhode Island on March 8, when Steven Soares smashed a 420-foot shot over the scoreboard in left-center. Mitch Harris has gone deep at home four times this spring, while Michael Speciale has homered three times in Annapolis.
HARRIS GOES DEEP IN THREE-STRAIGHT GAMES ... AGAIN!
• Navy power hitter Mitch Harris (Sr./Mt. Holly, N.C.) hit a home run in three-consecutive games for the second time in his career during an impressive tear on March 13-15.
• Harris smashed a 410-feet blast over the centerfield fence at Maryland-Eastern Shore before going deep twice against Monmouth in Annapolis. The multi-home run performance at home was the first by a Navy hitter since Tony Mauro against Lafayette on April 3, 1999. Harris blasted his fourth long ball in three days against Maine, this time over the fence at the deepest part of the ballpark, approximately 410 feet.
• The Navy slugger hit a home run in three-consecutive games during a series sweep against Holy Cross at Fitton Field last season.
• Only one other Navy hitter has ever hit a round-tripper in three-straight games. Mark Zematis first accomplished the feat on the road at East Carolina on March 4-5, 2000.
GUADAGNINI GOES DEEP...TWICE
• Navy freshman Mike Guadagnini belted two towering home runs at UMBC on April 8. Guadagnini became the second Navy freshman and the first in 34 years to belt two long balls in the same game. Terry Cook first achieved the feat against Towson on April 30, 1974.
• Guadagnini joins Navy slugger Mitch Harris as Mids that have posted a multi-home run effort this season. Prior to this year, only two other Midshipmen went deep twice in the same game since the 2002 campaign.
BACK-TO-BACK IS TWICE AS NICE
• Four Navy hitters have gone deep in back-to-back games this season. Mitch Harris homered in three-consecutive games (March 13-15), while Thomas Hamilton (April 6 at Lehigh), Michael Speciale (April 6 at Lehigh, April 8 at UMBC) and Kendall Bolt (April 22 vs. UMES, April 24 at Coppin State) have all homered in back-to-back games.
MIDS POUND OUT 16 RUNS IN A PATRIOT LEAGUE GAME
• The Navy offense cranked out 21 hits in defeated Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa., 16-6, on April 19. The 16 runs scored by the Mids are the most in a Patriot League regular season games since a 17-2 win at Holy Cross on April 21, 2001. It was also Navy's highest run output against a league opponent since a 16-3 triumph at Bucknell in the 2003 Patriot League Tournament.
NAVY'S OFFENSE EXPLODES AT UMES
• The Navy offense produced offensive figures it had not seen in five years during its 20-6 victory at Maryland-Eastern Shore on March 13.
• The 20 runs scored were the most by the Mids since they plated 24 runs against Hartford on March 22, 2003. The 24 base knocks, 10 of which went for extra bases, were the most by a Navy team since they tallied 24 hits against Bucknell in the 2003 Patriot League Tournament.
TWO MIDS BREAK SEASON HITS RECORD
• Navy hitters Thomas Hamilton and Michael Speciale have both passed the program's single-season hits record that had stood for 25 years prior to the start of the season.
• Hamilton has tallied 78 base knocks this spring, while Speciale has racked up 74 hits. The previous record was held by Andy Loferski, who produced 71 hits during his senior campaign in 1983.
MARATHON BASEBALL
• In a clash among the Patriot League's top-two teams in the league's preseason poll on March 29-30, Navy and Lafayette played a four-game set that will be remembered for some time.
• The Midshipmen and the Leopards battled over 37 innings in the four-game set, the longest Patriot League weekend in Navy's program history. The previous longest league weekend for the Mids came last year at Army, when they squared off for 35 innings.
• The series finale between Navy and Lafayette lasted 13 innings, the longest game in league play for the Mids. The contest lasted four hours and six minutes, as the Midshipmen came away with a thrilling 6-5 win. The 13-inning ballgame was the longest for Navy since a 7-6 loss to UMBC in Annapolis on March 31, 1993.
THE YOUNG MIDS
• Navy's 2008 roster is comprised of a combined 31 freshmen and sophomores out of its 40 roster spots. The Midshipmen boast the youngest squad in the Patriot League with 15 freshmen and 16 sophomores, while Lehigh follows in a close second with its 13 freshmen and 12 sophomores.
MIDS GETTING IT DONE IN THE CLASSROOM, TOO
• Being a member of a league that prides itself on maintaining high academic standards while pursuing athletic success, Navy certainly lives up to that standard in the most recent Academic Progress Rates released by the NCAA.
• The Midshipmen earned a mark of 981, which places them among the nation's top-10th percentile in baseball. Navy's athletic program also ranks among the premier institutions in each sport across the board. The Midshipmen boasted a mark higher than the Division I average in all-23 of their NCAA sports, including the nation's highest score in four sports (each with a perfect 1,000). The Midshipmen also led the nation with 12 of their teams ranking in the top-10 percent of their respective sports.
• The APR is the fulcrum upon which the entire academic-reform structure rests. Developed as a more real-time assessment of teams' academic performance than the six-year graduation-rate calculation provides, the APR awards two points each term to student-athletes who meet academic-eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team's APR is the total points earned by the term at a given time divided by the total points possible.
ACCELERATING THEIR LIFE AFTER GRADUATION
• Each of Navy's seven seniors on this year's baseball team are going to serve their country in a variety of roles following commissioning in May. Graduates from the United States Naval Academy will begin their military careers as either an Ensign in the United States Navy or a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.
• This year, each of Navy's seniors will be commissioned as Ensigns in the United States Navy, entering the Surface Warfare, Aviation, Submarine (Nuclear) and Civil Engineering Corps communities.
ON THE WATCH LISTS
• Navy pitcher/designated hitter Mitch Harris and relief pitcher JD Melton have been named to a variety of national watch lists this spring.
• Harris was named a preseason candidate for the Brooks Wallace Award for the second-straight year, which is handed out to the top collegiate player in the country. For the third time in his career, the Navy right-hander has also been selected to the Roger Clemens Award Watch List, which is awarded to the best collegiate pitcher in the nation.
• Melton was among a group of just 45 relievers in the country to be named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List. The Navy sophomore was also selected to the list during his rookie year at Navy in 2007.
