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March 12, 2007

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy junior right-handed pitcher Mark McCoy delivered eight innings of shutout baseball as the Midshipmen blanked Buffalo, 7-0, on Monday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium. With the win, Navy improved to 13-5 on the year and have come away victorious in four of its last-five contests. Buffalo dropped to 1-9 with the setback.

"The key today was that we were able to execute our offense, putting together more competitive at bats that resulted in a better day for us at the plate," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "Once again though, our pitching and defense kept us alive as it was still a 1-0 lead for us going into the seventh."

McCoy scattered eight hits over his eight innings, walking none and striking out six in a 114-pitch outing to up his mark to 3-2 on the campaign. The right-hander got into a little trouble early in innings, but held the Bulls off the scoreboard by limiting the guests to a .188 (3-for-16) batting average with runners on base during the afternoon. McCoy has not allowed a run in 15.0-consecutive innings, dating back to his start against Missouri at the Service Academy Spring Classic.

"Mark has been unbelievable for us over his last-two starts," commented Kostacopoulos. "He was scraped up a little bit in the early part of innings, but worked his way out each time. For a collegiate pitcher to hold the opposition scoreless for 15.0-striaght innings, that is phenomenal."

Buffalo threatened in the top half of the first inning, as it led off with back-to-back singles. After a fielder's choice put runners on the corners, McCoy induced a groundball double play to shortstop to get out of the inning with no damage.

The Midshipmen took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the inning when junior Renaldo Hollins (Virginia Beach, Va.) led off with a single, stole second base, advanced to third on an error and came home to score on a Mitch Harris (Mt. Holly, N.C.) one-out sacrifice fly. On the year, Navy has out-scored its opposition, 16-2, during the first inning.

The score would remain 1-0 until the bottom of the seventh, when Navy's bats came alive for four runs on five hits. The Midshipmen produced four-straight singles to push the lead to 3-0, then after a sacrifice bunt, senior Dominic Lopez (Quincy, Mich.) smacked a two-run single to left to cap off the inning.

The Midshipmen would tack on two insurance runs in the eighth, as Harris belted a RBI-triple and pinch-runner Bill Maugeri (Edgewater, Md.) came home to score on a Drew Lydon (White Plains, Md.) single up the middle.

Senior reliever James Lee (Asheville, N.C.) came on and worked a perfect ninth inning for Navy, including a strikeout. Lee has not allowed a base hit during his last-five outings, a span of seven-straight innings.

Harris, Lydon and Lopez each had two hits and drove in a pair of runs as the Mids out-hit their guests, 10-8, on Monday.

Navy returns to action on Wednesday when it takes on Mount St. Mary's for a 2:30 p.m. contest.