Navy Baseball Team Captures Share Of Regular Season Crown

4/29/2001 - Baseball
Navy Baseball Team Captures Share Of Regular Season Crown

Links associated with this release:
0
0
0

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy starting pitcher Matt Cooney (So./Mountaintop, Pa.) tagged out Lafayette's Matt Tambellini at home as Tambellini tried to score on a wild pitch with two outs in the top of the seventh as the Mids swept the Leopards with a pair of 4-3 victories Sunday afternoon. The sweep earned Navy a share of the 2001 Patriot League Regular Season Championship and home field advantage for the league tournament, which will take place May 12-13.

Navy earned its fourth straight Patriot League regular season title and its seventh league title since 1993. For the second straight season, the Mids will host the Patriot League tournament at Bishop Stadium and will be seeking their fourth tournament championship. Bucknell, co-regular season champions with Navy, and Holy Cross round out the three-team field.

"We feel really fortunate to win a share of the regular season championship," Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer said. "I think Lafayette showed that they are one of the toughest teams in the league and how deep our league is from top to bottom this season. We are fortunate to win three out of four games this weekend because the three we won could have easily gone the other way. I am real happy for our guys because we did not lose a league series all season and that is a tribute to them.

"Matt Cooney was superb in the last game today, getting out of a few jams. In the first game, Brad Deafenbaugh (Sr./Annapolis, Md.) came in and did a great job, shutting the door on them when it was critical."

Cooney tied a career-high with nine strikeouts, winning his fourth straight Patriot League game to improve to 5-3 overall. Cooney took a no-hitter into the top of the fifth inning before Jon Kline's bloop-single ended the no-hit bid.

Jason Guidos (Jr./Portland, Ore.) and Craig Candeto (Fr./Orange City, Fla.) each scored a run and recorded two hits apiece for the Mids. Nick Sylvester (Sr./Greenwood, Ind.) went 1-for-3, hitting his team-high 12th double of the season.

With Navy clinging to a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh inning, Lafayette put runners on first and third with nobody out. Cooney struckout Brian Heyesey and Spence Green stole second to put two runners in scoring position for Lafayette. John Vacca grounded out to third bringing Jason Boyd to the plate with a .500 batting average in league games. Cooney's first pitch sailed behind Boyd and went off the backstop as Navy catcher Dom Nicolini (Jr./Merrillville, Ind.) found the ball and threw to Cooney covering at the plate. Cooney tagged out Tambellini, who tried to score the game-tying run with two outs.

Navy (21-23-1, 14-6 Patriot League) scored a pair of runs in the first two innings and took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI-triple by Nicolini and an RBI-single by Adam Green (Sr./Keller, Texas). The Leopards scored their three runs in the top of the sixth to cut Navy's lead to one.

"I could not have imagined the way that game ended," Cooney said. "Someone told Coach Whitmyer that the game would come down to the last pitch and it did. This is just an awesome feeling. By hosting the tournament, we only have to win two games where the other team will have to win three. We will be ready for whoever we play."

With the opener tied 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Navy loaded the bases with one out. Andy Mild (Sr./Frankfort, Ill.) hit a ground ball to short and Guidos tried to come home from third. The throw beat Guidos to the plate, however Lafayette catcher Craig Alexander did not have a foot on the plate as Guidos slid safely under the tag to give Navy a 4-3 victory.

"Their catcher was straddling the plate and he was in front of it," Guidos said. "I just slid in underneath him."

Lafayette (10-31, 5-15) scored a run in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. The Mids scored two runs in the fourth to tie the game at two, however the Leopards responded with a run in the fifth on Green's RBI-single to center.

Guidos scored on Sylvester's single to left field in the Mids' half of the fifth to make it 3-3. Guidos went 2-for-3 in the game and scored two runs, while Sylvester went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Navy starting pitcher Matt Foster (So./Ventura, Calif.) worked four innings and got out a bases-loaded jams in the first and second innings. Deafenbaugh, 2-3, entered the game in the fifth and threw the final three innings, striking out two batters and walking one to get the win.

"We have the advantage of playing the tournament at home which is great, but once you get on the diamond anything can happen," Guidos said.