Navy Baseball Season Ends with 6-2 Loss to Bucknell in the Patriot League Tournament

5/13/2001 - Baseball
Navy Baseball Season Ends with 6-2 Loss to Bucknell in the Patriot League Tournament

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The Navy baseball team's 2001 season came to an end Sunday afternoon at Bishop Stadium as the Mids dropped a 6-2 decision to Bucknell in the Patriot League Baseball Tournament. The Bison swept Navy in the best-of-three championship series to capture their second Patriot League tournament title in school history.

"Bucknell deserved the championship," Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer said. "They played great all weekend and did an outstanding job. They got great pitching all weekend, their hitting was solid and they made plays defensively. Matt Foster and Brian Pennell pitched well for us, but we made a few mistakes defensively which hurt. I thought we hit the ball in the air a little too much. Bucknell will represent our conference well in the NCAA Tournament."

Bucknell catcher Brad Gething was named tournament MVP, going 6-for-11 with a home run, two RBIs and scored five runs in the Bison's three tournament games, while Mike Ritz went 5-for-11 with a double, a home run, three RBIs and scored five runs.

Starting pitcher Zach Allen worked seven innings for Bucknell, allowing just four hits and two runs to improve to 5-4 on the season, while reliever Kevin Burns threw the final two innings to earn his first save of the season.

Foster dropped to 5-2 overall, his first loss since March 12, and gave up five hits and five runs in 6.1 innings of work. Pennell threw the final 1.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts.

After Navy cut the Bucknell (31-17) lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth on an RBI-double by Dom Nicolini, Ritz came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and belted his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot that just cleared the foul pole in right field, to make it 5-1.

Navy (21-24-1) put another run on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh as Jake Miller scored from third when John Cocca hit into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded and nobody out. With runners on first and third, Jason Guidos then hit into a inning-ending double play to kill a potential rally.

The Bison added a run in the bottom of the eighth when Ritz stole third and scored on a throwing error by Navy catcher Dom Nicolini.