Lehigh University Athletics
Navy earns two hard-fought wins over Lehigh
9/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Annapolis, MD – Navy took a pair of games from the Mountain Hawks at Max Bishop Stadium on Monday afternoon. The Midshipmen blanked Lehigh 2-0 in a well-pitched game one, and rallied for an 8-7 win in the nightcap in a contest that went ten innings. Lehigh drops to 24-19-1 overall and 9-7 in Patriot League play with the pair of losses. Navy meanwhile wraps up league play with a record of 20-23 overall and 13-7 in league games. The Midshipmen have clinched a spot in the Patriot League post-season tournament, while Lehigh still has a chance to qualify with a strong showing this weekend against first place Lafayette.
Game one was a pitcher’s duel, as Navy’s Matt Foster battled it out on the mound with Lehigh freshman Jack Muscalus. There were only seven hits in the game, but the Midshipmen scored the only two runs of the contest. Foster (2-1) went all seven innings, striking out a career-high nine to pick up the win. Muscalus (6-3) allowed single runs in the first and fourth innings in suffering the tough defeat. He allowed only three hits and one earned run, and he struck out seven on the afternoon. The loss was Muscalus’ first league defeat of the season, dropping his record in Patriot League games to a still-impressive 3-1.
Game two was an equally tough defeat for Lehigh to swallow, as the Mountain Hawks lost a heartbreaker, 8-7 in ten innings. Lehigh stranded 17 runners on base, and committed four miscues in the loss. The Mountain Hawks clung to a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, before the Mids rallied to tie the score at 6.
Lehigh built a 7-6 lead in the top of the ninth. After a Jeff Quiros leadoff single to left, center fielder Justin Pagan doubled home Jeff Cianni, who was running for Quiros, to give the Mountain Hawks a one run edge. In the bottom of the ninth, Navy again managed to tie the score as shortstop Brad Hager scored from first with two outs on a misplayed fly ball. The Midshipmen used back-to-back singles sandwiched around a stolen base to win the game in the bottom half of the tenth inning, and take three of four in the series.
The Mountain Hawks are back in action Tuesday, as they look to stop a three-game losing streak. Lehigh hosts King’s in a make-up game that gets underway at 3:00. Lehigh wraps up the regular season by hosting the Lafayette Leopards in a four-game set this weekend. Action gets underway at noon Saturday at Lehigh’s Goodman Field.
Game One
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
Lehigh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
Navy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | 2 | 3 | 2 |
WP – Matt Foster, Navy (2-1)
LP – Jack Muscalus, Lehigh (6-3)
LOB – Lehigh 6, Navy 3
Game Two
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
Lehigh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 4 |
Navy | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 12 | 1 |
WP – Zach Poelma, Navy (2-3)
LP – Jeff Pietrak, Lehigh (0-4)
LOB – Lehigh 17, Navy 12
For more information, contact Jeff Tourial, Lehigh Sports Media Relations.
