Sunday, April 28
Goodman Campus
12:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
2
vs
4
Navy
Mountain Hawks end 2013 with pair of losses to Navy
4/29/2013 12:11:00 AM | Baseball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh baseball team concluded its 2013 season with two hard fought losses to Patriot League rival Navy in a doubleheader Sunday at the Goodman Campus. The Mountain Hawks dropped game one 4-2 and a ninth inning rally by the Midshipmen broke the second game open and made the final score 12-5. Lehigh finished the season with an overall record of 18-29 and 5-15 in league action.
Navy (28-20, 13-7 PL) took an early 2-0 lead following an RBI groundout by Chris Campbell and a single to second by Conor Deneen that took a bad hop on freshman Mike Garzillo. Lehigh tied the score at two in the third inning off a single by senior Casey Turner, but the Midshipmen regained the lead after junior starter Mike Burke allowed a two out double to David Wiedeman and surrendered an RBI single to Campbell.
Senior Tom O'Malley came on in the sixth and stranded pinch hitter Drew Hayes on second by getting the next two batters to pop out and fly out. Navy added an insurance run to make it 4-2 in the seventh after O'Malley threw a wild pitch and gave up a two-out single to Kash Manzelli that drove in Robert Currie. Currie and Manzelli led the Mids' offense, going 2-for-4 each. Pacchioli hit 2-for-3 and freshman Mackey Price was 2-for-2 and scored a run. Anthony Parenti got the win while Mike Burke took the loss. With the game one victory and an Army loss versus Holy Cross, Navy clinched the second seed in the Patriot League tournament.
The Midshipmen grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning of game two. Two-out RBI hits from Dupell and Veech off freshman starter Kevin Long knocked in the trio of runs and a sac fly by Currie in the second inning made it 4-0 in favor of Navy.
A two-run single by Campbell put Navy ahead 6-1 before Lehigh started creeping back into the contest. Price drew a walk off Navy reliever Sam Sorenson and scored from first base on an RBI double from freshman Anthony Rinaldi in the sixth inning. Junior Joe Abeln had an RBI double the following inning to cut the deficit to 6-3. A Dupell error extended Lehigh's turn at bat in the seventh, but a foul out from sophomore Connor Faust and groundout by junior Brandon Wilt ended the Brown and White's scoring threat.
Junior Joey McNamara punched out Dave Milanes with the bases loaded to get the final out in the eighth to preserve the three run deficit. Lehigh battled back with two more runs in the bottom half of the frame. Rinaldi scored on a wild pitch and Turner raced home on the throw to first base on an infield single off the bat of junior Tyler Brong. Brong's infield hit made it 6-5 heading into the ninth.
A total of 11 batters come to the plate during Navy's six-run ninth inning, which also included three Lehigh pitching changes. Long ended up with the loss, while John Schoberl earned the victory. Joel Rinehart garnered his fourth save of the year after entering the game in the seventh inning with the tying run at bat and throwing the final 2.2 innings.
Rinaldi had a team-high three hits, while Turner went 2-for-5 with an RBI and scored a run. Campbell hit a combined 2-for-5 in the twinbill, scoring two runs and driving in four runs. Each team left 11 runners on base in the nightcap, but Navy's middle of the order hit 5-for-14.
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