TOWSON, Md. ? Although senior shortstop Gary Helmick enjoyed another productive day for the Tigers, Navy banged out 16 base hits as the Midshipmen (14-20-1) handed Towson University (16-17) a 9-3 loss in a non-conference game at John B. Schuerholz Park on Thursday afternoon.
The contest had originally been scheduled to be played on Tuesday, April 14 but was rained out, forcing today's rescheduled game.
Sophomore shortstop Mike Guadagnini and junior second baseman Matthew Curley led the Navy attack with three base hits each.
With both teams scheduled to play important conference games this weekend, Towson Coach Mike Gottlieb and Navy Coach Paul Kostacopoulos went to the bullpen early and often. Each team used six pitchers in the contest and no pitcher threw more than 2.1 innings.
The Mids took a 1-0 lead in the first inning off junior righthander Nate Curd, the Tigers' starting pitcher. Curley started the rally when he doubled down the left field line with one out. After a walk to junior third baseman Kendall Bolt, junior centerfielder Michael Speciale gave Navy a 1-0 lead when he lined a singled to centerfield, scoring Curley. Curd retired the next two batters to pitch out the inning.
In the second inning, the Mids threatened to add to their lead when they loaded the bases. But, Curd escaped the jam by retiring Bolt on a fly ball to centerfield.
Despite allowing only one run on four hits in two innings of work, Curd suffered the loss.
Facing sophomore righthander Spencer Patton in the third inning, the Mids extended their lead to 5-0. Making his first appearance since March 7, Patton had been sidelined with an elbow injury. Speciale led off the inning by reaching base on an infield error by junior third baseman Steve Yarsinsky. When junior catcher Steven Soares was hit by a pitch, the Mids had two runners on base with no outs. Junior designated hitter Jonathan Berkowitz upped the Navy lead to 2-0 with an RBI single to centerfield. A walk to junior leftfielder Mike Hoosier loaded the bases.
When Patton turned a comebacker off the bat of freshman Alex Azor into a 1-2-3 double play, it looked as if he might escape the inning with no further damage. However, sophomore rightfielder Nick Driscoll bounce a single up the middle to drive in a pair of runs and give Navy a 4-0 lead. When Guadagnini doubled down the rightfield line, Driscoll scored to up the lead to 5-0.
After being held to no runs on one hit through 3.2 innings, the Tigers got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning when sophomore second baseman Chris Wychock lined a solo home run over the leftfield fence. For Wychock, it marked the third straight game in which he had homered. His eighth home run of the season cut the Tigers' deficit to 5-1.
In the fifth inning, the Mids added a run as they loaded the bases on a single by Driscoll, a bunt single by Guadagnini and a base hit by Curley. When Bolt hit a sacrifice fly, Navy owned a 6-1 advantage.
The Tigers cut their deficit to 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth when Helmick blasted a two-run homer over the left field fence, his 11th home run of the season. His homer came after junior catcher Max Kelly reached on a bad-hop single to shortstop.
For Helmick, who hit 13 home runs in his first three seasons, it was the 24th homer of his career and moved him into 14th place on Towson's all-time home run list.
But, the Mids came right back and scored three times in the sixth to increase their lead to 9-3.
With one out, Berkowitz started the rally by drawing a walk. After Hoosier reached on a single, Azor blooped a double that landed just inside the rightfield line, driving in two runs. With two outs, a single by Guadagnini enabled Azor to reach third base. Curley's third hit of the game, an RBI single to left, capped off the rally and gave the Mids a 9-3 lead.
From that point on, Navy pitching held off several attempts by the Tigers to get back into the game. In the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers had two runners on base and no outs before junior righthander Kyle Miller got senior Jason Stifler to ground into a rally-killing double play.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs. After back-to-back walks to Austin Harclerode and Kelly, Helmick blooped a single just inside the rightfield foul line to load the bases. However, junior righthander J.D. Melton retired junior centerfielder Kevin Collins on a pop up to third base and Yarsinsky on a foul popup to first. Then, Curley made a diving stop on a ground ball up the middle by senior first baseman Matt Collins and turned it into an inning-ending force play.
The Tigers made one more attempt at getting back in the game in the eighth inning. Back-to-back singles by Aaron Gabrielian and Harclerode put two men on base with two outs. But, sophomore righthander Luke Roberts retired on an inning-ending popup to second base.
“We had some chances to get back in the game but we couldn't come up with a big hit,” said Gottlieb. “We left a lot of runners on base and they turned a few double plays against us. The play that their second baseman (Curley) made with the bases loaded in the seventh was a big play in the game. If that ball went through, the score would have been 9-5 and we would have had two runners on base with some big hitters coming up.
“We knew it would be a crazy game because there would be a lot of pitching changes,” he added. “But, they did a better job adjusting to our different pitchers than we did.”
Guadagnini led Navy with three hits and one RBI while Curley was 3-for-5 with one RBI. Berkowitz, Hoosier, Azor and Driscoll added two hits each.
Freshman righthander T.J. Kerins, the Mids' second pitcher, earned the victory. He pitched 1.2 innings and did not allow a hit or a run.
Junior righthander John Schmeer struck out five batters in 2.1 innings of relief for the Tigers.
Helmick, who raised his batting average to .430, led the Tigers with three hits. He went 3-for-3 with a walk, two stolen bases and two RBI's. No other Tiger had more than one base hit as Navy outhit Towson, 16-9.
TIGER TALES: For Helmick, it was his 19th multi-hit game of the season ... It also marked the eighth time that he had three hits in a game ... With Helmick and Wychock hitting home runs, the Tigers have hit 57 homers in 33 games ... Towson was tied for 13th in the nation in homers coming into the game ... Yarsinsky, who had his 20-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday in Towson's 9-4 win at George Mason, was hitless for the second game in a row.
Helmick stole two bases in two tries against Navy and now has 11 stolen bases in 14 attempts this season ... Navy left 13 runners on base in the game while the Tigers had nine runners left on base ... Each team turned two double plays ... After Curley's RBI single with two outs in the sixth inning, Navy was held without a hit the rest of the game.
Sophomore righthander Charlie Cononie threw 1.2 innings of shutout relief for Towson while freshman righthander Sean Bertrand pitched a hitless eighth inning ... Freshman lefthander Ben Winter retired the Mids in order in the ninth inning.
Towson returns to action this weekend with a three-game series against Colonial Athletic Association rival William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. ... Navy hosts Bucknell in a four-game Patriot League series in Annapolis.
