April 10, 2007

Patriot League Baseball Release - 4.10.07
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Player of the Week
James Conrad, Lafayette Sr., CF, Columbia, Md.
Lafayette's lead-off hitter, James Conrad, hit .444 for the reporting week to lead Lafayette to a 4-1 record and a series victory over Navy. Conrad had multiple hits in three of five games, including a 3-2 victory at Navy when he doubled, tripled and scored two of Lafayette's three runs. For the week, Conrad scored eight runs and also swiped five bases. He continues to rank among the Patriot League leaders in stolen bases with 17. This past week, Conrad moved into fifth place all-time on Lafayette's career stolen base list.

Pitcher of the Week
Scott Hampe, Holy Cross Sr., Dedham, Mass.
Hampe pitched just the eighth no-hitter in Patriot League history in a 4-0 blanking of Lehigh in game two on Saturday. The senior hurler collected his first career no-hitter, which was just the sixth solo effort in Patriot League history. In the win he fanned four batters.

Rookie of the Week
Drew Lydon, Navy Fr., INF, White Plains, Md.
Lydon hit .385 (5-for-13) on the weekend, while making major contribution in the field. Clinging to a one-run lead in the eighth inning with two outs and the tying runner standing on third, Lydon fully extended on a dive and caught a line drive that would have tied the ballgame. The Mids went on to win that game by a run. Defensively on the weekend, Lydon cleanly fielded all seven fielding chances and helped turn a double play. At the plate, he extended his hitting streak to seven games with at least one hit in each of the weekend's four contests. The seven-game streak is tied for the longest by a Navy freshman this year. On the year, he leads all Navy freshmen with a .324 (23-for-71) batting average.

Honorable Mention Performances Last Week

Matt Kamine, Lafayette
Sr., P, Oldwick, N.J.
Last week Kamine pitched nine innings with zero earned runs and won the game.

Nick Hill, Army
Sr., LHP, Bluff City, Tenn.
Pitched seven innings with zero earned runs.

Chris Simmons, Army
Jr., C, Prairieview, La.
Simmons had four runs last week against Bucknell.

Michael Garcia, Navy
Sr., INF, Kailua, Hawaii
Batted .400 with a .400 slugging percentage and a .438 on base percentage.

Yale Eckert, Navy
Fr., LHP, La Selva Beach, Calif.
Held Lafayette to just one hit over four innings.

Mitch Harris, Navy
Jr., RHP/OF, Mt. Holly, N.C.
Harris struck out nine batters in Sunday's game against Lafayette.

Norm Roth, Holy Cross
Sr., OF, Orange, Conn.
Hit two doubles and had five runs last week.

Matt Perry, Holy Cross
Fr., 2B, Sudbury, Mass.
Had three runs and two doubles last week with a batting average of .417.

Rob Oteri, Holy Cross
Sr., RHP, Sudbury, Mass.
Struck out four allowing one unearned run to earn the win against Lehigh.

Kyle Stramara, Army
Jr., DH
Batted .333 during the four-game series against Bucknell.

Tony Capozzi, Army
So., 2B
Batted .500 with one run scored.

Cole White, Army
Jr., OF-RHP
Had a .357 batting average with two RBI.

Jason Buursma, Bucknell
Jr., P, Seattle, Wash.
Had a 0.00 ERA after pitching 7.1 innings.

Ben Yoder, Bucknell
Fr., INF, Belleville, Pa.
Yoder had two RBI last week along with two runs.

Shawn Hirsch, Bucknell
Jr., C, Morristown, N.J.
Hirsch had four hits last week and five RBI.

Patriot League Notebook

Hampe Honored For No-Hitter
Holy Cross senior Scott Hampe was not only named the Patriot League Pitcher of the Week following his no-hitter against Lehigh, but he was also tabbed a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week. Hampe was also named to the College Baseball Foundation National Honor Roll and his no-hitter was dubbed a Spotlight Performance of the Week by PINGBASEBALL.COM.

Addition to the record books
Hampe will join seven other Patriot League student-athletes who have thrown no-hitters and is just the sixth to do so in a solo effort. Below is a complete list of Patriot League no-hitters.

Kurt Waldner, Bucknell vs. Lafayette (4.3.1993)
Mike Tomko/Matt Potalivo (combined), Bucknell vs. Niagara (4.17.1998)
Scott Kozink, Navy vs. Lehigh (4.11.1999)
Matt Cooney/Ryan Hefner (combined), Navy vs. Lehigh (4.28.2003)
Tom Soldan, Lafayette vs. Holy Cross (3.28.2004)
Matt Daley, Bucknell vs. Lehigh (4.3.2004)
Mitch Harris, Navy vs. Coppin State (5.10.2006)
Scott Hampe, Holy Cross vs. Lehigh (4.7.07)

Patriot League Championship
The 2007 Patriot League Baseball Championship will be held at the site of the highest seed. An elimination game between the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds will take place on Saturday, May 12, as well as Game 1 of a best-of-three championship series between the winner of the elimination game and the No. 1 seed. Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) of the championship series will be played on Sunday, May 13.

Team Notebooks

Army has dropped six Patriot League games by a total of nine runs. Nick Hill came within two outs of firing his first career no-hitter against Bucknell on Saturday before settling for his second career one-hitter. He faced just two batters over minimum and allowed just two base runners and did not allow a single runner to reach scoring position. Army returns to action on Tuesday as the Black Knights begin a season-long six-game homestand by hosting Iona on Tuesday.

Bucknell split their four-game series against Army this past week with a 3-0 loss, a 4-3 win, a 4-3 loss, and a 5-4 win. Junior Jason Buursma matched the school record for career saves (14) as he helped the Bucknell baseball team in the 5-4 game to victory against Army.

Holy Cross swept the series against Lehigh with four wins in a row after a 4-3 loss to Massachusetts in the beginning of the week. Senior Scott Hampe threw his first career collegiate no-hitter and junior catcher Brendan Akashian went 4-for-5 with five RBI on day one of the series, while freshman Matt Perry went 4-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored on day two.

Lafayette had a great week with four wins and just one loss. The Leopards shut down Penn, 10-2, to start out the week. In the weekend's four-game series, Lafayette took three games from Navy and fell once to the Midshipmen in the final game, 4-3. Patriot League Player of the Week, James Conrad, had a combined eight runs for the Leopards last week, while pitcher Matt Kamine allowed no earned runs over nine innings.

Lehigh used a ten-run first inning on April 3 to power their way to the finals of the Liberty Bell Classic. Lehigh will meet Lafayette for the second time in the Liberty Bell Classic on Tuesday night in the finals that will take place at Citizens Bank Park. Lehigh lost all four games in this past weekend's series. The Mountain Hawks had not been swept in a four-game series by a Patriot League team since 2001.

Navy avoided a four-game sweep at the hands of Lafayette with some solid defense in the nightcap of Monday's doubleheader. Freshman Drew Lydon made a spectacular diving catch to preserve a one-run lead in the eighth inning with the tying run standing on third base. In the second inning, junior Renaldo Hollins made a diving catch in center and doubled off the runner at second for an inning-ending double play.