March 14, 2003

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Navy took an early 2-0 lead but it wasn't enough as Creighton used a seven-run fourth inning and a strong outing by pitcher Tom Oldham to overtake the Mids for a 7-2 victory Friday morning at Harmon Stadium.

Navy (2-8) will close out its Spring Break trip later this afternoon when the Mids face off against 18th-ranked Notre Dame at approximately 5 p.m. Team captain Rich McDevitt (0-2, 5.14 ERA) will take the mound for Navy, while Notre Dame is slated to send out freshman, left-hander Tom Thornton.

"I thought Oldham pitched a great game for them," Navy head coach Steve Whitmyer said. "We got a couple of early runs, but they shut us down after that. Oldham is one of the best pitchers we'll see this year. With the exception of the one big inning, I thought we pitched and played defense pretty well.

"We have got to figure out how to score runs throughout the game because it seems like we are only able to score early. I'm looking for us to play a good game tonight against Notre Dame."

The Mids' hot bats carried over from Wednesday's sweep of Eastern Illinois and into the first inning against Creighton, but that was all Navy would manage the rest of the way. Chris Ashinhurst reached on a single and scored on Craig Candeto's RBI-double to left center. Red hot Brad Hager then belted a stand-up triple down the right field line for a 2-0 Navy lead.

After cruising through the first-three innings without allowing a base runner and six strikeouts, Navy starting pitcher Matt Foster was touched up for seven runs on four hits in the top of the fourth. CU number-nine hitter Tony Daniel capped the scoring with his first homer of the season, a two-out, three-run shot to left field, giving the Blue Jays a 7-2 advantage.

After early inning trouble, Oldham settled down and allowed just three hits over the next seven shutout innings. He walked two and struck out seven to improve to 2-2 overall. Foster struck out a season-high eight batters and walked two, falling to 0-2 with the loss.

Ashinhurst went 2-for-4 and has recorded a hit in eight of the nine games he has played in this season. Candeto had his second-straight multiple hit game, batting 2-for-4 with a double.