June 26, 2008
BALTIMORE - Navy baseball rising junior outfielder Michael Speciale (Pearland, Texas), also a member of the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts of the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League this summer, was named the league's hitter of the week, it was announced on Wednesday night.
Speciale hit .444 (4-for-9) in wooden-bat action last week with a double, triple, home run, stolen base and four runs scored. In 10 games with Silver Spring-Takoma this summer, Speciale is batting .308 (8-for-26) with two doubles, a triple, a home run, four RBIs and a stolen base. He has also walked five times and been hit by a pitch once to boast a .424 on-base percentage.
A Second-Team All-Northeast Region and First-Team All-Patriot League outfielder this past spring at Navy, Speciale started in all 58 games and provided power and average in the heart of Navy's lineup - evidenced by a .350 batting average with a .594 slugging percentage. He set a program record with 58 runs scored and also surpassed the previous school record for hits in a season with 82 - 31 of which were of the extra-base variety. The product of Pearland, Texas, blasted 15 doubles, six triples and 10 home runs while knocking in 47 runs. He became just the third Navy hitter in school history to reach 10 home runs in a single season and the first to do so as a sophomore. In addition to his efforts at the plate, he was successful in 13 of his 17 stolen base attempts.
Navy (32-25-1, 11-9 Patriot League) hosted the Patriot League Championship in 2008 and finished the season by setting school records for the most wins over a four-year (111), three-year (99) and two-year span (67).
