March 17, 2008

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - In hitting a home run in three-straight games last week, Navy designated hitter Mitch Harris (Sr./Mt. Holly, N.C.) has been recognized as the Patriot League Player of the Week, it was announced by the league office on Monday afternoon.

This marks the second time in his career that Harris has been named the Patriot League Player of the Week. The two-time All-American has also been distinguished as the league's pitcher of the week six times during his career.

Harris became the first player in school history to go deep in three-consecutive games twice in his career. The Navy senior first homered in back-to-back-to-back contests during a series sweep of Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., last season. He would earn league player-of-the-week kudos for his efforts in that week. The only other player to achieve the feat in program history is Mark Zematis, who did so against East Carolina in 2000.

The Navy designated hitter made his return to the lineup on Monday and began the home run barrage with a towering blast over the centerfield fence, approximately 410 feet, in a 20-6 win at Maryland-Eastern Shore on Thursday. One day later, Harris belted two long balls in a 6-3 win over Monmouth. Harris became the first Navy player to go deep twice in the same game at home since Tony Mauro against Lafayette on April 3, 1999. On the following day against Maine, Harris smashed a home run over the fence in deep centerfield, again approximately 410 feet, and broke a 4-4 tie with a go-ahead triple in the seventh on a 0-2 count.

The four home runs last week pushed Harris's career total to 14, tying him for fifth place in school history with Luke Braham (1997-00) and Ron Kinn (1985-88). One more round-tripper would move Harris into a tie for fourth place on the all-time list with Craig Candeto (2001-04).

With the help of Harris, Navy posted a 5-2 record on a week in which it played on every day except last Tuesday, traveled to No. 16 Virginia, trekked to Maryland-Eastern Shore before hosting a round-robin tournament.

Harris and the Midshipmen (9-7) will continue their nine-game homestand on Wednesday, when they host Belmont Abbey at 3:30 p.m. Live stats for all of Navy's home games will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)