Final Stats

KINSTON, N.C. - The Navy baseball team concluded action at the 2015 Freedom Classic with a doubleheader split versus Air Force on Sunday at Historic Grainger Stadium. Playing the Falcons for the fifth straight year in Kinston, N.C., the Mids came from behind to secure a 5-3 win in the opener before seeing their service academy rivals pull away for a 6-2 victory in series' deciding third game.

Leaders for Navy on Sunday included, RHP reliever Jett Meenach (So., Flower Mound, Texas) and LF Sean Kamhoot (Fr., Gaineville, Fla.). Meenach was the winner on the mound in game one with 4.1 innings of scoreless relief work, while Kamhoot collected three hits on the day. Two of the three hits for the freshman left fielder were doubles.

"Starting with game one, we battled back pretty good," remarked Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "We caught a little fire after the rain delay and came back to win the ball game, which is always good to see. Jett was outstanding for us, giving us 4.1 innings and allowing our offense to come back. He's really starting to build some confidence and he's really doing a great job for us."

"In game two, George gave us a good start and we didn't capitalize offensively on some early opportunities to help him out. Later on, we just didn't play very good defense. Add that all together and that will cause you some trouble. That's the story of game two."

Navy opened the day's first game by challenging Air Force's starter Jacob DeVries in the bottom of the first inning. A bunt single by Brad Borosak (Sr., Jupiter, Fla.) and consecutive walks to Adrian Chinnery (So., Wilmington, Del.) and Kamhoot loaded the bases with two outs, but DeVries forced Connor Deneen (Jr., Tustin, Calif.) to ground into an inning-ending fielder's choice.

With the game still scoreless, Air Force broke into the run column in the top of the third as the Falcons used a Midshipmen error and a sacrifice fly to plate two.

Air Force extended its lead out to 3-0 in the top of the fifth inning. That would be the Falcons' final run of the contest as the Mids would call on their bullpen and the relief services of Meenach. The sidearming sophomore ended the fifth without further damage and would pitch the final 4.1 innings for Navy.

After a 50-minute rain delay halted the action in the bottom of the fifth, Navy came out of the locker room swinging with two runs in fifth and two more in the sixth to take the lead. Both runs in the fifth came with pressure on and with two outs showing on the scoreboard. Robert Currie (Jr., Atlanta, Ga.) was the first run producer as he plated Travis Blue (So., Orange, Calif.) with a triple into the right field corner. The second run came via a throwing error by Air Force's shortstop. Borosak, the batter, sprinted down the line and beat the throw in the dirt to allow Currie to score and make it just a 3-2 deficit.

Navy took the lead in the sixth when Kamhoot and Deneen scored. Kamhoot started the scoring drive with a one-out double to left field. The next batter, Deneen singled to left field to advance Kamhoot to third, but a bobble by the left fielder allowed the run to score. After Ben Lowe (Fr., Memphis, Tenn.) beat out an infield single to move Deneen to third, Drew Hayes (Jr., Collegeville, Pa.) came through with the go-ahead RBI single.

The score would stay at 4-3 in favor of Navy until the eighth as Meenach danced around a few dicey man-on situations but came out unscathed for the Mids. One such predicament that Meenach got out of was a two-on, one-out situation in the sixth. After forcing a weak ground ball to first base, he froze Air Force's number three hitter, Noah Pierce with a sweeping slider on the outside corner.

In the bottom of the eighth, Deneen led off with single and promptly moved around the base paths until Blue drove him in with a fielder's choice.

A three-up, three-down ninth inning by Meenach closed down the comeback win for Navy, 5-3. He earned the win to improve to 2-0 on the season with a final line of 4.1 innings pitched, two hits, one walk and two strikeouts. The Mids' starter Stephen Moore (Sr., Roswell, Ga.) got the no-decision as he went 4.2 innings with eight hits and a walk allowed, while striking out five. Moore gave up all three runs with two earned.

For the game, Air Force outhit Navy by a 10-8 margin. Borosak and Deneen led the team with two hits each. In total, eight of the nine Mids in the starting lineup reached base safely.

In game two, Navy jumped on Air Force's starting pitcher Trent Monaghan in the top of the first inning with two hits and a walk, but a strong throw from left field by the Falcons' Tyler Jones short-circuited the Mids' attempt at scoring with a putout of Sean Trent (Jr., Sorrento, Fla.) at home to end the frame.

Navy's starting pitcher George Coughlin (So., Arvada, Colo.) was strong the first time through the order as the right-hander struck out five of the first 12 men he faced during innings one through three. Air Force managed just two hits and a walk against Coughlin through the third inning.

The Mids broke the scoreless contest in the top of the fourth when they took advantage of a leadoff walk to Chinnery. After a Kamhoot double down the left field line put men on second and third, Jack Keller (Sr., Ballston Spa, N.Y.) drove in his fellow catcher with a single up the middle.

With the score 1-0 Navy, Air Force responded by sending nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth. During the extended inning, the Falcons scored four runs with two outs and chased Coughlin, as well as reliever Andrew Bartek (Jr., Jefferson, Ga.) from the game.

Down by three runs at 4-1, the Mids fought back their next time at bat and pushed across one run. After Blue led off with a single and Currie followed him up with a four-pitch walk, a pair of errors on an attempted pickoff by Air Force reliever Ben Yokley would allow Blue to score.

From that moment on Yokley locked down and silenced Navy's bats to the tune of six straight strikeouts and seven of eight to close the game. The right-handed reliever sat in the low-to-mid 90s with his fastball and overpowered the Mids to earn the save in the seven-inning contest.

Air Force scored two superfluous runs in the bottom of the sixth to make the final score, 6-2 Falcons.

Coughlin took the loss for Navy as he went 3.2 innings with four hits and two walks allowed, while striking out five. He was charged with three runs against though the final two scored after he had exited the ball game. Monaghan earned the win for Air Force and Yokley recorded the 2.2-inning save out of the bullpen.

In the game, Air Force outhit Navy, 7-5. Kamhoot went 2-for-3 in his third straight start in left field to lead the Mids. Chinnery, Keller and Blue recorded the other three hits for Navy in game two.

"Sean had some good at bats; he swung it well today," remarked Kostacopoulos. "There are three or four or maybe even five positions that are we are still looking for regular-time starters. Sean hadn't gotten the opportunities over the first few series, but he got his chance this week and took advantage of it."

"It was a tight series that began with a well-pitched and well-played first game," said Kostacopoulos of the action versus Air Force this weekend. "Then game two was very competitive and game three was really competitive until the fifth. It was tight baseball. Air Force had some very good arms on the mound and they really pitched well. We learned a lot this weekend. It was a good experience to go up against arms like that. We just have to keep improving and keep getting better. That's hopefully what these weekends bring out of us. You want to win, but you also want to find some things out about your team and I think we were able to find a little bit more this weekend."

The Mids are scheduled to next be in action on Wednesday, March 4 at home versus Delaware State at 2 p.m. Wednesday's game will begin a stretch of 17 of 19 contests at home during the month of March for Navy at Max Bishop Stadium.

Series Notes:

With offense at a premium, two Mids hit over .300 during the series: Sean Kamhoot - .444 (4-9), 2 2B, 1 Run … Brad Borosak - .333 (3-9), 1 Run

As a team, Navy was outhit .258 to .202 and recorded just three extra-base hits

Navy's pitchers posted a 2.66 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. The staff recorded a 24:7, strikeout-to-walk ratio

With his 12 strikeouts on Saturday, LHP Luke Gillingham has now struck out 42 batters over 22 innings pitched in 2015