Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. â€" The Navy baseball team closed its series at North Carolina Central on Sunday with a 9-6 victory at Historic Durham Athletic Park. The Mids (1-2) used strong production throughout the top of its lineup to net 12 hits and six RBIs, and solid relief pitching that tossed 4.1 innings of one-run action to earn the win over the Eagles (2-1).

"Today was another hard-fought game," remarked head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "That was the way the whole weekend was, there was no real room for either team to pull away, it was back-and-forth, back-and-forth. We played outstanding defense today and probably took away four or five hits."

At the plate, Stephen Born (Jr., Strafford, Pa.), Leland Saile (Sr., Land O' Lakes, Fla.) and Christian Hodge (So., Winder, Ga.) led Navy's offense as Born went 3-6, Saile 2-4 with a home run and four RBIs and Hodge was 2-4 with an RBI.

"The middle of our lineup came through in a big way and were right around the offensive production all game; that's the way it should be," said Kostacopoulos. "They did a good job with that today."

On the mound, the trio of Colin Brady (Jr., Seneca, S.C.), Brian Wikoff (Sr., Shrewsbury, N.J.) and Jett Meenach (Sr., Flower Mound, Texas) came out of the Mids' bullpen to keep the Eagles' bats in tact and combined to allow just three hits over the final 4.1 innings of the game.

"Our starter George Coughlin hung in there well, though he'll have to get sharper, but he hung in and almost got us five innings," said Kostacopoulos. "Our bullpen was certainly better. Brian Wikoff and Colin Brady chipped in and Jett did a nice job get six straight outs at the end. That was positive to see and something that we'll have to keep working on to find the right combination out of the bullpen."

Navy's offense came out of the gates humming on Sunday as the visitors plated two in the top of the first inning off of N.C. Central's pitcher Jonathan Figueroa. After Logan Knowles (Jr., Port Orchard, Wash.) and Travis Blue (Sr., Orange, Calif.) led off with back-to-back hits, a single for Knowles and double for Blue, the duo came into score on a Saile sacrifice fly and a single through the right side by Hodge.

The 2-0 advantage for Navy wasn't for long as NCCU recorded single tallies in each of its first two respective innings.

Neither team scored in the third inning before the Eagles took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth as they plated an unearned marker to make it 3-2.

Navy responded in a loud manner in its next at bat as the Mids pushed across four runs, all of which came after a two-out error on NCCU's third baseman. With Matthew Wilcox (So., Los Gatos, Calif.), Born and Saile on base, Hodge ripped a hard hit ball towards Ellington Hopkins at third base that he was unable to field cleanly and the ball kicked into left field where another error occurred as the left fielder bobbled it. Adrian Chinnery (Sr., Wilmington, Del.) drove in the fourth run of the inning on a single through the left side.

With the score 6-3, the Eagles immediately came back with a pair of knocks in the bottom of the fifth.

The back-and-forth action continued in the top of the sixth when Navy expanded its one-run lead to two at 7-5. Following a pair of walks, Saile registered his first hit of 2017 as he plated Knowles on a single to right field.

The game stayed at 7-5 as relief pitching for both teams shut down the bats over the next inning. Colin Brady (Jr., Seneca, S.C.) did the work on the mound for Navy in the bottom of the sixth as he and his defense retired NCCU. The Mids turned their first double play of the season with a 6-4-3 variety.

The Eagles scored their final run of the game in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly.

Up 7-6, Saile pushed Navy's lead out to its final margin of three with a towering two-run home run over the right-center field wall and onto the roof of the neighboring warehouse.

Jett Meenach (Sr., Flower Mound, Texas) took the ball for Navy in the bottom of the eighth and closed out the victory with two innings of six-up, six-down pitching.

For the game, Navy outhit North Carolina Central, 13-11. Born led the Mids with three hits, while Blue, Saile, Hodge and Chinnery all had two base knocks.

George Coughlin (Sr., Arvada, Colo.) took a no-decision with a final line of 4.2 innings, five runs (four unearned), eight hits allowed and three strikeouts. Brady earned the victory for his 1.2 innings of relief work.

Wikoff made his first appearance since 2015 after overcoming an injury in 2016 and retired both batters he faced in the seventh inning. Meenach's save was the seventh of his career.

"This weekend we played in three very competitive and well-played games out of the chute by both teams," said Kostacopoulos. "The ballpark was a tough place to pitch in because you could only pitch to half of the plate. If you were throwing to a left-hander you had to stay away and if you were throwing to a righty you had to go in because its so short in right field. That has some effect on the game.

"Overall, I thought we went out and saw a lot of things. We played in a lot of different situations that will help us as we move on and progress throughout the season."

Navy will be back on the diamond next weekend with a three-game series in Kinston, N.C. versus Air Force. The 2017 Freedom Classic will see the service academy rivals play on Friday night at 6:00 p.m., on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. at Historic Grainger Stadium.