ANNAPOLIS, Md. – For the first time in 53 meetings, Navy baseball (3-1) will host Air Force (1-3) in Annapolis for a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
Following schedule changes, the 2020 Freedom Classic in Kinston, N.C., was canceled due to snow. However, the Midshipmen and Falcons will still compete in the three-game series with the games shifting to Annapolis. The weekend series features a doubleheader on Saturday followed by one game on Sunday with action on both days starting at 1 p.m.
Navy comes into the weekend winners of its last three games after dropping an Opening Day contest to Georgetown. On the season, Navy has posted a .268 batting average to go along with a .395 on-base percentage and a .425 slugging mark.
Zach Biggers leads the team with five hits and
Zach Stevens is right behind with four hits in the early portion of the year. Through the first week of the season, Navy has eight different players with at least three hits. The Midshipmen have stayed consistent on offense and scored six runs in each of the first four games.
The pitching staff for Navy comes into the series with a 5.40 ERA but has only allowed six runs over the last three games after allowing 16 on Opening Day. The Midshipmen are also averaging 10 strikeouts a game with the pair of
Colin Jones and
Charlie Connolly leading the way with nine apiece. The bullpen duo of Jones and
Trey Braithwaite have paced Navy in opponent batting average as their marks of .063 and .083 have helped the Midshipmen in limiting the opposition to hitting just .206 overall.
Air Force comes into this weekend's series with 1-3 record and has dropped their last three contests after earning an Opening Day win over Manhattan, 4-3. During the three-game skid for the Falcons, they have scored just one run in each of their losses. Ashton Easley leads the offense with a .294 average as Air Force is hitting .172 as a team. Easley also paced the Falcon offense in 2019 en route to earning Preseason All-Mountain West Conference honors, where he was joined by relief pitcher Nathan Price.
Price earned the save in Air Force's season-opening win after allowing just one hit in 2-2/3 innings. Luke Chilcutt earned the win for the Falcons against the Jaspers to start 2020 following a six-inning start allowing just two runs on six hits. As a staff, Air Force has a 4.64 ERA and posted 17 strikeouts while walking 14 batters.
This weekend is set to be the first all-time meeting in Annapolis between the two service academies. Since Navy and Air Force first faced off against one another back in 1990, the two programs have only played in neutral-site contests. In the all-time series, Air Force holds a slight 28-25 edge over the Midshipmen. In the 2019 Freedom Classic in Kinston, N.C., Navy won the first game of the series, 2-1, before the Falcons swept a Sunday doubleheader to win the series.
After this weekend's series, Navy hits the road for a midweek contest on Wednesday at Delaware State before playing its next six games at home.
