KINSTON, N.C. – Backed by a pair of home runs, senior right-hander Nate Mitchell gave up just one run over six innings to lead the Navy baseball team to a 5-3 victory over rival Air Force in Game 1 of the Freedom Classic on Friday night at Grainger Stadium.
 
Notching their first win of the season, the Midshipmen improved to 1-4 overall while the Falcons fell to an identical 1-4 mark on the young campaign.
 
Providing the offense behind Mitchell was junior Logan Keller and senior Kyle Rausch, as both players continued hot starts to 2023 by blasting their first home runs of the season on Friday night. Keller put together his second-consecutive multi-hit contest to go along with three RBI, as a first-inning homer was followed by an RBI double in his next at-bat, while Rausch tallied his second career home run deeper into the game.
 
After Mitchell worked out of an early first-inning jam and settled in to the tune of 13 straight batters retired, the Navy got to work supporting him in the bottom of the first when senior Colin Smith doubled and Keller followed it up with a homer to left-center two pitches later. The Mids nearly added more when they loaded the bases with two outs, but the Falcons Doyle Gehring avoided further damage in the frame.
 
Another Navy run crossed the plate in the second, as senior leftfielder Nick Burch followed getting plunked with a stolen base, setting up Keller for another run-producing opportunity. The junior delivered once again, launching a double into the left-center gap that allowed Burch to score.
 
Mitchell and Gehring traded scoreless frames for the next three innings until a Jake Greiving triple brought home Sam Kulasingam in the top of the sixth, but Rausch answered to lead off the bottom of the inning, as the designated hitter crushed a ball over the right-field fence to make it 4-1 Navy.
 
Air Force's Chase Spencer copied Rausch to open the seventh, hitting a solo shot to deep center, while a Navy error eventually led to pinch hitter Charlie Jones singling home Aerik Joe and cutting the Mids' lead down to 4-3.
 
With senior righty Reece Early entering to shut down Air Force in the top of the eighth, junior Eduardo Diaz was able to add an insurance run for Navy in the home half of the inning when he singled home a sliding Brock Murtha from second base. Early then closed the door in the ninth with three straight strikeouts and picked up his first career save to secure Navy's first victory of the season.
 
Recording his first win of the season, Mitchell finished his start with only three hits and one walk allowed compared to five strikeouts during his six innings of work. Junior Nolan Jorgenson followed with one earned run in one frame of action, while Early grabbed his save after throwing a perfect two innings while striking out a career-high four Falcons.
 
For Air Force, Gehring left the game as the losing pitcher after giving up three runs in five innings on five hits despite six strikeouts, giving way to Zach Peters, who tossed three frames and surrendered two runs.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Post-Game Comments
"Initial thoughts are we played a complete baseball game. We had a very good start from Nate and the guys out of the bullpen were competitive, Reece did a great job to close out the game. Nolan hung in there and had to pitch around some adversity, and that's simply something we had not done well the first three or four games. So, there was some good signs there. I thought we're on the ball offensively. We only had seven or eight hits, but we had some loud outs. Logan had a great game and Rausch had a big home run there, and I thought Eddie driving in that fifth run changes the complexion of what they do in the top of the ninth. You take away the sacrifice and you pitch a little freer out there, you don't have to play no-doubles on the line. So that was a big moment to add that fifth run in the bottom of the eighth."
 
"I think you're always trying to look for the right combinations early. Brock played really well at third base and I felt Logan played really well at first base, to be honest. Logan handled everything he needed to and there's going to be a couple other changes as the season goes on to try to find the right guys in the right spots. That's a little bit of what every team kind of tinkers with in the first 10-to-15 games. Another thing I felt was critical: sometimes you forget at the end of the game that we give up a single to open the game and we hit the next guy, but then we get a big double play. I thought it was the play of the game even though it was the third hitter because if we run into a big inning there, we're back on our heels again. We didn't and that's the difference sometimes in baseball."
 
Notes
• Joining Keller with two-hit nights were classmate Eduardo Diaz and Air Force's leadoff hitter Matt Thompson.
• Diaz, Keller and Murtha have all hits in each of the Mids' five game this season.
• Colin Smith has now recorded a double in back-to-back games.
• Friday was Mitchell's fourth career start of six-or-more innings pitched.
• Early has recorded multiple strikeouts in each of his two relief appearances this season.
• Navy is now 31-29 all-time against Air Force, with the Mids having won their last three meetings with the Falcons.
• Kostacopoulos is now 23-18 against Air Force during his time at Navy.
 
Up Next
Navy is set to play Air Force in the second game of the Freedom Classic on Saturday afternoon. First pitch between the Mids and Falcons is slated for 2 p.m.