ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With the two sides combining for six home runs on Senior Day, the Navy baseball team (20-19, 12-8 PL) fell, 11-4, to rival Army (26-12, 14-2 PL) in a Patriot League series opener on Saturday afternoon at Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium.
 
Originally scheduled as a doubleheader, Saturday's second game was postponed due to weather, with the Midshipmen and Black Knights now slated to play a doubleheader starting at noon on Sunday. The winner of the three-game set will earn the baseball star as part of the 2022-23 Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA, with the Black Knight now holding a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
 
Despite homers from both Nick Burch and Kyle Rausch, Navy was not able to keep up with Army's power hitters, as Ross Friedrick went deep twice in a three-hit contest while Derek Berg and Ethan Ellis also homered on a windy day in Annapolis.
 
Army opened the scoring right away off Navy starter Nate Mitchell, as a pair of singles put two on base for Friedrick in the first inning, and the Black Knights' cleanup hitter sent a line drive over the centerfield fence to put the visitors in front, 3-0. Burch answered right back to lead off the bottom of the first, drilling the third pitch he saw from Army starter Tanner Gresham just inside the left-field foul pole and putting Navy on the board, but Gresham bounced back by leaving two stranded in the inning.
 
Navy made it 3-2 in the second inning when Brock Murtha went first to third off a Henry Mitchell single and came home in the next at-bat on a Zane Raba fielder's choice, but Friedrick responded in the top of the third by blasting a solo shot out to straight center again.
 
Addison Ainsworth kicked off a big fifth inning for Army when he singled home Kevin Debrule, as Ellis followed right after with a full-count, three-run homer off the scoreboard that extended the lead to 8-2. An Alex Smith single with two gone in the bottom of the fifth set up Rausch for Navy's second longball of the afternoon and Rausch's team-leading fourth homer of the season, as the shot to deep left cut the deficit to 8-4.
 
Army answered back once again on Berg's solo homer to center in the top of the sixth off reliever Nolan Jorgenson, extending the lead further to 11-4 in the seventh inning on an RBI triple by Chris Barr and an RBI single from Sam Ruta. Navy threatened in the bottom of the seventh when pinch hitter Brian Furey walked and Eduardo Diaz singled to put two on with one out, but Black Knights reliever Robbie Buecker induced an infield fly and fielder's choice to seal the Army victory.
 
Gresham notched his fifth win of the season by going six innings and allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out seven, while Buecker surrendered just the one hit and one walk in his inning out of the bullpen. For Nate Mitchell, he suffered the loss after giving up eight runs in five innings but held the Black Knights to no walks and registered two strikeouts, while Jorgenson ended up allowing three runs (one earned) in his two frames of relief.
 
Paul Kostacopoulos Postgame Comments
"Credit to Army, they did a really good job offensively swinging the bat. They didn't miss many pitches and they locked in, they had four home runs and eight of their runs came on the homers. It's seldom that this field gives up six home runs in a seven-inning game. The wind definitely was a factor in today's game but give the credit to their offense."
 
"I thought our at-bats were good. Sometimes you don't always get rewarded but I thought we had a good game plan. We went after the fastball and we swung the bat the way you have to swing the bat. It just seemed uphill for most of the day. You get down quick by three runs, come back to make it 3-2, then they hit a home run to make it 4-2 and then another three-run homer, so it's kind of an uphill battle for us, but I thought our approaches, for the most part, were pretty good."
 
"We got two more games tomorrow and you just have to keep going. Obviously, they're a strong team and we have to play well to beat them."
 
Game Notes
• Navy honored nine seniors prior to the game: Kiel Brenczewski, Kyle Rausch, Nick Burch, Colin Smith, Nate Mitchell, Alex Smith, Thomas Russell, Reece Early and student manager Geonhee Kim.
• Army cut Navy's lead in the all-time series to 129-126.
• Logan Keller extended his on-base streak to 14 games while Diaz registered a hit for the eighth consecutive contest.
• The six home runs combined between the two teams on Saturday is the most in a game at Max Bishop Stadium since April 14, 1998, when the Mids crushed five homers in a 24-3 win over Maryland Eastern Shore; Mark Zematis went deep twice, while Todd Benke, Luke Braham and Toph Lake each added a homer while the Hawks' Myron Hayes also homered.
• Nate Mitchell has worked five-or-more innings in eight of his last nine starts.
• Both of Burch's home runs have come leading off the top of the first inning in a home game.
• Rausch has homered in three of his last six games played.
 
Up Next
Navy hosts Army in a doubleheader on Sunday to wrap up the series with the Star on the line. First pitch in Game 1 is set for 12:06 p.m. on CBS Sports Network, while Game 2 is slated to start 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1 on ESPN+.