Falcons Out-Slug Navy 19-8 at Freedom Classic

Feb. 25, 2017

The bats woke up big-time for Air Force baseball (3-3), as the Falcons pounded out 22 hits in a 19-8 win over Navy (2-3) at the 2017 Freedom Classic Saturday afternoon at Historic Grainger Stadium in Kinston, NC. The Falcons hit five home runs on the day to even the three-game series after two games.

Trailing 8-6, the Falcons took control of the game with a seven-run sixth inning to go up 13-8. The Falcons ended up scoring 13 unanswered runs as they tacked on runs in the seventh and eighth and four in the ninth. Freshman Ashton Easley had the go-ahead RBI hit for the Falcons in the sixth, driving in two runs to break up the 8-8 tie.

Air Force had eight extra base hits on the day. Junior shortstop Tyler Zabojnik went 5-for-5 at the plate with a homer and three runs scored. Senior first baseman Bradley Haslam hit two home runs and scored and drove in three runs. Sophomore Nic Ready had three hits, including a home run and double.

Air Force had seven players with multi-hit games. Sophomore leftfielder Drew Wiss went 3-for-4 with three runs and Rob Dau, Easley and Shaun Mize collected two hits each. Sophomore Daniel Jones added a triple.

Sophomore Jake Gilbert (1-0) picked up his first-career win with 3.2 innings of relief. Starting pitcher Nick Biancalana worked 2.2 innings, striking out three. Will Jones, Ethan Nichols and Jeff Gerlica also pitched.

Navy had 10 hits but committed five errors on the day. Leadoff hitter Logan Knowles had three hits and Stephen Born and Jacob Williamson homered for the Midshipmen.

Sean Kamhoot (0-2) took the loss in relief. Starting pitcher Kyle Condry allowed six runs in 4.2 innings pitched.

Air Force plated two runs in the first on a two-run home run by Tyler Jones, his third long-ball of the season. Navy scored a run in the bottom of the inning and built to a 5-2 lead after two runs in the second and third innings. The Falcons fought back to tie the game with three runs in the fourth, only to see the Midshipmen go back up with two runs in the bottom of the inning. After trading runs in the fifth, Air Force erupted with the seven-run sixth inning.

"It was a big win for us today, coming back to even up the series," Air Force head coach Mike Kazlausky said. "I was proud to see our cadets face adversity and come out on top. It was great to see some young players step up and contribute."

The rubber game of the series will be tomorrow. First pitch is slated for 12:30 pm ET.

Footer

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the u.s air force of non-u.s. government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the u.s. air force may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for department of defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.