WEST POINT, N.Y. – Navy earned the final star of the 2016-17 Star Series, presented by USAA, due to the Mids' baseball squad winning 3-of-4 from Army this weekend.
Navy finished the series with 14 victories and the Black Knights concluded the year with nine Star wins.
The Mids (33-13, 13-3 PL) knocked off the Black Knights (20-24, 8-8 PL) by a score of 7-2 in game one and 10-6 in the second contest on Sunday after the two split the first two games of the series on Saturday.
A pitchers' duel in game one quickly fell apart over the final three innings as the teams scored all nine runs to close the game. In the second half of the twinbill, the teams started out hot and saw the game tied at 5-5 after three innings before Navy pulled away with a two-run home run in the fifth and three insurance runs in the eighth.
Individual leaders for the Mids on Sunday included, Travis Blue, Adrian Chinnery and Zach Biggers on offense. The senior duo combined for 10 hits with two doubles and a home run each, while the freshman second baseman added a home run as well.
On the mound, game one starter, Kyle Condry hurled six innings of three-hit action before giving way to Jett Meenach in the seventh and final inning. In game two, Brian Wikoff and Sean Kamhoot combined for six innings of three-hit relief.
"Kyle was huge for us in game one," remarked head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "He pitched out of a lot of high pressure situations and allowed our offense to get its bearings because their starter [Jeremy Mortensen] was throwing very well. Eventually in the fifth we were able to get a few runs and then pulled away late. Jett came on for the seventh and did his job. Overall, it was a really well-played game by both teams. The final score doesn't reflect how good and competitive of a game that it really was.
"In game two, we get five runs then we give up five. I told the team, the first team to settle down its opponent would probably win the game. Brian Wikoff was the key to accomplishing that. Travis was huge for us in the second half of the game with four RBIs in his last three at bats. Brian did a great job of settling the game down and got 12 outs. He bought us time to get our feet under us and we were able to stretch it out."
STAR CLINCHING WIN IN GAME ONE ON SUNDAY
Navy 7, Army 2
Navy opened the game with a Blue single in the top of the first inning though he later would be left stranded. That story continued over the next four frames as the Mids kept the pressure constantly on the Black Knights and their starting pitcher Jeremy Mortensen. Navy had two men on in each of the second and third innings, but to no avail on the scoreboard.
Condry kept pace with Mortensen as he pitched around one on in the first and two on in the second. He settled in in the bottom of third and ran off three straight innings with no hits allowed to Army batters through the fifth inning.
The scoreless tie was broken by Navy in the top of the fifth when Biggers led off the frame with a solo home run over the left field wall. With the offense re-energized by the big fly, Blue came up two batters later and lined a double to the right-center field gap before Stephen Born made it back-to-back extra-base hits with a double of his own to drive in Blue.
With the score 2-0 in favor of the Mids, the Black Knights pulled Mortensen from the game and went to its bullpen. That move paid dividends for Navy as the team teed off versus Army's relief arms to the tune of five combined runs over the sixth and seventh innings.
Logan Knowles and Blue each drove in single runs in the sixth before Jacob Williamson tallied the Mids' fifth run in the top of the seventh on an RBI double to center field. A two-run home run by Chinnery later in the seventh added an exclamation point to Navy's effort.
Army scored its lone two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a John McCarthy two-run home run.
In the 7-2 victory, Navy outhit Army, 11-3. Seven Mids recorded hits with Blue leading the way with three. Leland Saile and Chinnery each posted two hits in the win.
Condry earned the victory to improve to 5-1 on the season with a final line of 6.0 innings, three hits, two runs, three walks and five strikeouts over 90 pitches.
In a non-save situation, Meenach hurled a spotless inning with one strikeout over seven pitches.
