Air Force Academy
Towson
Falcons split doubleheader with Towson University
3/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 9, 2002
Late-inning offense was the determining factor as Air Force and Towson University split a non-conference baseball doubleheader, Saturday, March 9, in Baltimore, Maryland. Towson won the first game, 17-7. AFA won the second game, 11-5.
In the first seven-inning game, Air Force built a 4-0 lead in the first four innings behind the pitching of senior right-hander Matt Kaercher. Kaercher held the Tigers scoreless, on just three hits, through the first three innings. Meanwhile, AFA scored two in the second and two in the third. Bowie Frost's double scored Derck Kasel for the first run in the second inning. Frost later scored on an error. Adam Howes and Tony Shockley had back-to-back doubles in the third for a 4-0 lead. Towson got on the board in the fourth when Scott Bacon hit a solo home run. Howes singled in the top of the fifth, stole second and third, and scored on Kasel's single up the middle for a 4-1 advantage. Towson scored 16 runs in the next two innings. The Tigers hit two home runs in the four-run fifth and then hit four in the 12-run sixth. Eight of the 12 runs came off of home runs.
Kaercher took the loss as he went 5.1 innings and gave up eight runs on 13 hits with four strikeouts. Relievers Matt Werner and Jason Pruitt combined to face 11 batters and got one out while allowing nine runs on seven hits.
Towson, 5-3-1 this season, hit seven home runs in the game as 12 of the team's 20 hits went for extra bases.
Air Force, 12-7 overall this season, returned the favor in second game as the Falcons scored six runs in the top of the seventh for an 11-5 win in the seven-inning game. Just like the first game, the game was tied at 5-5 in the sixth inning.
The second game was very similar to the first as the Falcons manufactured runs early only to see Towson tie the game with the long ball. In the third, Dan Petro was hit by pitch, sacrificed to second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Howes' single. In the fourth, Kasel was walked, went to second on Steve Winters' single and scored after two fly ball outs for a 2-0 lead. With one swing of the bat, Towson's Casey Stidham hit a two-run home run for a 3-2 lead. The Falcons scored three runs on three hits in the fifth for a 5-3 lead. Howes, Phifer and Frost all singled in the inning. Howes and Phifer stole bases and Winters had a sacrifice fly to right field. Towson's Tom Trela hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 5-5. AFA's Matt McCants and TSU's Jason Segar pitched perfect sixth innings.
AFA exploded for six runs on six hits in the top of the seventh. Phifer and Kasel had consecutive doubles and Frost had a sacrifice fly. Petro hit a solo home run while Tony Shockley had a pinch-hit, opposite-field, two-run homer to end the scoring. Falcon sophomore Paul Pratt pitched the bottom of the seventh and gave up two hits with two outs before ending the game with a pop up to right field. McCants earned his first win of the season.
Frost, who was outstanding defensively, had four hits and five RBI on the day. He made several diving stops and started a double play in the second game. He is hitting .367 on the season and his .938 fielding percentage is the best among the infielders. Howes had four hits, three runs and three stolen bases on the day. Kasel and Phifer each had three hits. AFA made just one error in the double-dip while having 23 hits, six doubles and six stolen bases.
The Falcons and Tigers, who won 37 games last season and have been to the NCAA Regionals in the recent past, conclude the series Sunday, March 10, with a single game at noon EST in Baltimore, Md.
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