AFA Travels to Honolulu for Rainbow Easter Tourney
3/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 24, 2003
This Weekend: Air Force (8-15 overall, 0-9 MWC) travels to Honolulu, Hawaii, for the annual Rainbow Easter Tournament hosted by the University of Hawaii. The Falcons face Western Illinois, Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho) and Hawaii, March 25-29, in the four-team, five-day tournament.
Schedule Change: The AF-SDSU series scheduled in San Diego, April 25-27, has been moved to Falcon Field. Game times are 2 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday MT. The two teams were scheduled to play in Colorado March 21-23, but that sereis was moved to San Diego due to a severe snow storm at the Academy. Since that series was moved to Southern California, the series originally scheduled at SDSU in April has been moved to Air Force.
Radio/Television: There is no radio or television in the Colorado Springs area. Selected baseball games will be broadcast later in the season, but the schedule has not yet been set. Once the schedule is confirmed, it will be posted on the baseball page of the website on the right side of the screen.
Series History: Air Force and Lewis and Clark State have met once with Air Force losing 13-9 in 1982 on the road. Air Force and Western Illinois have never played. AFA and Hawaii have played 25 times and the Rainbow Warriors hold a 19-6 lead in the series that began in 1988. The two teams were members of the Western Athletic Conference from 1981-99. The teams have not played since 1999 when Hawaii swept a three-game series in Colorado by scores of 15-13, 8-5 and 34-11. The series was played in Pueblo, Colo. (60 miles south of the Academy) due to snow at Falcon Field. The teams have not played in Hawaii since the 1992 season when the Rainbows swept the Falcons, 8-2, 20-2 and 7-2. AFA is 1-10 at Hawaii with the only win coming in 1990, 6-5.
Welcome Additions: Air Force has had two true freshmen emerge as major contributors, second baseman Zach McAngus and starting pitcher Paul Vignola. McAngus, from Honolulu, Hawaii, has started 16 of the 23 games and is hitting .375 with six doubles, four home runs and 13 RBI. Defensively, he was perfect in his first 42 chances before making two errors in the first game at New Mexico. He is fielding .937 for the season. Vignola, from Las Vegas, Nev., leads the team with a 4-2 record in eight starts and combined with Jason Pruitt to shutout Southern Utah. He has thrown 38.2 innings, the second most on the team, and has a 6.98 ERA with 19 strikeouts. Several other newcomers have come from the junior varsity program, including infielder Nathan DeRohan (.382 average and two home runs) and Brent Tittle (.368 average and one one home run).
Hot in the Field: Air Force's defense, which showed great improvement last season, is picking up where it left off in 2002. The Falcons are fielding .952 with 39 errors in 23 games. The team fielding percentage was over .965 but the Falcons have made 20 errors in the last two series, a season-high eight in the Monmouth series, seven in the UNLV series and five vs. SDSU. Last season, AFA fielded over .953 for most of the season and finished the year at .948, the best in eight years and the seventh best in school history.
The Coach: The 2002 Mountain West Coach of the Year, Reed Peters (UNLV, 1992) is in his fourth season as the Falcons' head coach and his fifth season overall with Air Force. Peters came to the Academy as an assistant coach in the fall of 1998. His career and Air Force record is 81-110. Peters' coaching career began at his alma mater, UNLV, where he was an assistant coach from 1990-94. The Denver native was the head coach at Colby Community College (Kansas) from 1995-98. He led the Trojans to a 123-80 record for a .600 winning percentage. He led the team to a regional championship and two regional runner-up finishes. He is assisted by Greg Brummett (pitchers), 1st Lt. Chris Humphrey (catchers/outfielders) and Mark Breeding (infielders/junior varsity).
Peters off to Fast Start: Reed Peters has won more conference games than any other Falcon coach in their first three seasons. Peters won 28 league games in three seasons, passing the record of Joe Robison and Eric Campbell, who each won 24 games in his first three seasons. Jim Hanley won 23 in his first three years and Paul Mainieri won 21. In his first three seasons (not including 2003), Peters won 73 games, the second most by a Falcon baseball coach in the first three seasons. Mainieri, currently the head coach at Notre Dame, won 75 in his first three years (1989-91). Peters led the Falcons to back-to-back 23-win seasons in 2000 and 2001 and to 27 last season. In the history of Falcon baseball, there have been seven head coaches (including Peters) who have coached at least three seasons. Peters has won more games than Wendell Lawrence, John Sparks, Joe Robison, Jim Hanley and Eric Campbell.
Preseason MWC Poll: In the preseason Mountain West Conference coaches poll, San Diego State was a unanimous selection to win the league with five first-place votes and a total of 25 points. BYU was picked second (19) followed by UNLV (17), Utah (12), New Mexico (11) and Air Force (6).
Phifer National/Conference Player of the Week: Senior outfielder Josh Phifer was named the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball magazine and was also named the Mountain West Conference player of the week, Feb. 3. The Torrington, Wyo., native belted five home runs in a three-game series against Northern Colorado as he went 9-for-14 at the plate (.643). He knocked in 10 runs and accounted for 25 total bases. He also had a double and walked twice. He posted a 1.786 slugging percentage after three games. Phifer was perfect in seven chances in left field. Phifer is the first Air Force player to ever earn the Collegiate Baseball national honor. A second-team all-conference selection last season, Phifer earned conference player of the week honors for the second time in his career.
Late Inning Collapses: Air Force has made it a habit of taking an early lead and then faltering in the late innings. In the New Mexico series, Feb. 28-Mar. 2, Air Force had the lead entering the sixth inning and lost all three games. From the sixth inning through the end of the game, the Falcons were out-scored 20-8 by the Lobos. Against UNLV, the Falcons held a 2-0 lead entering the bottom of the sixth of game three, but gave up seven runs in the last three innings in a 7-3 loss in the series finale. On the season, Air Force has lost five games in the opponents' final at-bat of the game.
Last Week: Air Force was swept for the third consecutive series against a Mountain West Conference opponent last weekend against San Diego State. The Aztecs won the three games 10-3, 18-4 and 19-2.
Friday: Late-inning runs cost the Falcons again as San Diego State defeated Air Force, 10-3, in the first of a three-game series, Friday, March 21, at Tony Gwynn Stadium in San Diego, Calif. The Aztecs scored six runs in the final three innings. With this weekend's game being played in San Diego due to heavy snow in the Rockies, SDSU used its home field advantage to improve to 10-16 on the season and 4-1 in the Mountain West Conference. Air Force dropped its fourth straight overall and seventh consecutive league game to fall to 8-13 and 0-7 in MWC play. SDSU got a strong pitching performance from Mike Moat, who went eight innings and struck out 10 Falcons. Ryan Heil added to the Aztec strikeout total, fanning a pair of batters in retiring the side in the ninth inning. San Diego State broke on top with three runs in the third on a bases-loaded single by Anthony Gwynn and a sacrifice fly by James Guerrero. After the Falcons came back with a run in the fourth on Daniel Petro's two-out double, the Aztecs restored their three-run cushion when Chad Corona scored from third on Landon Burt's fielders choice. Air Force narrowed SDSU's lead to one at 4-3 with a pair of runs in the sixth on RBIs from Petro and Derck Kasel. But that's as close as the Falcons would get with their comeback effort. The Aztecs added two runs to their total in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI triple by Burt, who later scored on a wild pitch. A 420-foot home run by Jake McLintock to lead off the seventh gave SDSU a 7-3 lead, and it tacked on three more in the eighth with RBIs by Peter Stonard, Jon Stephens and Rielly Embrey. San Diego State's Landon Burt finished the night with three hits including a triple, two runs scored and two RBI. McLintock, Rielly Embrey and Josh Allen also collected two hits apiece for the Aztecs. The Falcon offense was paced by Josh Phifer, Daniel Petro and Derck Kasel with a pair of hits apiece. Petro also had two RBI while Kasel had one. AFA starting pitcher Jesper Stubbendorff took the loss as his record fell to 2-3 on the year.
Saturday: San Diego State sent 10 men to the plate in both the first and third innings, scoring six runs each time en route to an 18-4 win over Air Force at Tony Gwynn Stadium Saturday. The Aztecs set a single season high with 18 runs and 20 hits on the day. SDSU improved to 11-16 on the year and 4-1 in the Mountain West Conference. The loss left the Falcons at 8-14 overall and 0-8 in league play. Aztec freshman left-hander Ben Coon, SDSU's starting pitcher, was treated to a 12-0 lead after three innings on the way to improving his season record to 3-1. In his six innings of work, he allowed three runs on six hits while striking out 12 and walking only one. Air Force freshman Paul Vignola, who entered the contest as the Falcons' winningest pitcher at 4-1, was the victim of SDSU's two six-run outbursts. He departed the game after three innings, suffering his second loss of the season. The Aztec offense was led by leadoff hitter Anthony Gwynn and number-nine hitter Jordan Swaydan. Gwynn finished the afternoon with three hits including a triple, two runs scored for four RBI. Swaydan was perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double and two RBI. For the Falcons, designated hitter Brent Tittle and shortstop Nelson Prouty had two hits apiece with Tittle notching two of the Falcons' RBIs. The other came off the bat of outfielder Mike Rose in the form of a home run to left.
Sunday: San Diego State continued its weekend offensive outburst as it defeated Air Force, 19-2, in a Mountain West Conference baseball game Sunday, March 23, at Tony Gwynn Stadium in San Diego. With a sweep of the series, SDSU improved to 12-16 overall and 5-1 in league play to move into a tie for first with UNLV. Air Force saw its overall record fall to 8-15 and 0-9 in the MWC. SDSU batted around in the each of the first two innings, scoring eight times. The Falcons battled back with a pair of runs in the top of the third, but the home team was in control the rest of the way. Falcon starter Johnny Koegel (0-3) gave up seven runs in his one inning-plus of work and took the loss. Reliever Clayton Couch followed Koegel in the second, but didn't fare much better as he also allowed seven runs. SDSU's Joe Carque (3-2) went six innings to record his third win of the year. Carque scattered nine hits and allowed two earned runs while striking out two and walking none. Aztec second baseman Peter Stonard was one of many offensive stars for SDSU, collecting a pair of doubles, a triple and six runs batted in before coming out of the game in the fifth. Left fielder Landon Burt finished his day with a single, double and triple while Anthony Gwynn had three hits and scored four times. Air Force's Josh Phifer recorded three hits with a double and an RBI to lead the Falcons while Mike Rose had a pair of hits with a run scored and an RBI.
Series Notes: SDSU outscored Air Force 24-2 in the first three innings ... Josh Phifer hit .600 (6-for-10) with two doubles ... With the series move to San Diego, Air Force has yet to play a home game against an MWC foe ... San Diego State hit five home runs in the series, compared to one for AFA (Mike Rose).
On Deck: Following the spring break trip to Hawaii, the Falcons return home for a three-game Mountain West Conference series vs. Utah, April 4-6, at Falcon Field.
