Falcons face Sky Sox, host Utah
3/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 31, 2003
This Weekend: Air Force (10-18 overall, 0-9 MWC) plays four games this week with an exhibition game against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the Triple A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, and then a three-game MWC series against the Utah Utes (11-15, 2-7 MWC). The schedule is below.
Tue. Apr. 1 3:30 pm Colorado Springs Sky Sox Sky Sox Stadium Fri. Apr. 4 2 pm Utah Falcon Field Sat. Apr. 5 1 pm Utah Falcon Field Sun. Apr. 6 1 pm Utah Falcon Field
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.
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 series was moved to San Diego due to a severe snow storm at the Academy. Since the series was moved to Southern California, the series originally scheduled at SDSU in April has been moved to Air Force.
Finally a Conference Home Game: After nine straight conference road games, the Falcons play their first MWC opponent at Falcon Field when the Utah Utes come to town, April 4-6. The Falcons are 0-9 in the MWC this season. AFA was scheduled to play San Diego State at home, March 21-23, but a severe snowstorm forced the series to be moved to southern California. The Falcons play five of the final seven conference series at Falcon Field.
The Agenda vs. the Sox: The exhibition game on April 1 will be part of the Sky Sox' media day. A pre-game press conference will be held at 11:30 at the Hall of Fame Bar and Grill at Sky Sox Stadium. Both coaches, Sky Sox manager Rick Sofield and Falcon skipper Reed Peters, will be available.
Third Straight vs. the Sky Sox: The Falcons and Sky Sox will play for the third straight year. Overall, the teams will meet for the fourth time and the Sky Sox have won all three contests: 1989, 2001 and 2002. The scores of the games were 8-5 in 1989, 8-2 in 2001 and 4-2 in 2002.
Facing the Pros: Combined with three previous games against the Sky Sox, the Falcons have played five games against professional teams. The 1971 Air Force team played the St. Louis Cardinals and tied the big-league club, 3-3, at Falcon Field. The Cardinals' team featured Lou Brock, Joe Torre and Felipe Alou. The 1992 AFA team played the Albuquerque Dukes, the Triple A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, in Vero Beach, Fla. The Dukes won 6-0 and no-hit the Falcons.
Series History: Air Force and Utah have played 105 times and the Utes hold a 70-35 advantage in the series. Last season, Utah won five of the six games. The Utes swept in Utah by scores of 11-8, 10-3 and 15-4. Utah took two of three at Air Force last season by scores of 12-10 and 22-8. AFA won game three, 9-8. Utah has won four of the last six at Falcon Field and nine of the last 12 overall.
Scouting the Opponents: Utah is 11-15 overall and 2-7 in the MWC. The Utes are in fifth place, two games ahead of Air Force. Last weekend, BYU swept Utah by scores of 9-5, 6-4 and 10-5 in Salt Lake City. The Utes are fifth in the conference in hitting (.286), third in team ERA (5.69) and second in fielding (.963). The team's slugging percentage of .426 is fifth.
League Leader: Senior Josh Phifer leads the MWC in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He is one of five players in the league with a .400 or better average. His .471 average is 33 points better than UNM's Sean Murray who is second with a .438 mark. Phifer's .904 slugging percentage is 50 points ahead of UNM's Chris Alexander. His .545 on-base percentage is 58 points better than UNM's Matt Young who has a .487.
Career-Best for Vignola: Freshman Paul Vignola set a new career high with 10 strikeouts in the win over Hawaii March 27. In his previous eight starts, the right-hander from Las Vegas, Nev., had 19 strikeouts. He leads the team with 29 strikeouts this season.
The Cycle: Senior outfielder Tony Shockley became the first Falcon to hit for the cycle this season and the first since Josh Phifer did it against Colorado Mines in 2002. Shockley accomplished the feat against Hawaii on March 27. After grounding out in the second inning, Shockley homered and tripled in the eight-run fourth inning and then doubled in the sixth. In his final at-bat, he singled to center field in the eighth inning. The Gilbert, Ariz., native went 4-for-5 in the game with two runs scored and three RBI.
Showing the Leather: In five games at Hawaii, the Falcons made just three errors and posted a .984 fielding percentage. All three errors came in the 8-7 loss to Hawaii in the semifinals. Air Force raised its season fielding percentage to .958. The Falcons were fielding over .965 earlier in the season, but made eight errors in the Monmouth series, seven in the UNLV series and five in the SDSU series. With four errorless games in the Hawaii tournament, the Falcons have now played nine games this season without making an error.
Welcome Additions: Air Force has had two true freshmen emerge as major contributors all season, second baseman Zach McAngus and starting pitcher Paul Vignola. McAngus, from Honolulu, Hawaii, has started 21 of the 28 games and is hitting .342 with seven doubles, four home runs, 25 runs scored and 16 RBI. Defensively, he was perfect in his first 42 chances before making two errors in the first game at New Mexico. He is fielding .947 for the season. Vignola, from Las Vegas, Nev., leads the team with a 5-2 record in nine starts and combined with Jason Pruitt to shutout Southern Utah. He has thrown 47.2 innings, the second most on the team, and has a 6.42 ERA with a team-best 29 strikeouts. Freshman Jeff Tetrault has emerged as a solid reliever and starter for the Falcons. He has a 5.31 ERA (second on the team) in five appearances and two starts. He has thrown 20.1 innings and has nine walks with five strikeouts. Last weekend, he pitched seven and one-third innings against Hawaii and gave up five runs, four earned, on six hits with three strikeouts. Sophomore infielder Nathan DeRohan spent the majority of last season on the junior varsity team and is currently hitting .351 with three doubles and two home runs. He has played in 18 games and started in 10.
Close Only Counts in Shaving: Air Force has struggled winning close games this season. The Falcons are 0-6 in games decided by one run and have lost seven games in the opponents' final at-bat. In the eighth and ninth innings combined, Air Force has been out-scored 42-18. The Falcons have been out-scored 7-3 in three extra-inning games. AFA is 0-3 in extra innings with losses coming against Northern Colorado, New Mexico and Hawaii. At the Rainbow Easter Tournament last weekend in Honolulu, all three of Air Force's losses were by one run and two were decided in the opponents' final at -bat.
Last Week: Air Force placed fourth in the annual Rainbow Easter Tournament hosted by the University of Hawaii, March 25-29. Air Force posted a 2-3 record in the four-team, five-day tournament in Honolulu during spring break.
Tournament Notes: Air Force placed fourth in the four-team, five-day Rainbow Easter Tournament hosted by the University of Hawaii. The Falcons were 2-1 in pool play with victories over Western Illinois and Hawaii. The only loss came to Lewis-Clark State, 3-2. The Falcons lost to Hawaii, 8-7 in 10 innings in the semifinal game and then 4-3 to LCSC in the consolation game. Hawaii won the tournament and Western Illinois, despite a 1-4 record in the tourney, placed second. Josh Phifer, Tony Shockley and Paul Vignola were all named to the all-tournament team. Phifer hit .500 in the five games with two home runs. Shockley hit .438 with three runs scored, three RBI and three doubles. Vignola earned the win over Hawaii, pitching a complete game and allowing just four runs on seven hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts. Freshman Jason Brown made his first appearance and first career start against Lewis-Clark State on March 29. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder from Arvada, Colo., started and went five innings. He gave up four runs on five hits with two strikeouts. He started the season wearing No. 42 but will wear No. 10 for the remainder of the year.
On Deck: Following the Utah series, Air Force hosts Colorado Mines on April 8 and then travels to BYU for a three-game MWC series, April 10-12.
