Air Force Academy
BYU
BYU sweeps Air Force with 22-6 victory
4/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 12, 2003
PROVO, Utah - BYU scored nine runs in the first inning and cruised to a 22-6 win over Air Force in the third game of a three-game Mountain West Conference baseball series, Saturday, April 12, at Miller Park in Provo, Utah. BYU swept the series and improved to 17-16 overall and 9-6 in the MWC. Air Force fell to 11-23 overall and 0-14 in the league.
The Falcons got on the scoreboard first as Adam Howes reached base on an error and then stole third base in the top of the first. Josh Phifer knocked him in with a double making the score 1-0 and giving Air Force its first lead in the series.
However, the lead didn't last long. A single by BYU's Doug Jackson and a double by Ryan Chambers tied the game at one in the first inning. Ranger Wiens followed with a double to bring in Chambers and take the 2-1 lead. Before he could record his first out of the game, Air Force pitcher Ken Hodgson was replaced by Scott Mears with the Cougars up 5-1. BYU batted around the order, and Wiens finished it off with his second double of the inning, knocking in two more runs to give BYU a 9-1 lead.
The Cougars scored two more in the second inning for an 11-1 lead. In the third inning Air Force formed its own rally to try to close the gap. However, with the bases loaded, consecutive batters popped out and the third out came on a grounder to second base. The Cougars scored four more runs in the fifth for a 16-2 lead.
The Falcons strung together four hits in the sixth to score three runs to close the gap to 16-5. Brent Tittle added another run for the Falcons by hitting a home run off Jason Garcia in eighth inning.
BYU out-hit Air Force 24-16 in the game. Five Falcons, Zach McAngus, Phifer, Derck Kasel, Bowie Frost and Nathan DeRohan, each had two hits. Phifer and McAngus each drove in two runs. Nine Cougars had two or more hits in the game.
Air Force committed four errors in the game to match its season high. Hodgson was tagged with the loss as he faced seven batters and allowed seven runs on six hits without getting an out.
The Falcons travel to Oklahoma for a single game against the Sooners on Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. AFA then begins a seven-game home stand with a three-game MWC series against league-leading UNLV, Friday-Sunday, April 18-20.
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