Air Force Academy
UNLV (DH)
UNLV sweeps AFA, 3-1 and 19-12
4/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 20, 2003
Pitching and defense in the first game and offense in the second game led 21st-ranked UNLV to a sweep of Air Force, 3-1 and 19-12, in a Mountain West Conference baseball doubleheader Sunday, April 20, at Falcon Field. UNLV swept the three-game series and defeated Air Force six times this season.
The Rebels improved to 32-11 overall and are in first place in the MWC with a 15-3 record. Air Force fell to 11-26 overall and 0-17 in the league.
In the first game, UNLV's Robbie Van and AFA's Clayton Couch each threw complete games in UNLV's 3-1 victory in a seven-inning game. UNLV scored two in the second after Robert VanKirk singled and Peter White doubled. The Rebels took a 3-0 lead in the fifth when Van Kirk doubled and scored on Garrett Shitanishi's single. AFA got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. Nick Liegl reached base on a fielder's choice and scored on Zach McAngus' ground out. Each team had five hits in the game. Van gave up one unearned run with four strikeouts and no walks in seven innings. Couch, a freshman making his first start since early February, gave up three earned runs on five hits with two strikeouts.
The second game was completely different as UNLV scored four in the first inning and rolled to a 19-12 win. The game was stopped after eight innings due to a mixture of rain, sleet and snow. UNLV pounded 20 hits while Air Force collected 16. The Falcons also committed four errors and each team used five pitchers in the game that last three hours and 40 minutes.
The turning point in the game came early in the first inning. With two outs, Patrick Dobson was caught in a run down between second and third. He was tagged out but interference was called when Dobson ran into Nelson Prouty before the tag. The Rebels went on to score four runs on five hits in the inning. Joe Wickman's two-run single in the second gave UNLV a 6-0 lead. AFA got on the board in the second inning. Derck Kasel doubled and Tony Shockley tripled. Peter White's two-run homer in the third gave the Rebels an 8-1 advantage. Mike Rose's two-run homer to right field cut the UNLV lead to 9-3. Leading 10-4 in the top of the seventh, UNLV scored six runs to blow the game open. The six runs came on two hits, three walks and an error. Dobson had a two-run double in the inning.
Air Force answered with four the bottom of the inning as Ryan Fitzgerald had a two-run double in the inning to make the score 16-8. UNLV countered with three in the top of the eighth. Air Force scored four in the bottom of the eighth on three hits to make the score 19-12. The game was stopped after eight innings due to weather. Rebel starter Jake Vose got the win. He went five innings and gave up four runs, three earned, on 10 hits with seven strikeouts and no walks. Falcon starter Paul Vignola took the loss. He went two innings and allowed six runs on nine hits. White, Dobson, Eddie Gill and Fernando Valenzuela each had three hits for UNLV. White had three RBI and scored four runs. Kasel paced the Falcon offense, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored. Fitzgerald, a junior from Fort Worth, Texas, made just his fifth start of the season and went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. In the series, Kasel hit .769 (10-for-13) with two home runs.
Air Force hosts Metro State on Tuesday, April 22, at 2 p.m. at Falcon Field. The Falcons return to MWC play with a three-game home series against San Diego State, April 25-27. The first pitch on Friday is at 2 p.m. while the Saturday and Sunday games start at 1 p.m. --30--
