Air Force Academy
Utah
Utes beat Falcons, 9-7
4/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 4, 2003
Utah scored seven runs in the middle innings and held off Air Force for a 9-7 win in a Mountain West Conference baseball game Friday afternoon, April 5, at the Academy's Falcon Field.
The two teams will conclude the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 5, at 11 a.m. at Falcon Field. The teams were originally scheduled to play single games on Saturday and Sunday, but the forecast of snow Sunday forced the change to the original schedule.
Utah, 13-16 overall and 3-7 in the MWC, took a 1-0 lead on three singles in the second inning as Matt Ciaramella scored on Mike Westfall's single. AFA tied the score in the third when Zach McAngus singled and scored on Dan Petro's fielder's choice to the shortstop. Utah scored four in the fourth and three in the fifth. In the fourth inning with two outs, Mike Basham drove in one run with a double Jared Pena followed with a two-run double.
The Falcons answered with two in the bottom of the fourth on consecutive doubles by Derck Kasel and Nelson Prouty and a wild pitch. Westfall's three-run homer in the fifth gave Utah an 8-3 lead.
Air Force, 10-19 overall and 0-10 in the MWC, scored four in the sixth to make the score 8-7. Petro ripped a bases-loaded triple off the right-center field fence and then scored on Tony Shockley's single.
Utah added a run in the top of the seventh on Ciaramella's solo home run. Utah reliever Brady Martinez came on with a runner on second and two outs in the eighth and closed out the inning. He gave up a single in the bottom of the ninth to Prouty, but then induced Adam Howes into a routine 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
Ute starter Clay Westmoreland picked up the win as he went 5.2 innings and gave up seven runs, six earned, on 12 hits with six strikeouts. Martinez collected his sixth save of the season. AFA starter Ken Hodgson took the loss. He pitched 4.2 innings and gave up eight runs on 11 hits.
The Falcon offense was keyed by McAngus and Petro. McAngus was a perfect 5-for-5 with two runs scored and a stolen base. Petro drove in four runs in the game. Pena, Westfall and Ciaramella each had three hits for Utah. Westfall had four RBI while Ciaramella scored four runs. Each team had 15 hits in the game, but Air Force left 12 runners on base while Utah stranded seven.
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