Air Force Academy
Utah (MWC Tourney)
Utah beats Air Force, 7-6, in 11 innings
5/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 22, 2003
Cort Wilson's single with the base loaded in the bottom of the 11th gave Utah a 7-6 win over Air Force in the second round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, N.M.
Utah advances to the third day of the tournament and will face the loser of the San Diego State-BYU game on Friday. Air Force's season is over as the Falcons end the year with a 15-39 overall record
Air Force struck first when Josh Phifer walked and then scored on Tony's Shockley's ground out. The Utes answered with two in the bottom of the second. Wick Udy singled and then scored on Mike Basham's triple. Basham gave the Utes a 2-1 lead when he scored on Jared Pena's sacrifice fly.
The Falcons came back to take a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning on four singles by Tony Shockley, Nelson Prouty, Bowie Frost and Adam Howes. The Utes again came back to tie the game at 3-3. Utah took a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning on Wilson's solo home run to left field. AFA tied the game in the seventh when Phifer was hit by pitch and then scored on Colton Walter's RBI single up the middle
Air Force took a 6-4 lead in the top of the eighth on Dan Petro's two-run, two-out double to left-center field. Ryan Fitzgerald and Mike Rose each singled and then scored on the double. The Falcons held the lead until the bottom of the ninth. Ryan Khoury led off the inning with a single and Matt Ciaramella singled. Mike Westfall then laid down a sacrifice bunt and, after pitcher Scott Mears bobbled the ball, the bases were loaded with no outs. Eric Chevalier drove in a run with a single and Wilson's sacrifice fly scored Ciaramella to tie the game at 6-6.
Each team had a runner in scoring position in the 10th and the Falcons had a runner on base in the 11th. In the bottom of the 11th, two errors and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. Ciaramella reached on a fielding error by second-baseman Adam Howes on a slowing rolling ball to the right side. Brett Sundburg then laid down a bunt to the pitcher Paul Vignola, but the throw was wide of the bag. Howes, who was covering first, did not come up with the ball and was charged with an error. With runners on first and third, Chevalier was walked intentionally to load the bases. Wilson then drove a ground ball through the left side of the infield to end the game.
Vignola pitched one inning and took the loss. He gave up the winning run, unearned, on three hits with one walk. Clayton Couch was the starter and went six and two-thirds, allowing four runs on 11 hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Ute reliever Brady Martinez earned the win. He went four and one-third and gave up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts.
Howes and Petro led the Falcons with three hits each. Petro had two RBI. Mike Basham led the Utes with four hits. Wilson had three hits and three RBI. Air Force stranded 13 runners on base while Utah left 14 men on base.
The game was the longest in the history of the MWC Tournament in terms of innings (11) and time (4:05).
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