Air Force Academy
New Mexico
UNM sweeps Air Force with 19-6 win
5/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 4, 2003
New Mexico broke open a close game with 15 runs in the final five innings for a 19-6 win over Air Force in a Mountain West Conference baseball game Sunday at Falcon Field. UNM swept the weekend series and also the season series, taking all six games from Air Force this season.
The win improved New Mexico to 33-19 overall and 16-8 for second place in the MWC. Air Force fell to 13-32 overall and 1-22 in the league.
New Mexico scored in the first inning of all three games in the series, notching three runs on three hits. Right-fielder Josh Jezek drove in two with a two-out single to right field. Jeff Grady's solo home run in the second gave the Lobos a 4-0 lead. Falcon starter Clayton Couch then retired nine straight Lobos.
Lobo starter Darren Coltrinari set down the first nine Falcons he faced. The Falcons got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with six runs. In the bottom of the fourth, AFA scored all six of its runs and collected five of the team's eight hits. Adam Howes led off with an infield single. After Josh Phifer was hit by pitch, his 12th of the season, Derck Kasel drove in a run with a single to right-center. Consecutive singles by Bowie Frost and Mike Rose set the stage for Nelson Prouty. With two outs, the Falcon shortstop hit a three-run home run to right field to give the Falcons a 6-4 lead.
The Lobos answered with four in the fifth and never looked back. Couch walked the first two batters he faced in the fifth, Matt and Dusty Young. Chris Alexander drove in a run with single that hit Couch in the lower leg. Couch left the game and Jesper Stubbendorff came on in relief with runners on first and third. Before throwing a pitch, Stubbendorff balked on a fake move to third and Dusty Young scored to tie the game. After striking out Joe Salas, Jezek hit a deep home run to right field that gave UNM an 8-6 lead.
Coltrinari returned to form in the fifth inning and retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced. Meanwhile, the Lobos continued to assault the Falcon bullpen. Josh Mader drove in two runs with a single in the fifth and then scored after back-to-back wild pitches. Grady drove in two more with a single to right-center in the seventh. UNM added six runs in the ninth inning on five hits, a walk and a hit batter.
The Falcon pitching staff issued nine walks, hit five Lobos, had two balks and two wild pitches. Nine of the 14 free passes scored for New Mexico. Couch, a freshman right-hander took the loss despite leaving the game with the lead. He went four and one-third innings and gave up seven runs on six hits with three strikeouts and four walks.
Coltrinari earned the win as he went eight innings and threw 114 pitches. He allowed six earned runs on eight hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.
Jezek led the Lobo offense that generated 17 hits on the day. He went 4-for-6 with two runs scored, five RBI, a double and a home run. Mader was 3-for-6 with four RBI. Howes had two hits for the Falcons while Prouty had three RBI. Air Force was held to just eight hits in the game and drew just three free passes, one walk and two hit batters.
Air Force travels to Salt Lake City next week for a four-game series with the Utah Utes. The teams will make up a game that was snowed out at Falcon Field in early April. The Falcons and Utes play a single game Friday (May 9) at noon, a doubleheader Saturday at noon and a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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