Falcons finish season at 15-39 overall
6/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 2, 2003
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In Closing: Air Force finished the season with a 15-39 overall record and a 3-27 regular-season conference mark for sixth place. The Falcons lost their first two games in the MWC Tournament to UNLV (10-1) and to Utah (7-6 in 11 innings).
All-Conference: Three Falcons earned all-Mountain West Conference honors as voted on by the league coaches and announced at the pre-tournament banquet. Seniors Josh Phifer, Derck Kasel and Dan Petro were all named to the second team. Phifer, an outfielder from Torrington, Wyo., leads the MWC in batting average (.413), slugging percentage (.804) and on-base percentage (.502) in all games. His slugging percentage of .649 in conference games was the sixth best in the league. Kasel, a designated hitter from Fort Collins, Colo., was ninth in the conference with a .381 batting average in MWC games. He led the Falcons in average, hits (40) and total bases (64) in regular-season conference games. Petro, a catcher from San Antonio, Texas, was second on the team with a .359 average in conference games. Petro's average was the highest in the league by a catcher.
Flashing the Leather: Air Force's fielding percentage of .953 tied as the second best in school history and the best since 1979. The 1979 team posted a .957 fielding percentage. Taking Several for the Team: Josh Phifer was hit by pitch 47 times in his career to break the record of 45 set by current assistant coach Chris Humphrey from 1998-00.
Phifer - League Leader: Senior Josh Phifer leads the MWC in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He is one of two players in the league with a .400 or better average. His .413 average, .804 slugging percentage and his .502 on-base percentage could make him the first player in the four-year history of the league to lead in all three categories in the same season. Statistics do not become final until after the College World Series.
Phifer's Batting Average Nearly Sets League Record: Josh Phifer nearly broke the MWC single season record for batting average. His average .413 leads the league but is one percentage point short of the .414 mark set by former Falcon Mike Thiessen in 2000. Phifer could become the second Falcon in the history of the league to lead the MWC in batting.
Kasel Among Conference Leaders: Derck Kasel's .381 batting average in conference games was the ninth best in the league. In regular-season conference games only, Kasel led the team in batting average, hits (40) and total bases (64).
Zum Getting it Done: Senior Josh Zumbrun emerged as the team's top pitcher in the last six weeks of the season. The right-hander from Baltimore, Md., was the MWC Pitcher of the Week for his complete-game shutout of San Diego State, April 26. His encore to that performance was a near-complete-game against an explosive New Mexico team, May 3. He threw eight and two-thirds and was a hard luck loser. Zumbrun took a 3-2 lead into the ninth before giving up three runs. He gave up five runs, four earned, on 10 hits with two strikeouts and no walks. He was roughed up in his last three appearances, a start at Utah, May 11, and the start in a suspended game against BYU, May 16, and a start in the tournament against UNLV. In his last six appearances and four starts, Zumbrun had a 1-3 record with a 7.26 ERA, the best on the team. In 31.0 innings pitched, he has 13 strikeouts and four walks.
Phifer Academic All-American: Senior Josh Phifer was named to the Verizon Academic All-American Baseball Team (University Division) for his accomplishments on the field and in the classroom. Phifer was named to the first-team and is a two-time Academic All-American (second-team in 2002). An outfielder from Torrington, Wyo., Phifer has a 3.87 GPA with a major in operations research.
Howes-Phifer Academic All-District: Seniors Adam Howes and Josh Phifer were named to the Verizon Academic All-District VII Baseball Team (University Division) for their accomplishments on the field and in the classroom. Both players earned first-team academic all-district honors for the second consecutive year. Both players will be on the ballot for Verizon Academic All-American honors. Howes, a first baseman from Phoenix, Ariz., carries a 3.61 grade point average with a major in economics. Howes was a third-team Verizon Academic All-American last season. Phifer, an outfielder from Torrington, Wyo., has a 3.87 GPA with a major in operations research. Phifer was a second-team Verizon Academic All-American last season.
Streaks: Mike Rose and Josh Phifer each had 11-game hitting streaks earlier in the season which tie as the best on the team.
A Rare Shutout at Falcon Field: An Air Force pitcher throwing a shutout at Falcon Field is about as rare as a day at Falcon Field with no wind. It happened on April 26 when the Falcons blanked San Diego State, 3-0. Senior Josh Zumbrun's complete-game gem was the first shutout of a conference team since a 2-0 win over Utah, April 15, 1989. The last shutout by either team came in 2001 when BYU blanked the Falcons, 10-0. Since joining a conference in 1981 (WAC), the Falcons have shut out just three league teams with the other coming against Wyoming (11-0) in 1986.
Close Only Counts in Shaving: Air Force struggled winning close games this season. The Falcons were 0-9 in games decided by one run and lost 10 games in the opponents' final at-bat. In the seventh, eighth and ninth innings combined, Air Force was out-scored 166-81. The Falcons were out-scored 8-3 in four extra-inning games. AFA was 0-4 in extra innings with losses coming against Northern Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii and Utah in the conference tournament.
The Coach: The 2002 Mountain West Coach of the Year, Reed Peters (UNLV, 1992) concluded his fourth season as the Falcons' head coach and his fifth season overall with Air Force. Peters came to the Academy as an assistant coach in the fall of 1998. His career and Air Force record is 88-134. Peters' coaching career began at his alma mater, UNLV, where he was an assistant coach from 1990-94. The Denver native was the head coach at Colby Community College (Kansas) from 1995-98. He led the Trojans to a 123-80 record for a .600 winning percentage. He led the team to a regional championship and two regional runner-up finishes. In his first three seasons at Air Force, Peters won more conference games than any other Falcon coach in their first three seasons. Peters won 28 league games in three seasons, passing the record of Joe Robison and Eric Campbell, who each won 24 games in his first three seasons. Peters won 73 games overall from 2000-02, the second most by a Falcon baseball coach in the first three seasons. Peters led the Falcons to back-to-back 23-win seasons in 2000 and 2001 and to 27 last season. He is assisted by Greg Brummett (pitchers), 1st Lt. Chris Humphrey (catchers/outfielders) and Mark Breeding (infielders/junior varsity).
Last Week: Air Force lost its first two games in the fourth annual Mountain West Conference Tournament at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, N.M., May 21-22. AFA lost to top-seeded UNLV, 10-1, in the first game and fell to fifth-seeded Utah, 7-6, in 11 innings.
MWC Tournament Notes: UNLV won the tournament and became just the second team in the four-year history of the tourney to win four straight games. The Rebels beat SDSU in the championship game. UNLV rallied from an 8-1 deficit in the sixth inning, posting 10 runs in the bottom of the sixth, tying a MWC Tournament record for runs in an inning and setting a championship game record. In four games, the Rebels outscored their opponents 49-16 and set a conference tournament record for average margin of victory at 9.75 per game. UNLV earned the automatic berth in to the NCAA Regionals and is the only representative from the MWC. Rebel centerfielder Patrick Dobson was named the tournament's MVP.
AFA Tournament Notes: Air Force hit .284 in two games in the tournament, but the opponents batted .380 against the Falcons. Adam Howes led the Falcons with five hits and two doubles. Nelson Prouty, Dan Petro and Tony Shockley all had three hits. The Falcons struck out 18 times in then two games compared to just five for the opponents. AFA fielded just .912 with seven errors in two games. The opponents fielded .976 with just two errors. The 11-inning game against Utah was the longest in the history of the MWC Tournament in terms of innings (11) and time (4:05).
Who's Gone: Air Force loses 13 seniors from this season's team. Of those 13 seniors, seven were everyday starters in the field (Phifer, Petro, Howes, Kasel, Shockley, Frost and Prouty), one was a part-time starter (Liegl), two were starting pitchers (Zumbrun and Stubbendorff), two were relievers (Mears and Pruitt) and one was hurt most of the season (Koegel). The senior class combined to hit .326, drove in 72 percent of the team's runs (257 of 381) and scored 68 percent of the team's runs (266 of 394). The class also combined to hit 45 of the team's 63 home runs. On the mound, the Falcons will graduate 43 percent of the innings pitched (192 of 442), six wins, four complete games and two saves.
Who's Back: AFA's top returning hitter is junior outfielder Mike Rose. Rose was second on the team with a .371 average and started in 46 games. He was also third on the team with six home runs, 44 runs scored and was fourth with 32 RBI. Infielder Nathan DeRohan was eighth on the team with a .319 average, six doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI. On the mound, the Falcons return two of the four top starters in Clayton Couch and Paul Vignola. Couch started eight games and had a 1-4 record with an 8.94 ERA in 51.1 innings. Vignola started 14 games and had a 9.93 ERA in 68 innings. Vignola led the team with five wins and had one complete game.
