Air Force Academy
Utah
Falcons Drop Two In Friday Doubleheader At Utah
5/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 7, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Utah withstood a late rally by Air Force in game one and hit five triples in game two to sweep the Falcons in a Friday doubleheader at Franklin Covey Field. The Utes took game one, 8-7, and game two, 12-0, to improve to 16-27 overall and 7-13 in Mountain West Conference play. The Falcons fall to 5-35, 0-16 MWC.
In game one, a furious late-game rally by the Falcons was not enough, as they fell 8-7.
Trailing 8-1 at the seventh inning stretch, AFA scored four runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to pull to with one run. But with two outs and runners on second and third base, Utah closer Clay Westmoreland induced Dale Kasel into a game-ending groundout to shortstop Ryan Khoury to end the game.
Ute starter Jason Price got the win, striking out 10 batters in 7.1 innings pitched. Westmoreland picked up his seventh save of the season. Losing pitcher was Falcon starter Paul Vignola (1-8), who surrendered eight runs on 15 hits in a season-high eight innings pitched. John Meyers pitched a scoreless ninth inning in relief of Vignola.
The Falcons had 11 hits in the game, seven of which came in the last two innings. Jason Brown, Geno Salazar and Jon Polston each had two hits in game one for AFA.
The Falcons got on the scoreboard first as Brent Tittle came through with a two-out single to right-center that scored Dale Kasel from second base to give Air Force a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Utah tied the game up at 1-1 in the top of the fourth as Tyson Olson scored Eric Chevalier from third base on a ground out to second baseman Geno Salazar.
The Utes took a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning by scoring a pair of runs off Vignola. Chevalier tripled into the right field corner to start the inning then scored on Jared Pena's single. Pena later came around to score on a fielders choice.
Utah broke the game wide open in the seventh, scoring four runs in the inning to take a commanding 7-1 lead. The Utes had five hits in the inning, including a pair of triples and a double. For the game, Utah hit three triples.
The Utes made it 8-1 with a run in the eighth. Pena hit his second double of the game to score Matt Ciaramella from first. For the game, Pena led the Utes' 16-hit attack by going 4-for-5 with three RBI's.
The Falcons fought back with four runs in the eighth to make it an 8-5 game. Geno Salazar led-off the inning with a single through the left side and then came around to score on Jon Polston's double to deep left center. The next batter, Josh Wolfram then doubled down the left field line to drive in Polston. Two batters later, Jason Brown capped-off the inning by launching his fourth home run of the year, a mammoth blast that hit the state of Utah flag sitting atop a berm 60 feet behind the left-center field fence.
In game two, Doug Mackay tossed a two-hitter as Utah pounded out 13 hits--eight for extra bases--in a 12-0 seven-inning win.
Mackay improved to 3-6 as he struck out six and never faced more than four batters in an inning for the shutout win. Air Force starter Blake Nixon (0-7) took the loss, allowing seven runs on nine hits in a career-high six innings pitched.
Utah went right to work in game two, scoring four runs in the second inning to take an early 4-0 lead.
Utah added a run in the fifth, on Jared Pena's sacrifice fly that scored Khoury, to make it a 5-0 game. The Utes then went up 7-0 as Jay Brossman hit a two-run triple.
The Utes scored five more runs in the seventh to make it a 12-0 game. The game was called after John Welsh's three-run home run with no outs in the seventh. Utah hit five triples in the second game, eight on the day.
The Falcons' lone hits in game two came from Jason Brown and Geno Salazar.
Air Force and Utah return to action tomorrow in another doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. back at Franklin Covey Field.
Game 1 notes: Paul Vignola pitched a season-high eight innings... Vignola made his team-leading 12th start for the Falcons... Josh Wolfram stole his team leading 13th base of the season... The Falcons played their sixth errorless game of the season and fourth game where both teams did not committ an error.
Game 2 notes: Blake Nixon made his sixth start of the season... Nixon pitched a career-best six innings... John Meyers pitched in both games of the doubleheader for the Falcons.
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