Falcons Host Wright State In Four Game Set
3/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 8, 2007
Series Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Air Force (5-11) vs. Wright State (2-4)
Dates: March 9-11; Friday, March 9 at 2 p.m., Saturday DH at 11 a.m., Sunday at Noon
Site: Falcon Field
Live Stats: Gametracker
The Coaches:
Mike Hutcheon is 30-142 in his 4th year at Air Force and 269-282 in his 13th year as a head coach.
Rob Cooper is 60-64 in his third year at Wright State.
Series History: Wright State leads 3-0
Pitching Probables W-L ERA G-GS IP K BB3/1 WSU Garrett Holleran - Sr. RHP 0-0 3.21 2-2 14.0 7 3 AFA Alex Truesdale - Fr. RHP 0-1 3.79 6-1 19.0 15 53/2 WSU Erich Schanz - Sr. RHP 0-2 4.50 2-0 2.0 0 4 AFA Jake Petro - So. RHP 2-2 2.86 5-5 22.0 9 153/2 WSU Dan Barker - Jr. RHP 1-1 1.08 2-2 8.1 1 9 AFA TBA3/3 WSU Kyle Kearcher - Sr. LHP 1-1 3.75 2-2 12.0 3 5 AFA Mitch Brown - Sr. RHP 1-3 4.68 6-4 25.0 16 8
Falcons Host Wright State In Four Game Set
Air Force (5-11) returns home after eight straight games on the road to play host to defending Horizon League Champion Wright State (2-4) for a four game series, March 9-11 at Falcon Field. Live stats will be available via gametracker.
The Last Time Out
Air Force defeated Colorado Christian 8-3 on Wednesday in Lakewood. Last weekend, the Falcons went 0-4 at the Banana Belt Tournament in Lewiston, Idaho and Pullman, Wash., losing to Ganzaga, Lewis-Clark State, Washington State and Utah Valley State.
The 2007 Falcons
Air Force enters the weekend with a 5-11 record. The Falcons are batting .253 as a team. Sophomore Jason Griggs leads the team with a .364 batting average and leads the MWC with eight stolen bases. The Falcon pitching staff has a 6.16 staff earned run average. Senior Mitch Brown anchors the staff with a 1-3 record in three starts this year. Brown leads the Falcons with 25.0 innings pitched, to go with 16 strikeouts and a 4.68 ERA. Air Force is fielding .950 as a team, ranking sixth in the conference.
The 2006 Falcons
Air Force went 10-38 in 2006 and 1-21 in Mountain West Conference play, finishing seventh in the conference. The team's leading hitter was team MVP Karl Bolt, who led the team in nearly every statistical category, batting .314 with nine home runs and 30 RBI. AFA's top pitcher was Mitch Brown. Brown led the team in nearly every pitching category, going 3-10 with 51 strikeouts in 71.2 innings and posted a 5.65 earned run average.
Scouting Wright State
Wright State enters the weekend with a 2-4 record after getting swept at Tulane last weekend. The Raiders are batting .232 as a team, led by senior second baseman Ross Oeder, who is batting .417 with a .792 slugging percentage. The Wright State pitching staff has a 3.73 staff ERA. Junior right-hander Dan Barker has been the most effective stater for the Raiders so far this season, sporting a 1.08 earned run average to go with a 1-1 record in two starts this season.
Air Force-Wright State Connections
- Wright State head coach Rob Cooper is a native of Colorado Springs.
- Air Force sophomore Jason Griggs is the lone Falcon player from Ohio. Griggs is a native of Dublin where he attended Dublin Scioto HS.
Series History vs. Wright State
- Wright State leads the all-time series vs. Air Force 3-0.
- The Raiders swept the Falcons in a three-game set in 2006.
- Air Force was held to seven hits in the series and shutout in the last two games.
Falcons To Play Sixth Doubleheader Saturday
The Falcons are slated to play in their sixth doubleheader of the year this Saturday against Wright State. The Falcons played seven doubleheaders in 2006. Air Force will play its seventh doubleheader this year on March 31 at Hawai'i-Hilo.
Rare Two-Site Doubleheader: Twice
Its rare enough for a team to play a two-site doubleheader any time, but the Falcons have already done so twice this year. Air Force played Navy in Millington, Tenn., during the morning of Feb. 23 and then, due to weather concerns for the next day, decided to play a second game in Memphis, Tenn., later that day. This past Friday, March 2, the Falcons took on Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho at 2 p.m. and then traveled 40 minutes across the Washington border to take on Washington State in Pullman, Wash., at 7 p.m.
Bolt Hits For Cycle
Falcon senior Karl Bolt hit for the Cycle on Wednesday against Colorado Christian. In addition, the senior drove in four runs and scored three. It was the first cycle performance by a Falcon since Tony Shockley accomplished the feat on March 27, 2003 against Hawai'i. Bolt singled in the fourth, doubled in the sixth and hit a two-run homer in the eighth. The Stockton, Calif., native capped the day off by smacking a triple to the right-center gap.
Petro Having Solid Sophomore Campaign
Aside from one bad start against Northern Colorado, sophomore right-hander Jake Petro has put up some of the best numbers by Falcon pitching in recent memory. The San Antonio, Texas, native leads the Falcons with a 2-2 record and a 2.86 ERA. In his last three outings, Petro has allowed just three earned runs in 17.1 innings for a 1.56 ERA in that stretch. Opponents are hitting just .225 against Petro. In his last outing, Petro held Washington State to one earned run in six innings and the the start before against Akron, held the Zips to no earned runs in 6.1 innings pitched.
Falcons Aggressive On The Basepaths
Air Force is averaging 2.1 stolen bases per game, the tops in the MWC. The Falcons have stolen 34 bases in 44 attempts, good for a 77.3 percent success rate. In the Northern Colorado series, the Falcons were a perfect 11-for-11 in stolen base attempts. In the first game of the series against Kansas Wesleyan, the Falcons swiped seven bases. Eight Falcons already have multiple swipes and seven have three or more. Jason Griggs currently leads the Mountain West Conference with eight steals in nine attempts.
Freshmen Making Immediate Impact
Featuring one of the youngest, if not the youngest, team in the nation, Air Force is relying heavily on its freshman class so far in 2007. Through the 16 games this season, the Falcons have started five-or-more freshmen 11 times and started six four times. Against Akron, the Falcons went with seven freshmen in the starting lineup. Freshmen Matt Alexander (CF), Ben Ausbun (3B), and K.J. Randhawa (SS) have played in every game for the Falcons. Alex Truesdale (RHP) is second on the team with 15 strikeouts in 19.0 innings pitched.
Hitting/Offense Notes
• The Falcons snapped a nine-game streak of nine-or-less hits with 11 against Colorado Christian.
• Chay Derbigny hit his first-career home run against CCU.
• Matt Alexander is tied for the team-lead with five doubles and 15 RBI. He is second on the team with three home runs and a .339 batting average.
• With his fourth home run of the season vs. Colorado Christian, Karl Bolt has 29 career home runs, ranking him 12th all-time at the Academy.
Pitching Notes
• Air Force had a 6.82 ERA at the Banana Belt Tournament.
• In his first-career start Alex Truesdale took a no-hitter into the five inning against Gonzaga. He went 8.1 innings in the game, allowing three runs off five hits.
• Freshman David Miller earned his first-career win in his first-career start against Colorado Christian.
• Senor right-hander Joe Peterson has not allowed an earned run in his last two outings.
• The Falcons have held their opponents to three runs in three of the last five games.
• Air Force has held their opponents to less than 10 hits in a game nine times through 16 games in 2007 (56.3%). In 2006, the Falcons did so 15 times in 48 games (31.3%).
• Mitch Brown enters the weekend with 99 career strikeouts, needing one more for 100.
• Reliever Michael Ruvolo made three appearances at the Banana Belt Tournament. Ruvolo leads the team with eight relief appearances and has not allowed a run in five of those appearances.
Defensive Notes
• The Falcons fielded .938 at the Banana Belt Tournament, committing nine errors.
• First baseman Karl Bolt ranks fourth in the conference with 117 putouts.
• Freshmen Ben Ausbun ranks third with 54 and K.J. Randhawa ranks sixth in the conference with 45 assists.
• Air Force ranks third in the conference with 13 double plays turned.
Additional Notes
• The Falcons 5-4 win against Kansas Wesleyan took just one hour and 18 minutes to play. The Falcons played the doubleheader that day (14 innings total) in a combined three hours and 26 minutes.
• The three game series sweep of Kansas Wesleyan was the Falcons' first in four years. The Falcons last swept a three-game series against Hastings College in 2003.
• The Falcons stole seven bases against Kansas Wesleyan in the first game of the series.
Recapping the Colorado Christian Game
Karl Bolt hit for the cycle and drove in four runs to lead Air Force to a 8-3 win over Colorado Christian in a non-conference baseball game Wednesday afternoon at All-Star Park. The win improves the Falcons to 5-11 on the season and CCU falls to 6-8.
Bolt went 4-for-5 on the day with three runs and the four RBI. Chay Derbigny also shined for the Falcons, hitting his first-career homer and stealing two bases. The cycle was the first by a Falcon since Tony Shockley accomplished the feat against Hawai'i on March 27, 2003.
Freshman David Miller (1-1) picked up his first-career win, tossing three scoreless innings in the start. Miller allowed just one hit and walk while striking out two. Miller was credited with the win as the three innings was predetermined. CCU starter David Hendricks (1-3) took the loss, allowing two runs on four hits in five innings pitched.
Air Force got on the scoreboard first as Derbigny drilled a solo home run in the third inning, a line shot to left, putting the Falcons ahead 1-0.
The Falcons made it a 2-0 game with a run in the second. Bolt beat out a grounder to the shortstop for an infield single to lead off the inning. He later came around to score on Addison Gentry's two out single.
Air Force scored another run in the sixth inning making it a 3-0 ballgame. Geno Salazar led off the inning on a fielding error by the pitcher. After stealing second, Salazar scored on a double to right-center by Bolt.
Colorado Christian scored a run in the seventh, piecing together three hits to make it a 3-1 game. McCoy Worthington singled to right, scoring Michael Cavazos.
In the eighth, Bolt made it a 5-1 game with a two-run homer off the hitter's eye in straightaway center.
CCU pulled to within two with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth.
The Falcons scored three run in the ninth by taking advantage of a fielding error. Salazar began a two out rally by drawing a walk. CCU centerfielder Worthington then lost a fly ball in the sun that was hit by Tyler McBride to keep the inning alive. Bolt then tripled to right-center to bring in Salazar and McBride. Matt Alexander then singled in Bolt.
The Falcons had 11 hits in the game. Alexander and Gentry both had two hits and Salazar scored a pair of runs out of the leadoff spot. The Falcons used four relievers in game. Casey Allen pitched two scoreless innings and Juan Perez also logged two innings. Alex Truesdale gave up two unearned runs in the eighth and Mitch Brown closed out the game with a scoreless ninth inning.
CCU had 10 hits in the game. Worthington, Cavazos and Scott Myers had two hits apiece for the Cougars.
Up Next
The Falcons open Mountain West Conference play with three games at TCU, March 16-18 in Fort Worth, Texas. The Falcons play the defending MWC Champion Horned Frogs on Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Lupton Stadium.
Season Standing Notes
• Ausbun Named To All-Tournament Team - Freshman third baseman Ben Ausbun was named to the 2007 Service Academies Spring Classic All-Tournament team. The Puyallup, Wash., native batted .455 in the three games (5-for-11), scoring two runs and driving in one. Ausbun had three hits combined in the two games against Navy and also had a pair of hits against Akron.
• Bolt Brothers Battle In Millington - When Air Force took on Navy at the Service Academies Springs Classic at USA Stadium in Millington, Tenn., brothers Karl and Kendall Bolt faced each other for the first time. Karl, a senior outfielder at Air Force and Kendall, a freshman shortstop at Navy, are both products of Lincoln HS in Stockton, Calif. Kendall got the better of the brothers, as Navy took both games of the series with Kendall scoring the go-ahead run in the first game.
• Falcon Brotherhood - Falcon sophomore right-hander Jake Petro is the second Petro to play for the Falcons. Older brother, Dan Petro, played for the Falcons from 2000-03 and was an all-conference catcher in `03.
• Falcons Tabbed 7th in MWC Preseason Poll -The Air Force Falcon baseball team was tabbed to finish seventh in the Mountain West Conference as voted by the seven head coaches and select media. TCU, the defending conference champion, was selected to finish first, followed by San Diego State in second and BYU in third. UNLV followed up in fourth, New Mexico in fifth and Utah in sixth.
• Closing in on 500 - The Falcons are two wins away from 500 wins all-time at Falcon Field. Air Force is 498-369 all-time at Falcon Field.
• Finally, some lefties - After several years of just having one or two left-handers on the team, Air Force features eight players that can either hit or throw from the left side. Five batters and three pitchers hit and throw from the odd side and will give Mike Hutcheon some strategic possibilities.
