Falcons To Play Four at Charleston Southern
2/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 26, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Air Force (1-2) vs. Charleston Southern (3-2)
Friday, Feb. 27 - 2 p.m. (EST)
Saturday, Feb. 28 - Doubleheader beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Sunday, March 1 - 1 p.m.
- All three games at Buccaneer Field - Charleston, S.C.
Live Stats/Radio:
Live stats available for all four games at: CSUsports.com
The Coaches:
AF: Mike Hutcheon (Wayne State (Neb.), 1984) is 52-210 in his 6th year at Air Force and 291-350 in his 15th year as a head coach.
Charleston Southern: Stuart Lake (Charleston Southern, 1994) is in his first year as a head coach.
Series:
Air Force leads the series 1-0.
Last Meeting:
Air Force won the first-ever meeting last year, 2-1, on March 24, 2008, in Charleston.
Last Time Out:
Air Force: Lost to Pittsburgh, 10-9, on Sunday, Feb. 22.
Charleston Southern: Defeated Chicago State on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
Falcons To Play Four at Charleston Southern
The Air Force baseball team travels to Charleston, S.C. to play four games in three days, Feb. 28-March 1 at Charleston Southern. Live stats will be available for the series at CSUsports.com.
2009 Falcons
- The Falcons returns eight starters and 20 letterwinners.
- Air Force welcomes 12 newcomers, including six pitchers to the team.
- Senior right-hander Jake Petro and junior shortstop K.J. Randhawa are the team captains.
- Sophomore OF Nathan Carter is the top returning hitter with a .312 average in 2008.
- Junior RHP Alex Truesdale is the top returning pitcher with a 3-6 record and 6.73 ERA in 97.2 innings last year.
Series History vs. Charleston Southern
- Air Force played Charleston Southern for the first time last year, winning a pitchers duel, 2-1, at CSC on March 24, 2008.
Air Force vs. Big South South
- The Falcons are 6-5 all-time in games against Big South schools. Air Force has played VMI 10 times, splitting the series.
Air Force vs. Big South W-L First Meeting Lastvs. CSC 1-0 2008vs. VMI 5-5 1997 2001
Last Meeting vs. Charleston Southern
Alex Truesdale and Michael Ruvolo combined to hold Charleston Southern to six hits as Air Force won a 2-1 pitchers duel Monday afternoon at Buccaneer Field.
In his most impressive outing as a Falcon, Truesdale (1-5) picked up his first-career win, holding the Bucs to five hits and one run in eight innings.
Ruvolo picked up his fourth save on the season with a scoreless ninth.
Air Force went ahead 1-0 in the third inning as Jon McMahon scored on a sacrifice fly by Chay Derbigny. McMahon led off the inning by reaching on a error and got to second on a ground out by Nathan Carter. McMahon then reached third on a single by K.J. Randhawa and eventually scored on Derbigny's fly out.
The Falcons pushed across their second run by piecing together three consecutive hits in the fifth. With two outs, Randhawa and Derbigny both singled through the right side and then Addison Gentry continued his hot hitting by lacing a single up the middle to score Randhawa.
Mark Perry had the Buccaneers' lone RBI, grounding out to second to score junior Jake Cox, who drew two walks on the day as the only player to reach base twice for the Bucs.
The Falcons had eight hits on the day and did not commit an error. Derbigny went 3-for-4 and Randhawa 2-for-4 to pace AFA.
Scouting Charleston Southern
- Charleston Southern is 1-2 on the season after a three-game series with Marist. - The Buccaneers are coming off a 18-35 season in 2008.
- Freshman Patrick Dolan has been CSC's top hitter so far this season, batting .667 (8-for-12) with five runs and three doubles.
- Reliever Tyler Thornburg was CSC's top pitcher last weekend, pitching 4.1 innings and striking out five in their lone win.
- Charleston Southern is batting .283 as a team and fielding .991. The pitching staff has a 9.00 ERA.
Recapping The Service Academies Spring Classic
- Air Force went 1-2 at the classic, defeating Navy 2-0 and losing to Kansas 5-0 and Pittsburgh 10-9. Air Force's Saturday game with Memphis was rained out and not made up. Air Force was no-hit against Kansas.
- Air Force batted .179 as a team and had an .257 on base percentage.
- The Falcons fielded .966 on the weekend, committing four errors.
- The Falcon pitching staff posted a stellar 3.81 ERA, striking out 17 and walking just four batters in 26 inings pitched.
- Alex Truesdale and Aaron Kurcz combined to toss a three-hit shutout against Navy. Truesdale went 7.2 innings, scattering three hits while striking out five.
Freshmen Start Fast
Although its just three games into the season, Air Force is already getting strong contributions from the freshman class.
- Outfielder Jack Lupo had a clutch RBI-single vs. Navy and also hit a two-run homer against Pittsburgh.
- 2B Adam Hill doubled in his first-career start.
- Closer Aaron Kurcz did not allow a run in two relief outings and picked up the save vs. Navy.
- Evan Abrecht held Kansas to one run in six innings, striking out four in his collegiate debut.
- The Falcon freshmen pitched 10.2 innings in the tournament and allowed just two runs, for a 1.69 ERA.
Falcon Baseball On Radio
Air Force baseball home games will be broadcast on 97.7 KAFA radio, the cadet run radio station at the Air Force Academy. KAFA's first Air Force baseball broadcast is slated for the March 3 game with Colorado Christian. The full broadcast schedule will be posted on the website.
Several Game Time Changes
Several game time changes have been announced for Air Force baseball. Three home games and three road game times have been modified, beginning with the Falcons' home-opener March 3 vs. Colorado Christian.
Due to daylight concerns, the March 3 game with Colorado Christian has been moved up to a 2 p.m. start. All four games with Northern Colorado (at UNC, March 10 & April 28; at USAFA, April 7 & April 21) have been bumped up to a 2:30 p.m. start time. In addition, Air Force's May 9 road game at San Diego State has been moved to a 6 p.m. start time and will be televised on the Mountain West Sports Network (Mtn.).
Alexander On Preseason All-MWC Baseball Team
Air Force junior designated hitter Matt Alexander was named to the 2009 Mountain West Conference Preseason All-Conference Team.
Alexander batted .306 last year as a sophomore, leading the Falcons with seven home runs. He was second on the team with 45 RBIs and a .529 slugging percentage. In one of the best single-game performances in school history, Alexander went 6-for-7 in a game last year against Doane College. In that game, Alexander hit for the cycle, hit two triples and drove in 11 runs. The 11 RBIs and 14 total bases are conference records.
Major League Bloodlines
Air Force has two sophomores, both from the East Bay region of Northern California, with brothers on Major League Baseball Spring Training rosters. Third baseman Vai Schierholtz has a brother, Nate, who is an outfielder with the San Francisco Giants. Outfielder Nathan Carter has a brother, Chris, who is an outfielder for the Boston Red Sox. Schierholtz batted .320 in 19 games for the Giants in 2008. He was also a member of the U.S. Olympic baseball team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and also played in the 2008 MLB All-Stars Futures Game. Carter batted .333 in nine games for the Red Sox in 2008. The elder Carter played his college ball at Stanford.
Top Triples Hitting Team in 2008
Air Force led the nation with .63 triples per game in 2008. The Falcons hit 32 triples in 51 games. In addition, freshman Nathan Carter led the nation with 10 triples and .20 triples per game. Daniel Walker hit seven triples and ranked second in the nation with .18 triples per game.
Truesdale 2nd In MWC In Innings Pitched
Air Force right-hander Alex Truesdale finished second in the MWC with 97.2 innings pitched in 2008. He was the league leader after the regular season, however. The sophomore from Austin, Texas, pitched into the eighth inning in his last six starts to close out the season. In his final start of the season, Truesdale led Air Force to a 10-1 win over UNLV, tossing an eight-hit complete game. His 97.2 innings pitched ranks 10th in a season at the Academy and is the most by a Falcon since Matt Kaercher set the school record with 110.1 innings pitched in 2002. His 58 strikeouts also ranked ninth in the MWC.
2008 Falcons In Review
- 18-33 record was best season since 2002. Improvement of ten games over 8-44 season in 2006.
- Led the nation in triples per game (.63).
- .957 fielding percentage tied the 1979 team for the best defensive fielding percentage ever at Air Force.
- Defeated an SEC school for the first time with 6-4 win over Mississippi State on March 1.
- Defeated a Big 10 school in Ohio State, 9-8, on March 7.
- Finished with a winning non-conference record for the first time since 2002.
- Snapped 55-game conference losing streak with win over BYU on Apri 24.
- Snapped a 27-game losing streak to UNLV with win on May 15.
- Won two MWC series (BYU & UNLV) for first time since 2002.
- Defeated Doane College 37-13 on April 2, which was the second-most runs scored in a game in Air Force history.
Individual Highlights of 2008
- Nathan Carter led the nation in triples with 10 and triples per game with a .20 average. Daniel Walker was second in the nation with a .18 triples per game average.
- Nathan Carter set MWC record for triples by a freshman with 10. Previous record was 6. His six conference game triples is second all-time in MWC play and also a freshman record.
- Chay Derbigny leads MWC with 31 stolen bases. Second best single-season mark at Air Force and new MWC record for a senior.
- Matt Alexander hits for the cycle and drives in a MWC record 11 runs against Doane College on April 2.
- Addison Gentry snaps 55-game conference losing streak with walkoff grand slam vs. BYU.
- Alex Truesdale snaps 55-game conference losing streak with win over BYU.
- Alex Truesdale snaps 27-game losing streak to UNLV.
- Alex Truesdale 2nd in MWC with 97.2 innings pitched and 9th with 58 strikeouts.
- Daniel Walker hits seven triples in just 109 at bats. Averages a triple every 15.6 at bats.
Up Next
The Falcons host Colorado Christian in its home-opener, Tues., March 3. First-pitch is at 2:30 p.m. at Falcon Field.
