Falcons Open MWC Play At New Mexico
3/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Air Force (5-6) vs. New Mexico (13-3)
Friday, March 13 - 6 p.m. (MST)
Saturday, March 14 - 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 15 - 12 p.m.
- All three games at Isotopes Park - Albuquerque, N.M.
Live Stats/Radio:
Audio, Radio and Live Stats available at golobos.com.
The Coaches:
AF: Mike Hutcheon (Wayne State (Neb.), 1984) is 55-214 in his 6th year at Air Force and 294-354 in his 15th year as a head coach.
New Mexico: Ray Birmingham (New Mexico State, 1978) is 47-28 in his second year at UNM and 100-101 in his third year overall.
Series:
UNM leads the series 101-40.
Last Meeting:
UNM swept the three game series played in Farmington, N.M. last year.
Last Time Out:
Air Force: Won at Northern Colorado, 15-13, in 10 innings, on Wednesday, March 11.
UNM: Lost to New Mexico State, 5-4, on Tuesday, March 10.
Scouting The Falcons
Air Force enters the weekend with a 5-6 overall record. The Falcon went 1-3 last weekend at Southern Utah and defeated Northern Colorado 15-13 in 10 innings Wednesday. Air Force's top hitter is junior first baseman Addison Gentry, who is batting .375 with three homers and 10 RBIs. Junior right-hander Alex Truesdale anchors the pitching staff and has a 2-1 record, 3.26 ERA and 16 strikeouts.
Scouting New Mexico
New Mexico enters the weekend with a 13-3 record. The Lobos are led offensivly by soph. outfielder Ryan Honeycutt, who is batting .643 and slugging .923. UNM's ace is senior LHP John Hesketh, who is 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA in 20 innings pitched. New Mexico is batting .393, fielding .976 and has a team ERA of 3.59.
Series History vs. New Mexico
- Air Force and New Mexico have played each other 141 times.
- The Lobos lead the series 101-40 and have won the last nine meetings in the series.
- The two teams first met on May 2, 1957 where the Falcons defeated UNM, 8-7, in ten innings at the Academy.
Last Meeting vs. UNM
New Mexico took all three games in Farmington, N.M. last year. The Lobos took game one, 7-1, game two, 26-9 and game three, 13-3.
In game one, Bobby LaFromboise held Air Force to three hits and one run in the complete game effort.
In game two, UNM erupted for eight home runs, with four hit by Brian Cavazos-Galvez.
In gam e three, Stephen Smith pitched a complete game win for UNM, while Cavazos-Galves hit his fifth homer of the series.
Air Force-UNM Connections
- Air Force has no players on its roster from New Mexico.
- New Mexico has five players on its roster from Colorado.
Sr. IF - Dane Hamilton (Grand Junction - Grand Junction HS)
Jr. OF Cameron Smith (Aurora - Salt Lake CC)
Jr. RHP - Willy Kesler (Thornton - Lamar CC )
Jr. OF - Max Willett (Highlands Ranch - Thunder Ridge HS)
Jr. OF - Chris Juarez (Lakewood - Cochise CC)
Hitting/Offense Notes
- Air Force is batting .265 as a team, ranking sixth in the MWC.
- Air Force is third in the conference with seven triples.
- The Falcons have been sucessful on 82 percent of steal attempts.
- Air Force is batting .330 and slugging .536 in its last six games.
Pitching Notes
- Air Force has a 4.55 ERA, ranking fourth in the MWC. Air Force' s era last year was 8.34.
- The Falcons have thrown just three wild pitchers in 89 innings, tops in the MWC.
- Opponents are hitting .296 vs. Air Force. Opponents hit .358 vs. AFA in 2008.
Fielding Notes
- Air Force is fielding .951 on the season, ranking seventh in the MWC.
- By playing their last five games in winter-like weather conditions, the Falcons are fielding .932 in their last six games.
All Falcon Home Games On Radio
All 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 4 game with Colorado Christian.
Up Next
The Falcons host a mid-week game with Colorado Christian on March 17, before heading out to UNLV for a three-game set March 20-22.
