Falcons Host CCU and Travel To Utah
3/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 29, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Air Force (6-17, 1-1) vs. Colorado Christian (10-20)/Utah (12-9, 2-1)
Schedule
vs. CCU
Tuesday, March 30 - 3 p.m. - Falcon Field, USAFA, Colo.
vs. Utah
Thursday, April 1 - 6 p.m.
Friday, April 2 - 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 3 - 1 p.m.
- Utah series at Spring Mobile Ballpark - Salt Lake City, Utah
Internet Radio/Live Stats:
- Live stats and internet radio available at goairforcefalcons.com for CCU game.
- Live stats and internet radio available at utahutes.com for Utah series.
The Coaches:
AF: Mike Hutcheon (Wayne State (Neb.), 1984) is 71-262 in his 7th year at Air Force and 310-402 in his 16th year as a head coach.
CCU: Rob Pegg (Vanguard University, 1997) is 63-164 in his fourth year at CCU.
Utah: Bill Kinneberg (Arizona, 1982) is 167-185 in his seventh year at Utah and 312-368 in his 15th year overall.
Series:
vs. CCU: Air Force leads, 9-0
vs. Utah: Utah leads, 108-38
Last Meeting:
- vs. CUU: Air Force won 15-5 on March 2, 2010 at the Academy.
- vs. Utah: Utah swept three-game series May 1-3, 2009 at the Academy.
Last Time Out:
Air Force: Spit two games with TCU over the weekend. Game three was halted due to TCU's travel with Air Force leading 16-15 in top of 7th.
CCU: Swept Colorado School of Mines in four game series in Pueblo over the weekend.
Utah: Swept Northern Colorado in three game home series over the weekend.
Falcons Host CCU and Travel To Utah
The Air Force baseball team plays four games this week. The Falcons host Colorado Christian on Tuesday, March 30 and then travel to Utah for a three-game set, Thurs.-Sat., April 1-3 in Salt Lake City. Live stats and internet radio will be available for all four games.
2010 Falcons
- The Falcons return six starters and 12 letterwinners.
- Air Force welcomes 17 newcomers, including 10 pitchers to the team.
- Senior first baseman Addison Gentry leads the Falcon hitters, batting .319 with six homers and 27 RBIs.
- Senior right-hander Alex Truesdale leads the Falcon pitching staff with a 2-3 record, 7.90 ERA to go with 35 strikeouts in 41.0 innings pitched.
- The Falcons are batting .301 as a team and fielding .963. The pitching staff has a 10.45 ERA.
Scouting CCU
- Colorado Christian is 10-20 on the season.
- The Cougars are led offensively by senior catcher, infielder Chad Meske, who is batting .360 with 10 homers and 29 RBIs. Junior Jake Logan leads the pitching staff with a 3-4 record and 7.60 ERA in 45 innings pitched.
- CCU is batting .307 as a team and fielding .937. The pitching staff has a 10.40 ERA.
Series History vs. Colorado Christian
- Air Force is 9-0 all time against Colorado Christian.
- The two team s first played on Feb. 4, 2006, with the Falcons sweeping a doubleheader, 5-0 and 2-1.
Air Force-CCU Game-By-Game2/4/06 AF, 5-0 H2/4/06 AF, 2-1 H3/7/07 AF, 8-3 A4/17/07 AF, 13-0 H4/8/08 AF, 9-8 H4/29/08 AF, 14-3 H3/4/09 AF, 18-4 H3/17/09 AF, 11-7 H3/2/10 AF, 15-5 H
Scouting Utah
Utah enters the week with a 12-9 record. The Utes are led offensively by sophomore catcher C.J. Cron, who is batting .405 with six homers and 26 RBIs. Utah's top pitcher is senior RHP Jordan Whatcott, who is 3-3 with a 3.06 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 35.1 innings pitched. Utah is batting .296, fielding .971 and has a team ERA of 4.14.
Series History
- Air Force and Utah have played each other 146 times.
- The Utes lead the series 108-38.
- The two teams first met on March 26, 1979, where the Falcons defeated the Utes, 19-4.
- Utah has won 17 consecutive games vs. AFA.
(Game-by-game breakdown of series on page 6).
Recapping TCU Series
Air Force went 1-1 vs. #5 TCU last weekend. The Falcons upset the Horned Frogs 14-11 in game one and dropped game two, 20-6. Game three was halted with two outs in the top of the 7th, due to TCU's travel schedule. The Falcons led 16-15 in game three.
- Air Force earned upset of the day for its win over TCU and Addison Gentry got hitter of the day at Baseball America for going 3-for-4 with two homers and a triple in that game.
Game One Recap - Air Force scored runs in each of the first seven innings and had a base hit in all eight it batted in, in what is the programs biggest win in the seven years under head coach Mike Hutcheon. It is the Falcons' greatest upset since knocking off #1 Rice in 1999. The Falcons racked up 17 hits and played flawless defense and got gritty pitching performances from senior Alex Truesdale and sophomore Evan Abrecht. Truesdale (2-3) pitched seven innings to pick up the win, striking out four. Abrecht pitched the final two innings, striking out four batters. Several Falcons had big days at the plate. Addison Gentry went 4-for-5 two home runs, a triple and four RBIs. Garrett Custons went 3-for-5 with a homer, three runs and three RBIs. Travis Lane went 2-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs. The Falcons jumped all over TCU early, leading 6-0 after three innings. Air Force knocked out the Horned Frogs' touted freshman left-hander Matt Purke in the third inning, after Custons launched a two-run homer to give AFA the 6-0 lead. Purke, who was the 10th overall pick of the 2009 MLB draft, went 2.1 innings, allowing six runs while striking out five. After Truesdale went through the first three innings without allowing a hit, TCU responded in the middle innings, by scoring nine runs to tie the game up 9-9 in the top of the sixth. The Falcons then took advantage of a Frog error in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead with three unearned runs. Garrett Custons singled up the middle for the go-ahead RBI. After a TCU run in the top of the seventh, Gentry launched a two-run shot to put the Falcons ahead 14-10. TCU would plate one run in the ninth.
Game Two Recap - TCU pounded out 24 hits to win 20-6. The Horned Frogs also homered four times and scored in eight different innings. The Falcons had eight hits in the game. Garrett Custons and Blair Roberts had two hits each for the Falcons and Matthew Roberts drove in three. Air Force starter Kincaid Koehler (1-2) took the loss, allowing nine runs in 3.1 innings, while striking out one. The Falcons also used three relievers in the game. Alex Lerda-Plog, Ben Bertelson and Mike Kazakoff pitched in relief for AFA.
- The Falcons batted .333 in the series, fielded 1.000 and had a 15.50 ERA.
- Garrett Custons was AFA's leading hitter, going 5-for-7 for a .714 average.
- Addison Gentry added a pair of homers vs. TCU.
- Alex Truesdale was AFA's top starter, pitching seven innings to pick up the win in game one.
Carter Ties School Triples Mark
Junior outfielder Nathan Carter hit his 20th career triple vs. TCU to tie the school record, also held by Vern Mullis. Carter currently leads the MWC with five triples. As a freshman, Carter led the nation with 10 triples.
Experienced But Inexperienced Team
In many ways, the Air Force baseball team is very experienced. But in many ways, they are very inexperienced. The Falcons return several four-year starters but also welcome a large freshman class.
- Four-year starters/top pitchers/4/1
- Freshmen with 14+ starts/5
- Freshmen to start on mound/games/12/23
Percentage of starts by class
Seniors 39.6
Juniors 10.6
Sophomores 4.3
Freshmen 45.5
Percentage of pitching starts by class
Seniors 34.8
Juniors -
Sophomores 13.0
Freshmen 52.2
All New Falcon Field
Falcon Field, home of Air Force baseball, underwent several upgrades in time for the 2010 season. The entire playing surface, except for a dirt mound is now comprised of synthetic FieldTurf. Falcon Field formerly had a grass outfield and dirt around the bases and home plate of the synthetic turf infield.
Listed below are the new upgrades to Falcon Field
- New all-weather synthetic FieldTurf.
- New fencing suffrounding entire field.
- New padding behind home plate.
- New hitters eye.
- New benches in the home dugout.
- New protective fencing in front of both dugouts.
Alexander Named Preseason All-American
Air Force senior designated hitter/first baseman Matt Alexander was named to the Ping! Baseball 2010 Preseason All-American Team. Alexander, who batted .383 with 15 home runs and 65 RBIs as a junior, was named third-team All-American as a designated hitter.
One of the top hitters in the Mountain West Conference as a junior, Alexander led the conference in RBIs and was second in home runs and slugging percentage (.710). In 2009, Alexander was a First Team Pro-Line NCBWA All-American and one of 16 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, given to the nation's top collegiate player (one of two players from the MWC, joining Howser Trophy winner Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State). Alexander, a native of Oak Park, Calif., also garnered 2009 Third Team Ping! Baseball All-American honors.
Entering 2009, Alexander is Air Force's top returner in terms of career hits (184), batting average (.323), homers (25), RBIs (147) and games played (152).
Truesdale fans 12 vs. Hawai'i
Senior right-hander Alex Truesdale stuck out a career-high 12 batters vs. Hawai'i. He became the first Falcon to reach double-figures in strikeouts since Mitch Brown struck out 11 in 2006 and the first with 12 since Michael Tufte did so in 2001.
Plenty of Experience Returning For Falcons
Air Force returns five seniors and six starters to the field in 2009. The five seniors are the most at the Academy since 2003. Four starters are three-year starters (Alexander, Ausbun, Gentry, Randhawa) and junior Nathan Carter is a two-year starter. Senior RHP Alex Truesdale is a fourth-year starter on the mound.
17 Freshmen Join Falcons
On the flip side of all that experience, Air Force also welcomes 17 freshmen, four of which are slated to start. The 2010 class features nine pitchers, including two left-handers. Six members of the freshman class also hail from Florida.
California, Florida and Texas Well Represented
The Air Force baseball staff has done a solid effort at recruiting the talent hot-beds of California, Florida and Texas as 18 of the 29 players on the roster are from those three states. Six players hail from both California and Texas and six freshmen from Florida join the Falcons in 2010.
Truesdale Anchors Pitching Staff
Senior right-hander Alex Truesdale enters 2010 as Air Force's most reliable pitcher. Truesdale has led Air Force in innings pitched each of his first three years and has led the team in strikeouts and ERA the last two years. Truesdale has logged 41 career starts and struck out 180 in 288 career innings. He was the team MVP as a sophomore in 2008.
2010 Preseason Accolades
Sr. DH Matt Alexander
- Ping!Baseball Preseason All-American, 3rd Team
- Preseason All-Mountain West Conference Team
- Best Pure Hitter (One of top 3) in MWC as voted by conference coaches at Collegebaseballinsider.com
Sr. 1B Addison Gentry
- Baseball America Preseason All-MWC
- Preseason All-Mountain West Conference Team
Fr. RHP Sean Carley
- Baseball America Fifth Best MWC Newcomer
Next
Air Force plays four straight at home next week. The Falcons host Northern Colorado on April 6, then San Diego State, April 9-11.
