Air Force Academy
BYU
Air Force Closes Out 2010 With 22-19 Win
5/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 22, 2010
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Senior first-baseman Addison Gentry made his last at bat in an Air Force baseball uniform count. His two-run homer in the eighth inning broke up a 18-18 tie and helped lift the Falcons to a 22-19 win over BYU in a windy slugfest Saturday afternoon at Falcon Field. The Falcons conclude the 2010 season with a 13-42 overall record and 3-20 mark in Mountain West Conference play.
BYU fell to 25-29, 12-12.
With a steady wind over 30 miles-per-hour blowing out to left-center field, with gusts of 40-45 mph, the two teams combined for 49 hits--18 for extra base--including five home runs.
In a see-saw battle, Air Force finally took control of the game in the eighth inning. With the score knotted at 18-18, Gentry drilled an 2-0 fastball from BYU's Kevin Sloan (9-1) into a heavy cross-wind and over the tall fence in right center. Air Force went on to add two more runs in the inning.
BYU scored a run in the ninth and got the game-tying run up to the plate, but Sean Carley (3-5) was able to strike out the side in the ninth to earn the win. Carley struck out six in three innings of relief.
Air Force racked up 24 hits in the game. Matt Alexander and Nathan Carter had four hits for the Falcons and K.J. Randhawa, Addison Gentry, Garrett Custons and Alex Bast had three hits.
Carter homered and tripled, scoring three runs and driving in three. He ended the season with 11 triples, the second-most in school history. Alexander drove in four runs and finished the season with a team-high 80 base hits.
BYU had 25 hits in the game. Brandon Relf and Stephen Wells both went 4-for-7 with three runs scored to lead the Cougars. Relf and Austin Hall also homered for BYU.
BYU led 9-3 early on, highlighted by a seven-run second inning.
The Falcons clawed their way back and eventually took an 18-12 lead after a 10-run sixth inning. The Falcons racked up eight hits in the inning, capped by a three-run homer by Custons.
The Cougars rallied back however, scoring two in the seventh and four in the eighth to tie it up at 18-18.
Falcon starting pitcher Alex Truesdale pitched six-plus innings, striking out five in his final start. Truesdale became the MWC's innings pitched leader, with 328.2 career innings pitched.
BYU starter Chris Howard, a Colorado Springs native and Fountain-Fort Carson High School graduate, pitched 3.1 innings, striking out two.
It was the final game for five Air Force seniors. Matt Alexander, Ben Ausbun, Addison Gentry, K.J. Randhawa and Alex Truesdale were honored before the start of the game. It was also the final game for head coach Mike Hutcheon, who back in April, announced his resignation effective at the end of the season.
