Air Force Academy
BYU
Air Force Falls To BYU Thursday, 10-4
4/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 7, 2011
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Air Force baseball dropped a 10-4 lightning-delayed Mountain West Conference ballgame at BYU Thursday night at Larry H. Miller Stadium. The loss dropped the Falcons to 12-18, 0-6, while the Cougars improved to 16-12, 4-3. The game start was delayed an hour and 45 minutes due to lightning.
Air Force erased a 4-1 deficit with three runs in the sixth ining to tie the game, but BYU scored six unanswered runs to pull away with the win.
The Cougars had 13 hits in the game. Five players had two hits for BYU, with the top of the lineup--consisting of Stephen Wells, Andrew Law and Alex Wolfe--driving in two runs each.
Air Force had nine hits in the game. The Falcons' 5-6-7 hitters combined to go 7-for-12 on the night. Jon McMahon went 2-for-4, Seth Kline 2-for-4 with two RBIs and and Matt Thorne went 3-for-4 with a run scored.
Justin Schutt (2-2) picked up the win with 2.2 innings in relief for BYU. Cougar starting pitcher Taylor Cole pitched 5.2 innings, allowing four runs while striking out five.
Falcon starting pitcher Ben Bertelson (1-3) pitched 5.2 innings in the loss. Bertelson kept the Falcons in the game till the sixth, striking out a career-high nine batters. Alex Baker, Mike Kazakoff, Kincaid Koehler and Brad Pingel pitched in relief for the Falcons.
BYU put up a run in the second to lead early. The Falcons rallied with a run in the third, but the Cougars also scored a run in the bottom of the inning to re-take the lead 2-1. BYU added two in the fourth to go up 4-1.
The Falcons scored three in the sixth to tie the game, but BYU answered again with three runs in the bottom of the inning to lead 7-4. The Cougars posted three more runs in the seventh.
Game two of the three-game series is tomorrow at 6 p.m. The game will be televised live on BYU TV and will be available for free online at www.byutv.org.
