Air Force Academy
Tulane (DH 2)
Falcon Baseball Splits Doubleheader at Tulane
2/18/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Air Force baseball (2-1) split a doubleheader at Tulane (1-1) Saturday at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium in New Orleans, La. In a pair of one-run pitching duels, the Falcons lost 4-3, before rallying to a 3-2 win in game two against the reigning American Athletic Conference regular season Champions.
In game one, Tulane pitcher Corey Merrill (1-0) held the Falcons to three runs, two earned, off six hits in the win. The Green Wave plated runs in four of the first five innings to win in a quickly-played two hour and 19 minute game. Ted Andrews picked up the save.
Air Force had seven hits in the game. Senior Adam Groesbeck and junior Tyler Zabojnik led the Falcons with two hits each. Zabojnik hit a solo home run and doubled. Groesbeck doubled and stole a base.
Junior Nick Biancalana (0-1) pitched 4.1 innings in the start. The righthander struck out a career-high seven batters in the loss. Sophomore Ethan Nichols gave the Falcons some outstanding relief work, retiring all 11 batters faced in 3.2 hitless innings.
The Falcons scored runs in the second, third and sixth innings.
In game two, sophomore Matt Hargreaves (1-0) tossed a complete-game seven-hitter to pitch Air Force to the win. Hargreaves struck out 10 batters and did not issue a walk.
The Falcons rallied back from a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth.
Senior Bradley Haslam hit a solo home run to spark the rally. Air Force pushed across a second run to tie the game on an RBI single by catcher Rob Dau that scored Zabojnik.
The Falcons went ahead on a Tulane fielding error, one of four in the game by the Green Wave, to take the lead. Senior Tyler Jones reached base with a base hit and made it to second with a stolen base. Jones then came around to score on a fielding error.
Hargreaves did not allow a run after the fifth inning. He closed out the game with back-to-back strikeouts.
The Falcons had eight hits in the game. Zabojnik had two hits to lead the Falcons.
Tulane starting pitcher J.P. France pitched seven innings, allowing two runs while striking out seven. Reliever Sam Bjornjeld (0-1) took the loss. The Green Wave had seven hits with catcher Jeremy Montalbano collecting two hits and two RBIs.
"I am very proud of the way our cadets played in both games against a very good Tulane ball club." Air Force head coach Mike Kazlausky said. "It was two high-intensity battles. After a tough loss in game one, Matt Hargreaves put us on his back and gave us a spectacular performance in the nightcap. Its nice to be able to carry some momentum into tomorrow's match-up against a very good LSU team."
Air Force returns to action at #4 LSU tomorrow. First pitch, at Alex Box Stadium, is slated for 1 pm CT.
