Air Force Academy
Fresno State
Big Inning Lifts Air Force Past Fresno State
4/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Air Force baseball (15-18, 5-12 MW) won at Fresno State (17-17, 7-7 MW), 10-5, in a Mountain West game Friday night at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium in Fresno, Calif. A six-run third inning highlighted the Falcons' rally.
Trailing 5-1, Air Force erupted for six runs in the third inning to take a 6-5 lead. Highlighting the rally was a three-run home run by catcher Rob Dau.
Sophomore Ethan Nichols and junior Ryan Hollway combined to throw seven-consecutive scoreless innings after the second inning to hold Fresno State at bay. Nichols improved to 4-1 on the season after working five innings, striking out for. Holloway turned in four scoreless innings of relief to pick up his second save of the season.
Air Force had 13 hits on the night. Leadoff hitter Adam Groesbeck went 3-for-5 with a triple and three runs scored. Tyler Jones added two doubles and three RBIs. Bradley Haslam went 2-for-3 with a homer and two runs scored. Haslam extended his hitting streak to 36 games, tying the school record also held by Mike Thiessen.
Fresno State had 12 hits on the night. Scott Silva went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs. Mark Reece (0-1) took the loss in relief. Starting pitcher J.J. Santa Cruz pitched just two innings.
Fresno State scored two runs in the first and three in the second, with Silva hitting a three-run homer, to jump ahead 5-1.
The Falcons came right back in the third. Jones got the rally started with a two-run double and Nic Ready knocked in the third with run an RBI base hit. Dau capped the inning with a three-run shot.
The Falcons added runs in the fourth, sixth and eighth.
"We got some big hits tonight from several of our players," Air Force head coach Mike Kazlausky said. "Rob Dau came up big for us, as did Tyler Jones and Bradley Haslam. Ethan Nichols settled down after the first two innings and Ryan Holloway just shut the Bulldogs down."
Game rubber game of thes three-game series is tomorrow. First pitch is at 2 pm PT.
