Air Force Academy
New Mexico
Air Force Downed Saturday at New Mexico
5/6/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Air Force baseball (24-21, 11-14 MW) lost to New Mexico (27-20-1, 17-4-1 MW), 17-10, in Mountain West action Saturday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field in Albuquerque, NM. The setback snapped a season-best eight game winning streak for the Falcons.
With the wind blowing out to left field, the two teams combined to hit 10 home runs.
Carl Stajduhar hit three home runs and Jack Zoellner hit two to lead the Lobos. Both Stajduhar and Zoellner drove in four runs for UNM, which had 16 hits on the day.
The Falcons had four home runs on the day. Nick Ready, Daniel and Tyler Jones and Bradley Haslam homered for the Falcons. Air Force had 12 hits on the day with Haslam and Adam Groesbeck collecting three hits each.
Haslam hit his 10th home run of the season and Tyler Jones his 11th. It's the first time since 1999 that Air Force has had two double-digit home run hitters in the same season. The Jones brothers also hit both of their home runs in the seventh inning, a first for them at Air Force.
New Mexico scored early and often to build a 10-2 lead after four innings. The Falcons scored four runs in the sixth and three in the seventh, but New Mexico answered with two in the sixth and four in the seventh to remain comfortably ahead.
Ethan Nichols (5-2) took the loss, working two innings in the start. Evan Floyd, Joe Kincart, Josh Leaser, Jake Gilbert and Ashton Easley pitching in relief. Easley made his debut on the mound.
Johnathon Tripp (5-1) pitched 6.2 innings, allowing nine runs in the win. Nathaniel Garley picked up the save.
The rubber match of the three-game series is tomorrow. First pitch is 1 pm MT.
