Falcons Drop Midweek Game at Northern Colorado

GREELEY, Colo. – The Air Force Academy baseball team fell in a midweek road contest at Northern Colorado, 5-4, Tuesday afternoon, April 2, at Jackson Field. The Falcons (12-13) and Bears (6-18) went back and forth in the early going, but an unearned run in the sixth inning was the difference in the final tally.

Air Force's offense produced six hits to tie the Bears in that category. Three of AF's hits went for extra bases, led by a two double day from senior Gabe Martinez, the first multi extra base hit game of his career. He also added a walk and run scored. Meanwhile, sophomore Ben Hauser, in the first start of his collegiate career, also collected his first hit as a Falcon, a single, to go along with a walk and run scored.

On the mound, freshman Nathan Price continued his stellar rookie campaign with two scoreless innings in relief. The righty allowed just one base runner on a walk, while striking out two. On the season, Price owns a 1.40 ERA over 25.2 innings, as well as 17 strikeouts.

After a scoreless first, the Bears struck first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second on three hits to take an early lead. Air Force responded immediately, tallying three runs in the top of the third on an RBI singles from junior Tommy Gillman and senior Colby Brown, as well as a wild pitch, to set the score at 3-2 into the middle of the third. The Bears got the run back in the bottom half, however, to make it all square at 3-3 into the fourth.

The Falcons took advantage of some UNC miscues to take the lead back in the top of the fourth. The first batter, senior Rob Dau, reached on a passed ball third strike, and that was followed by an error to put runners on the corners. Then a wild pitch scored Dau from third, making it 4-3. The back and forth scoring continued, however, as the Bears used a solo home run to tie the game up once again, 4-4, after four.

Following a scoreless fifth, UNC grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the sixth with an unearned run, taking a 5-4 advantage into the seventh. From the fifth inning on, AF's bats could not produce much in the way of offense, resulting in the tough one run defeat.

The Falcons return to their home turf this weekend, April 5-7, for a three game conference set against UNLV. First pitch on Friday is set for 3 p.m. MT.

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