Falcons Come Up Short in Series Finale at SDSU

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Air Force Academy baseball team came up just short in the series finale at San Diego State, 5-4, Saturday afternoon, April 20, at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Falcons got to within one in the ninth inning, but could not complete the comeback.

The Falcon (17-22, 7-12 MW) offense kept pace with the Aztec (24-17, 10-7 MW) offense, as the two teams tied in hits, 7-7. Junior Tommy Gillman hit his second home run in as many days, a two run shot in the first inning. Senior Rob Dau also had a dinger, a solo shot in the ninth inning, his first of the season and 11^th of his career, in a two hit day.

On the mound, freshman Nathan Price threw three scoreless innings in relief for the second straight day, as he allowed just one hit and struck out two. The rookie now has a 2.21 ERA over 40.2 innings.

Gillman got the scoring started with a bang in the first inning, as he blasted a two run homer over the wall in right field to make it 2-0 Falcons early on. Starting pitcher senior Ethan Nichols was sharp over his first two, allowing just one runner on a walk, to keep it 2-0 into the third.

There, SDSU got on the board with three runs on two hits and two errors, to take a 3-2 lead into the fourth. The Aztecs got another in the bottom of the fourth on a two out double to make it a two run game, 4-2, into the middle innings. SDSU got one more in the bottom of the fifth on a solo homer to put the tally at 5-2 with four to play.

The Falcons got one back in the top of the sixth as a pair of walks and wild pitch put runners on the corners with no outs. That's when sophomore Jonathan Imperial grounded out to second, but drove in a run, to make it 5-3 into the middle of the sixth. That's when Price entered, and retired all three batters he faced to send it to the seventh.

Price continued to carve, allowing just one runner on a single, but was otherwise flawless in his three innings of work to send it to the ninth with the two run deficit. In the top of the ninth, Dau hit a one out solo homer to left center to get the Falcons within one, but the offense couldn't do anything else in the one run defeat.

Air Force now has the midweek off once again, as they return to the diamond next Friday, April 26, to begin a three game series at Falcon Field against Nevada. First pitch of the opener against the Wolf Pack is set for 3 p.m. MT.

Footer

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the u.s air force of non-u.s. government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the u.s. air force may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for department of defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.