Friday, May 17
USAFA
1 p.m. MT
Air Force Academy
25-26, 0
12
vs
3
San Jose State
20-33, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
San Jose State
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
3
12
0
Air Force
2
0
1
0
2
4
0
3
X
12
15
0
Photo by: Darcie Ibidapo
Falcons Run by Spartans, 12-3
5/17/2019 5:38:00 PM | Baseball
Senior Gabe Martinez had two homers and six RBIs
USAFA, Colo. – The Air Force Academy baseball team scored nine runs over the last four innings to run away with a commanding 12-3 win over San Jose State, Friday afternoon, May 17, at Falcon Field. The win gave the senior class of 2019 its 106th win, tying the class of 1995 for the most wins by a senior class.
Senior Gabe Martinez led the charge offensively for a Falcon offense that put up 15 hits to score its 12 runs, including four homers. Martinez had two of them, his third two-homer game of the season. He also drove in six runs, marking a new career-high, and a new season high in RBIs for a Falcon this season.
Also collecting home runs were seniors Drew Wiss and Nic Ready, both solo shots. For Ready, it was home run number 50 in his AF career, as well as hit number 300. Fellow senior Rob Dau had a four hit game, the fourth four-hit game by a Falcon this season, while junior Ashton Easley added three knocks, including two doubles.
On the mound, freshman Stevan Fairburn Jr. earned his fourth win of the season after pitching 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed five hits and no walks, while striking out four. After Fairburn, senior Steven Plaskett tossed the ninth, and pitched a scoreless frame.
Air Force got out to a hot start, as Easley ripped a double, and Dau drove him in with an RBI single. Martinez then followed that with an RBI single of his own to make it 2-0 early on. SJSU got one back in the second, but nothing else to keep it a one run game.
The Falcons got the lead back up to two in the third after Easley doubled, got to third on a fly out, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1. That lead held until the top of the fifth, when SJSU got a two run, two out double to knot the contest at 3-3 at the midway point.
From there, it was all Falcons. In the top of the fourth, an RBI groundout from senior Colby Brown, as well as an RBI double from freshman Alexander Pup, put AF back ahead by two, 5-3, with four to play. Fairburn went 1-2-3 with two strikeouts in the top of the sixth, and Air Force added to the lead in the bottom of the sixth on the solo homer from Wiss, and three run jack from Martinez, extending the lead to 9-3.
Fairburn then faced the minimum in the top of the seventh, and worked around a walk in the eighth to maintain the steady lead into the bottom of the eighth. There, AF tacked on some insurance on the Ready solo homer, and then Martinez two run bomb, putting them comfortable ahead, 12-3 into the ninth.
Plaskett then entered, and worked around a bases loaded jam with a fly out and 4-6-3 double play to lock down the win, and even the weekend series.
Air Force and San Jose State will play the rubber match and season finale tomorrow afternoon, May 18, with a noon start at Falcon Field. It is Senior Day, as the 12-man senior class will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
Senior Gabe Martinez led the charge offensively for a Falcon offense that put up 15 hits to score its 12 runs, including four homers. Martinez had two of them, his third two-homer game of the season. He also drove in six runs, marking a new career-high, and a new season high in RBIs for a Falcon this season.
Also collecting home runs were seniors Drew Wiss and Nic Ready, both solo shots. For Ready, it was home run number 50 in his AF career, as well as hit number 300. Fellow senior Rob Dau had a four hit game, the fourth four-hit game by a Falcon this season, while junior Ashton Easley added three knocks, including two doubles.
On the mound, freshman Stevan Fairburn Jr. earned his fourth win of the season after pitching 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed five hits and no walks, while striking out four. After Fairburn, senior Steven Plaskett tossed the ninth, and pitched a scoreless frame.
Air Force got out to a hot start, as Easley ripped a double, and Dau drove him in with an RBI single. Martinez then followed that with an RBI single of his own to make it 2-0 early on. SJSU got one back in the second, but nothing else to keep it a one run game.
The Falcons got the lead back up to two in the third after Easley doubled, got to third on a fly out, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1. That lead held until the top of the fifth, when SJSU got a two run, two out double to knot the contest at 3-3 at the midway point.
From there, it was all Falcons. In the top of the fourth, an RBI groundout from senior Colby Brown, as well as an RBI double from freshman Alexander Pup, put AF back ahead by two, 5-3, with four to play. Fairburn went 1-2-3 with two strikeouts in the top of the sixth, and Air Force added to the lead in the bottom of the sixth on the solo homer from Wiss, and three run jack from Martinez, extending the lead to 9-3.
Fairburn then faced the minimum in the top of the seventh, and worked around a walk in the eighth to maintain the steady lead into the bottom of the eighth. There, AF tacked on some insurance on the Ready solo homer, and then Martinez two run bomb, putting them comfortable ahead, 12-3 into the ninth.
Plaskett then entered, and worked around a bases loaded jam with a fly out and 4-6-3 double play to lock down the win, and even the weekend series.
Air Force and San Jose State will play the rubber match and season finale tomorrow afternoon, May 18, with a noon start at Falcon Field. It is Senior Day, as the 12-man senior class will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Fairburn Jr., Stevan (4-0)
L: CADOLA, Tevin (5-3)
Batting:
2B: BERRY, Blake 1 ; SHIMASHITA, James 1
RBI: SHIMASHITA, James 2 ; CANTU, Santiago 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BERRY, Blake 1 ; KNECHT, Nick 1 ; CANTU, Santiago 1
PO: SHIMASHITA, James 1
Batting:
2B: Easley, Ashton 2 ; Jones, Daniel 1 ; Pup, Alexander 1
HR: Wiss, Drew 1 ; Ready, Nic 1 ; Martinez, Gabe 2
RBI: Wiss, Drew 1 ; Ready, Nic 1 ; Dau, Rob 1 ; Martinez, Gabe 6 ; Brown, Colby 1 ; Pup, Alexander 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wiss, Drew 1 ; Easley, Ashton 3 ; Ready, Nic 2 ; Dau, Rob 3 ; Martinez, Gabe 2 ; Jones, Daniel 1
SB: Easley, Ashton 1 ; Ready, Nic 1
HBP: Gillman, Tommy 1
PO: Jones, Daniel 1 ; Pup, Alexander 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
0
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
6
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
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