Ready Breaks Program Hits Record in Rout of Bears, 16-4

GREELEY, Colo. – The Air Force Academy baseball team scored 11 runs over the first four innings to blow by Northern Colorado, 16-4, in midweek action Tuesday afternoon, May 7, at Jackson Field.

For the second consecutive game, senior Nic Ready broke a program record, this time in hits, as his three in this game gave him 296 hits for his career to break the previous record of 294, set by Mike Thiessen back in 2001.

This RBI double was the 295th hit of Nic Ready's (@nic_ready) career, breaking the previous program hit record of 294 set by Mike Thiessen (@Coach_Thiessen) back in 2001!#LetsFly pic.twitter.com/s2CPw9m1kj
— Air Force Baseball (@AF_Baseball) May 8, 2019

The offense totaled 14 hits on the day, including multi hit days from four players. Ready finished the day with three hits and three RBIs, including two doubles and a two run home run. He is now just two doubles away from that program record as well.

Seniors Colby Brown and Drew Wiss both had three knocks, including a double and homer from Wiss, and a two bagger for Brown, while both had two runs driven in. Junior Ashton Easley had a two hit, three RBI day, including a double and triple.

On the mound, it was another shutout start from freshman Stevan Fairburn Jr. as the rookie southpaw moved to 3-0 on the year after going the first five, only allowing two hits, while striking out five. He has now totaled 12 scoreless innings over his last two starts.

In relief, the Falcons did not allow an earned run, as junior Jeff Gerlica, sophomore Ben Hauser, senior Steven Plaskett, and finally sophomore Luke Chilcutt combined to keep Air Force's big lead throughout the contest.

AF leapt ahead early with two runs in the top of the first on an RBI ground out from senior Gabe Martinez, as well as an RBI single from freshman Braydon Altorfer, to make it 2-0 early on. The Falcons then poured it on in the second, tagging UNC for seven runs to go ahead 9-0.

Back-to-back singles got the inning started, and Wiss drove in the first on a double. Easley followed with a two RBI triple to make it 5-0 with no outs. After a walk, senior Rob Dau drove in Easley with a sac fly. Another walk put two on for Brown, and the veteran delivered with a double to score another, and force a Bears pitching change. After that, a UNC error allowed the final two runs to cross, giving AF the big lead after just two frames.

The Falcons added solo runs in the third and fourth, as a Wiss solo homer in the third, and Brown RBI single in the fourth, gave the Falcons the 11-0 cushion into the fifth. Fairburn allowed his first two hits, breaking a streak of 10 straight retired, but he worked around the traffic to complete his five scoreless innings of work.

Northern Colorado broke the shutout in the bottom of the sixth, as an Air Force error allowed four runs to cross, making the tally 11-4 with three to play. Following a scoreless seventh, AF got back on the board in the eighth, as RBI doubles from Easley and Ready, as well as another sac fly from Dau, put the Falcons back up by double digits, 14-4, into the ninth. With the hit record in hand, Ready wasn't satisfied as he launched a two run home run in the ninth to put a bow on his historic day, and cap off the 16-4 victory.

Air Force returns to Falcon Field this weekend for the final non-conference games of the season, as they host Butler University, Friday-Sunday, May 10-12. First pitch of game one is set for 3 p.m. MT.

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