Falcons Dominate Utah Valley in 9-0 Shutout Win

PROVO, Utah – The Air Force Academy baseball team dominated in all three phases of the game in a commanding 9-0 win over Utah Valley, Tuesday evening, March 10, at Larry H. Miller Field. AF tallied 14 hits, while holding UVU to just one in the shutout victory.

Combining for the shutout were freshman Ryan Stohr, who went the first seven innings, only allowing the one hit while striking out a career-high five. In relief, senior Shawn Kelley and freshman Max Graves pitched one inning scoreless inning each, with Kelley striking out two in a 1-2-3 frame.

On offense, junior Christian Gambale led the charge with a five-hit day, setting a new career-high and becoming the first Falcon with five hits in a game since Colby Brown did so against UNLV, Match 18, 2018. He also drove in a career-best four runners, including two on a two-run home run. Senior Ashton Easley added two hits to the docket, including a double and a walk, as well as two RBIs.

AF got the scoring started in the second inning, striking for three. Gambale for things started with an RBI single, while the other two runs came around on two UVU errors, making it 3-0 early on. The Falcons tacked on one more in the third on an RBI single from sophomore Alexander Pup to make it 3-0. Meanwhile, Stohr cruised into the fifth, tallying four Ks.

In the top of the fifth, AF got three more runs to cross, first on a sac fly from Pup, followed by a two run homer from Gambale to give AF a dominating lead, 7-0, at the midway point. Stohr worked around two runners in the bottom of the fifth, which included UVU's first and only hit, as well as stranding a runner on third in the bottom of the sixth, to maintain the shutout into the seventh.

The Falcons got more insurance in the top of the seventh, as Gambale tallied his fourth hit and fourth RBI with a single to make it 8-0. Stohr then shut down the Wolverines in the bottom of the seventh to keep the goose egg on the board. Kelley then entered in the eighth, and he picked up where Stohr left off, striking out two in a clean inning to send it to the ninth.

There, AF got one more run on a bases loaded walk drawn by Easley to make it a nine run game with three outs left to give. Then in the bottom of the ninth, Graves worked around a walk to secure the shutout win.

Air Force and Utah Valley will be right back at it for game two of the midweek tomorrow, March 11. First pitch from Provo is set for 11 a.m. MT.

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