Falcons Sweep Home-Opener Doubleheader over UNLV

USAFA, Colo. — The Air Force Academy baseball team swept the 2021 home opening doubleheader over UNLV, 4-3 and 10-7, Saturday afternoon, March 27, at Falcon Field. AF has won three straight games and moves to 9-8 overall on the season.

Game One: Air Force 4, UNLV 3

Game one struck a solid balance between clutch hitting and pitching, as the Falcons moved to 3-0 in one run games on the season. AF tallied eight hits, led by two-hit days from seniors Christian Gambale and Cole Blatchford. Both had RBIs, while Gambale's was a run-scoring double. Sophomore Blake Covin had the game winning hit, an RBI triple. It was his first three-bagger of the season.

On the mound, junior CJ Dornak earned his second win of the season after tossing a scoreless inning in relief. Freshman Paul Skenes earned his third save after tossing a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two. In between the pitchers of record, junior Rob Martin earned a hold after pitching two scoreless frames, and retiring all but one batter faced.

Senior starting pitcher John Byrnes flew through the first three innings, striking out four UNLV batters to keep it scoreless. AF got the offense going in the bottom of the third, as they capitalized on a trio of UNLV errors. The first run was driven in on a sac fly from junior Cayden Zimmerman, followed by an RBI single from Blatchford to make it 2-0 after three.

After a scoreless fourth, UNLV broke the shutout in the top of the fifth with a three spot to take a 3-2 lead into the sixth. The Falcons battled back in the bottom of the sixth, striking for two runs to re-take a 4-3 lead. Skenes led off with a single, and was doubled in by Gambale to make it 3-3. Later in the inning, Covin tripled in the leading run to put the Falcons up 4-3 into the seventh.

Martin came on from the pen to start the seventh, and retired six out of seven batters faced in the seventh and eighth innings to maintain the slim lead into the ninth. Skenes then came on for the ninth inning, and despite allowing a runner get to second, he notched a pair of Ks and a groundout to lock down his third save of the season and the one-run victory.

Game Two: Air Force 10, UNLV 7

The bats carried the day in game two, as AF struck for a tied-for-season-best 15 hits to plate the 10 runs. Junior Braydon Altorfer led the way with two hits and three RBIs, while Skenes and Gillman both added three-hit games, with a double each. Gillman drove in two, while Skenes scored a pair of runs.

On the mound, junior Stevan Fairburn Jr. earned his third win on the season after tossing six magnificent innings, only allowing one run on four hits, while striking out four.

The Rebels struck first in game two with a run in the second, but a 4-6-3 double play ended the threat and kept it a 1-0 game early on. AF had a good opportunity in the bottom of the third, loading the bases with two outs, but a hard line out to right ended the inning, keeping the 1-0 score into the fourth.

AF broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth, striking for eight runs on eight hits. The inning began with a lead off walk and Gillman double to put runners on second and third with no outs. An RBI single from junior Alexander Pup, and sac fly from Covin made it a 2-1 ball game.

After a pitching change, AF got an RBI single from Blatchford and two-RBI double from Gambale to make it 5-1 Falcons. AF kept going, as a single from Skenes, and then an RBI double from Altorfer made it 6-1. Following the second out of the inning, Gillman put a cherry on top of the frame with a two-RBI single to put AF ahead 8-1 into the fifth inning.

Meanwhile on the mound, Fairburn continued to cruise, retiring his seventh-straight Rebel batter in a 1-2-3 fifth to keep the big lead into the sixth. He kept mowing down opposing batters in the sixth with a third-straight 1-2-3 frame.

In the bottom of the sixth, Altorfer added a two-RBI single to up the lead to 10-1 into the seventh inning. The Rebels did not give in, though, as after an AF pitching change, UNLV plated a pair of run to make it a seven-run game into the eighth. In the ninth, the Rebels scored four more to make it a three-run game, but AF was able to close it out for the 10-7 victory.

The Falcons will return to the diamond tomorrow, March 28, for the series finale against the Rebels. First pitch is set for noon MT.

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