Falcons Drop Both Ends of Doubleheader at Fresno State

FRESNO, Calif. – The Air Force Academy baseball team dropped both ends of a double header at Fresno State, Saturday evening, April 10, at Bob Bennett Stadium. The Falcons dropped the opener, 8-3, before falling in the nightcap, 7-1.

Game One: Fresno State 8, Air Force 3

Air Force tied Fresno State in hits in game one, 7-7. Three players had two-hit days. Junior Alexander Pup had a 2-for-2 game, including a triple, walk, and run scored. Classmate Cayden Zimmerman had a pair of RBI singles, while senior Christian Gambale had a double to go along with his two hit day.

On the mound, senior John Byrnes took a tough loss after allowing just one earned run in his six innings of work, while striking out a career-best nine. In relief, junior Zach Argo tossed 1.1 scoreless without allowing a hit and striking out two.

The first two innings flew by, as neither team was able to get a runner on base. AF broke the stalemate in the top of the third after Gambale led off with a double, followed by a pair of singles, the latter an RBI poke from Zimmerman, to make it 1-0 early on. In the bottom of the third, Byrnes struck out his third in another 1-2-3 inning to retire the first nine batters he faced.

In the bottom of the fourth, Fresno State got its first two men on with a single and double, putting Byrnes in a jam. The crafty veteran escaped that jam though, with three more strikeouts to up his total to six and keep the 1-0 lead into the fifth. In the top of the fifth, AF got another RBI single from Zimmerman after a triple from Pup to put the Falcons ahead 2-0 at the midway point.

Fresno State broke the shutout in the bottom of the fifth on a grand slam to leap ahead 4-2 with four innings to play. They tacked on another in the bottom of the sixth on a sac fly to put the deficit at three. AF responded immediately in the top of the seventh on an RBI fielder's choice from sophomore Blake Covin to make the score 5-3 into the stretch.

The Bulldogs kept the pressure up on offense in the bottom of the seventh as another homer gave them an 8-3 advantage. From there, AF went scoreless to finish off the five-run defeat.

Game Two: Fresno State 7, Air Force 1

In game two, AF was held to five hits spread between five players. The lone run came on a solo homer from junior Braydon Altorfer, his third HR of the season. Freshman Paul Skenes reached three times on a single and two walks.

On the hill, junior CJ Dornak tossed a career-best 4.1 innings in relief, notching a career-high six strikeouts. Freshman Doyle Gehring pitched a scoreless frame as well.

The first two innings went scoreless, just like game one. This time in inning three, AF loaded up the bags with two outs, but an amazing catch in center field by the Bulldogs left them loaded. Fresno State used the momentum to plate five runs in the bottom of the third to take a 5-0 lead into the fourth.

After a scoreless fourth, Fresno State plated runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth to extend the lead to 7-0 into the seventh. Dornak tossed a scoreless seventh though to complete his longest outing as a Falcon and take the game to the eighth. Gehring then entered and pitched a scoreless frame to send it to the ninth.

In the top of the ninth, Altorfer led off with a solo homer to break up the shutout. AF then went on to load up the bases, but Fresno State did not allow any more runs in the 7-1 final.

The Falcons will be back in action tomorrow, April 11, for the series finale against the Bulldogs. First pitch is set for 2:30 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.