Falcons Fall to Fresno State in Senior Day Heartbreaker

USAFA, Colo. – The Air Force Academy baseball team fell in a heartbreaking regular season finale to Fresno State, 9-8, Saturday afternoon, May 29, on Senior Day at Falcon Field.

AF concludes the regular season with a 26-22 overall record. The .542 winning percentage represents the best season for the Falcons since going 28-22 (.560) in 1993. The 18-16 Mountain West record is also the best record for the Falcons in conference play history.

AF tallied 11 hits on the day, led by a two-hit, three-RBI game from 2LT Christian Gambale. Fellow 2LT Cole Blatchford added a pair of singles and runs to his ledger, while freshman Paul Skenes notched a double to tie the Academy freshman record with 77 hits and 21 doubles.

On the mound, a trio of 2LT pitchers combined to throw 3.1 innings with no earned runs allowed. Luke Chilcutt tossed 1.2 without allowing a hit, Joe Martinez III threw 0.2 scoreless, and Ben Hauser added a scoreless frame with two Ks. Junior Zach Argo tossed 2.1 scoreless innings as well, only allowing one hit.

Fresno State struck first with a three-spot in the top half, but AF had the immediate response with a four-spot of their own on bases loaded walks from junior Braydon Altorfer and senior Tommy Gillman, as well as a two-RBI single from Gambale, to make it 4-3 after one.

Following a scoreless second and third from Argo, Fresno State leapt back ahead with a two-run homer in the fourth to make it 5-4. Chilcutt came in and tossed a 1-2-3 fifth inning to maintain the score. FS battled back and got an unearned run in the top of the sixth to make it 6-4 with three innings to play.

The Bulldogs continued to plate runs in the seventh as they struck for a pair to make it 8-4. AF got the two runs back in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI fielder's choice from Skenes and a sac fly from junior Gabriel Garcia to put the deficit at two with two innings left.

Hauser entered to start the top of the eighth, and stranded runners on second and third to keep it a two-run game. AF rallied to tie the game in the eighth, as RBI singles from Gambale and freshman Aerik Joe, the latter the first hit of his career, tied the game at eight-all into the ninth. In the ninth, AF got a single from freshman Sam Kulasingam but they were unable to bring him around in the heartbreaking one-run defeat.

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