Air Force, UNLV face-off in crucial MW matchup

Schedule
GAME ONE: vs. UNLV, April 29, 3:00 pm MT
GAME TWO: vs. UNLV, April 30, 12:00 pm MT
GAME THREE: vs. UNLV, May 1, 12:00 pm MT

Broadcast Information
Live Stream: Mountain West Network (Jeffrey Orman)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Twitter: @AF_Baseball

Series History
-The two schools have met for 147 all-time games, with Air Force posting a 39-108 record.
-Over the last 10 overall games, Air Force is 4-6 against UNLV.
-In the Falcons last 12 games at Falcon Field versus the Rebels, Air Force is 7-5.
-Earlier this season, Air Force was swept in a three-game series in Las Vegas, having been outscored 31-16.

Pitching Probables

GAME ONE
RHP Paul Skenes (6-2, 2.90 ERA) vs. TBD

GAME TWO
RHP Doyle Gehring (1-2, 3.93 ERA) vs. TBD

GAME THREE
TBD vs. TBD

Air Force Projected Batting Order
1. 1B, So. Sam Kulasingam (S) (.389/.466/.617/6 HR/42 RBI)
2. CF, Jr. Blake Covin (L) (.285/.376/.368/1 HR/22 RBI)
3. LF, Sr. Gabriel Garcia (R) (.337/.419/.604/8 HR/45 RBI)
4. RF, So. Jake Greiving (L) (.343/.409/.597/7 HR/36 RBI)
5. DH, So. Paul Skenes (R) (.320/.407/.639/9 HR/28 RBI)
6. 3B, So. Jay Thomason (L) (.359/.436/.686/13 HR/38 RBI)
7. C, Sr. Braydon Altorfer (R) (.264/.362/.450/6 HR/28 RBI)
8. 2B, Jr. Trayden Tamiya (R) (.255/.302/.379/3 HR/25 RBI)
9. SS, So. Aerik Joe (R) (.275/.356/.320/0 HR/19 RBI)

Last Series vs. Kansas

GAME ONE
- The Air Force lineup continued its hot-hitting trend, posting 18 runs in six innings before the 10-run rule commenced the action on Tuesday to secure the Falcons 18-8 win.
-Sam Kulasingam led all players with three hits in four at-bats with two of his three hits resulting in extra bases.
-The sophomore drove in two runs with a double in the 3rd before hitting his 6th home run of the season in the 5th, a solo shot to leadoff the inning.
-Jake Greiving collected two doubles as part of a 2-3 day, managing a career-high 4 RBI as a result. -Greiving was given a RBI after a bases-loaded walk in the 1st before plating a run with a sac fly in the 3rd.
-Greiving put an exclamation on his afternoon in the 5th, rocketing a two-run double off the center field wall to bring home two runs.
-Gabriel Garcia finished 2-3, sparking the Falcons offense with a three-run triple in the 3rd.
-Jay Thomason also had two hits in five plate appearances, scoring Paul Skenes with a double into right-center in the 5th.
-Braydon Altorfer lined a double down the left field line in the 4th to give Air Force a 10-8 lead, an advantage that was never surrendered.
-Kyle Moats entered in the top of the 4th with two outs and the game tied 8-8, stranding a pair of runners after a fly out to end the frame.
-Moats proceeded to pitch 2.1 hitless innings, retiring seven of the eight batters he faced en route to picking up his first win in a Falcons uniform.

GAME TWO
-The Falcons struggled to keep pace with the Jayhawks on Wednesday, dropping the concluding game of the two-game midweek series 13-9.
-Gabriel Garcia hit the 7th and 8th home runs of his 2022 season this afternoon, marking his first-career multi-homer game.
Garcia finished the day 3-5 with 4 RBI.
-Sam Kulasingam grew his hitting streak to 16-consecutive games after a 3-6 day at the plate, including two doubles and 2 RBI.
-The sophomore has now reached base in 28-consecutive games and in 39 of 41 games this season.
-Trayden Tamiya reached base in all four of his plate appearances, going 3-3 with a double and a walk. -Aerik Joe was 2-3, while Jay Thomason drove in a run with a double in the 8th.
-Stevan Fairburn Jr. made his first start of 2022, allowing seven runs on nine hits with three strikeouts in his 3.0 innings of work.
-Ryan Stohr and Rob Martin saw a run cross in their respective 2.0 innings, while Zach Argo surrendered a grand slam in the 8th to encompass his pitching line over two innings.

The Boys are Mashing
-In the Falcons last seven games, the Air Force lineup has averaged 14.1 runs per game.
-In those seven games, Air Force has averaged 16.3 hits per game, and 7.4 XBH's per game.
-The Falcons have managed a .355 team batting average since April 19.
-With a team .304 batting average, Air Force ranks 21st among 293 Division I programs.

Friday Night Might
-After transitioning from the bullpen to the Friday starting slot, Paul Skenes has stayed true to form.
-Skenes' owns a 9.8 K/9 to lead the Falcons.
-Skenes' 54 total strikeouts is 4th in the MW.
-The sophomore's .207 opponent BA is leads the MW as well.
-Skenes leads all Air Force pitchers with 49.2 IP.
-Righties are hitting only .195 off of Skenes, with lefties owning a .230 BA.
-Skenes' 1.42 GO/FO rate is second only to Dylan Rogers (1.57) among AF pitchers.
-Skenes' 32 hits allowed is the lowest among starters in the MW.
-Skenes' 2.90 ERA is tops among MW starters.
-Air Force is 7-2 in game started by Skenes.

Oh...He Hits Too
-Skenes currently owns an eight-game hitting streak, going 14-31 (.452) in that stretch.
-In his last eight games at the plate, Skenes has hit five home runs and two doubles with 16 RBI.

Skenes Named MW Player of the Week
On April 25, Paul Skenes was named Mountain Player of the Week after his performance in five games the week before.
-Skenes was crucial to Air Force splitting a two-game road series at #10 Texas, as well as the Falcons series win over Fresno State at Falcon Field.
-Skenes finished the week 9-20 at the plate with 7 extra-base hits, 5 home runs and 15 RBI in four games. -Skenes homered in all four games at the plate, including two home runs and a career-high 7 RBI in Sunday's 15-9 win vs. Fresno State.
-The sophomore also picked up a win on the mound on April 22 versus Fresno State, totaling 6.0 IP while allowing just three runs with eight strikeouts.

Skenes Named MW Pitcher of the Week
-On April 4, Paul Skenes was named the Mountain West Pitcher of the Week after his performance over the weekend at Fresno State.
-The sophomore went six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits while striking out three and walking just one.
-The California native out-dueled Fresno State starter Ixan Henderson, who entered the weekend leading the conference in ERA (1.05 ERA) and K/9 (12.3).
-Skenes didn't see a baserunner cross second base over his six innings.
-Picking up his third win of the season on Friday, Skenes set the tone for a weekend in which Air Force claimed its first-ever series win at Fresno State in program history.

He Goes by "BOMB-ason" Now
-Jay Thomason enters Tuesday tied for the Mountain West lead in home runs (13).
-His 13 home runs are tied for the 7th-most among Division I players.
-All of Thomason's home runs this season and of his collegiate career have come this season.
-As a result, Thomason leads Air Force in OPS (1.122) and slugging (.686).
-Thomason's slugging percentage is tied for the 4th-highest in the MW.
-His 1.122 OPS is 5th-highest in the MW.
-With 38 RBI, Thomason is 3rd among Falcons in the category.
-In total, Thomason is 48-109 (.440) in his last 25 games.
-Thomason is 8-10 in stolen base attempts, 4th-most in the MW.
-Thomason is second behind Kulasingam for the team lead with 18 multi-hit games.

Sammy K, Hitting Machine
-Kulasingam's .389 average leads qualifying hitters on Air Force, as do his 68 hits.
-His batting average ranks him 42nd among all DI hitters.
-Kulasingam's 68 hits are 9th among DI hitters.
-With 18 doubles, Kulasingam ranks 10th in Division I in the category.
-The sophomore has reached base in his last 28 games, and in 39 of 41 games in 2022.
-Kulasingam currently owns a 16-game hitting streak.
-The switch-hitter's .466 OBP leads all Falcon hitters.
-Kulasingam leads AF in total bases (108).
-With nearly idential splits, Kulasingam is hitting .388 vs. righties and .391 vs. lefties.
-Kulasingam is hitting .442 with two outs, and .463 with runners on base.
-Kulasingam leads the Falcons with 19 multi-hit games.
-The sophomore leads Air Force with 13 multi-RBI games as well.

A Prototypical Three-Hole Guy
-In Gabe Garcia's first nine games, the senior hit just .167 (5-30) with one XBH.
-Over Garcia's last 32 games, he has exploded, hitting .382 (52-136) with 24 XBH's.
-That stretch includes 14 multi-hit games.
-Garcia has driven in 44 of his 45 RBI over the last 32 games, leading the team in RBI.
-Garcia is 3rd on AF in total bases (102).
-Garcia's 15 doubles are second behind Kulasingam among AF hitters.
-The C1C snapped his 19-game hitting streak on April 23, but still owns a 23-game on-base streak.

He Makes Pitchers Greive
-Sophomore Jake Greiving has boosted the Air Force lineup in his 37 games.
-Greiving saw his 19-game on-base streak and 11-game hitting streak snapped on Wednesday, but has been a force at the plate nevertheless.
-Greiving has managed at least two hits in six of his last eight games.
-That span includes five doubles and five home runs in those eight games.
-Greiving's .597 SLG% is 5th among Falcon hitters.
-His 80 total bases is 4th-most on the team.
-Greiving's .409 OBP is 4th among qualified AF hitters.
-His .343 BA is 3rd among AF hitters.

The Middle Infield is Finding a Groove
-Shortstop Aerik Joe has settled in at the plate, recording at least one hit in 15 of his last 17 games, including eight-consecutive games.
-Joe has driven in 13 of his 19 RBI over his last 17 games.
-Second baseman Trayden Tamiya has managed at least one hit in 13 of his last 14 games.
-Tamiya has raised his batting average .116 points over his last 21 games (.139-.255).
-With 8 sacrifice flies, Tamiya ranks 8th among all Division I players and leads the Mountain West.

Alt and Catch Fire
-After owning a .211 batting average as of April 14, Braydon Altorfer has found a jolt over the past eight games.
-Altorfer's batting average has been elevated to .264, going 14-31 (.452) in the last eight games.
-In his last 31 at-bats, Altorfer has managed five doubles and two home runs with 10 RBI.

After UNLV
-Following the Falcons weekend series with UNLV, Air Force will host Oral Roberts on Monday, May 2.

Air Force, UNLV face-off in crucial MW matchup

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Players Mentioned

Braydon Altorfer

Zach Argo

Blake Covin

Stevan Fairburn Jr.

Gabriel Garcia

Doyle Gehring

Jake Greiving

Aerik Joe

Sam Kulasingam

Rob Martin

Kyle Moats

Dylan Rogers

Paul Skenes

Ryan Stohr

Trayden Tamiya

Jay Thomason

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