Trio of Falcons earn Preseason All-Mountain West recognition

On Thursday, the Mountain West Conference released its preseason All-Conference team, as Doyle Gehring, Sam Kulasingam, and Jay Thomason were among the players chosen following superlative 2022 campaigns.

Gehring, who began his sophomore season as the Falcons closer before transitioning to a starting role, was vital to Air Force's postseason run a season ago. Having recorded six saves prior to his insertion into the Falcons starting rotation, Gehring finished his sophomore season with a 4.36 ERA over 64.0 IP while producing 9.3 K/9. When his team needed him most, the Oklahoman allowed just one earned run in 14.1 postseason innings (0.62 ERA) to go with 20 strikeouts in those two starts. Gehring will slide into the Friday ace role for Air Force. The Falcons managed a record of 14-9 in games in which Gehring appeared a season ago.

Kulasingam, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year, was the first Air Force player to receive the honor in program history. Kulasingam's 109 hits in 2022 were the most-ever by an Air Force player in a single season, as were his games played (61) and at-bats (265). Kulasingam also produced the second-most doubles (26) in a single season in the history of Air Force baseball. His .411 batting average led the Mountain West Conference, and was second in Division I only to Georgia Tech's Chandler Simpson. The C2C's 181 total bases were also a program record, and seventh-most in Division I. Kulasingam recorded a .797 slugging percentage in 30 Mountain West games, the highest mark by a Falcon since Air Force joined the conference in 2000.

Thomason broke out as the Falcons starting third baseman a season ago, and was one of four players to appear in at least 60 games in 2022. The Alabaman led the Falcons with 16 home runs last season, second only to New Mexico slugger Lenny Junior Ashby (17). Thomason's 12 home runs within Mountain West play tied him with Nic Ready for the most in program history. Thomason was one of only 12 players in the Mountain West with an OPS north of 1.000 (1.028), while also having tied for the team lead with 10 stolen bases. Thomason became one of only nine players in program history to manage at least 85 hits in a single season, while his 149 total bases in 2022 were the eighth-most by a player in the history of Air Force baseball.

Air Force, San José State and UNLV each had three preseason All-Mountain West Selections, tying for the most in the league.

In addition, UNLV was selected by the coaches of the conference as the preseason favorite to win the league, receiving four first-place votes. Air Force was selected to finish fifth while not receiving a first-place vote.

The Predicted Order of Finish and the entirety of the preseason All-Mountain West team can be found below.

Predicted Order of Finish
PLACE	SCHOOL (FIRST-PLACE VOTES)	POINTS
1.	UNLV (4)	33
2.	San José State (2)	27
3.	San Diego State	25
4.	Fresno State (1)	24
5.	Air Force	21
6.	Nevada	10
7.	New Mexico	7

Preseason All-MW
POSITION	PLAYER	SCHOOL
P	Doyle Gehring	Air Force
INF	Sam Kulasingam	Air Force
INF	Jay Thomason	Air Force
P	Ixan Henderson	Fresno State
P	Kade Morris	Nevada
OF	Lenny Junior Ashby	New Mexico
OF	Cole Carrigg	San Diego State
INF	Hunter Dorraugh	San José State
P	Darren Jansen	San José State
INF	Charles McAdoo	San José State
OF	Rylan Charles	UNLV
OF	Austin Kryszczuk	UNLV
INF	Edarian Williams	UNLV