AF Splits Mountain West Series with Washington State

PUEBLO, Colo., - Air Force baseball (6-13, 1-1) split the series with Washington State (6-13, 1-1), after falling 10-4 at Rawlings Field on Saturday afternoon. The batters collected nine hits across the nine innings, with one home run and a double. The Falcon pitchers combined for a season second-best 12 strikeouts.

At the dish, Landon Boyd finished 2-for-4 and recorded a three-run homer for the only three RBIs of the game. Zach Peters batted 2-for-4 with one run scored.

The starting pitcher, Easton Miller (0-3) finished with 1.2 innings pitched after striking out one batter and allowing three earned runs. Bowen Brantingham followed in relief, throwing four full innings with four strikeouts and one earned run. Across two innings, Ethan Dillinger struck out a trio of Cougars, but allowed four runs to cross the plate. Gunner Gilmore closed for AF, throwing the final 1.1 innings and shut down WSU with four strikeouts and gave up no runs or hits.

After a scoreless top of the first, Air Force jumped on the board to lead 1-0, in the bottom of one. Christian Taylor marked a first-pitch single down the right line, went to second on a balk, and advanced to third on a grounder from Walker Zapp. With two outs, Taylor took advantage of a wild pitch to score.

Washington State responded with four runs off two hits and a pair of errors to shift into the lead at 4-1, in the top of the second frame.

Extending the lead to 5-1 in the top of the third, WSU scored with a solo homer.

The Air Force defense held the Cougars to no runs with a Brantingham strikeout, a ground out T.J. Oster, and a fly out to Chase Spencer in center field, in the top half of the fourth frame.

In the bottom of four, the Falcons retaliated to make it a one-run game, 5-4. Back-to-back singles from Tripp Garrish and Alex Adams put two runners on the bags. The following play was a fielder's choice that allowed Zach Peters to reach but saw Garrish thrown out at third. With two outs, Landon Boyd sent his first home run of the season out of the park to plate a trio of runs.

The Cougars added an unearned run on a ground out in the top of the fifth inning, 6-4.

Following no action at the plate in the sixth, Washington State put two more runs on the board in the top of the seventh frame for an 8-4 advantage.

In the top of eight, WSU sent their final pair of runs home for the final 10-4 score.

Gilmore caught three Cougars looking in the top of the ninth frame.

The two teams will close out the series in a rubber match at Erdle Field on Sunday March 16^th. First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m. MT.

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