Falcons Take First MW Series with 14-9 Victory Against Washington State

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo., - Air Force (7-13, 2-1) took game three of their first Mountain West series, 14-9, over Washington State (6-14, 1-2), winning the series on a windy Sunday afternoon at Erdle Field. The Falcon batters notched 13 hits with a trio of doubles and two long shots. The pitchers marked six strikeouts on the day.

Christian Taylor logged an impressive day at the plate, finishing 3-for-5 with a three-run double and a career-high five RBIs. The catcher, Walker Zapp went 2-for-3 marking a three-run homer. Luke Elmore batted 3-for-4 to account for a pair of RBIs, while Chase Spencer recorded two RBIs off his sole hit in the form of a home run.

On the mound, Cranz Smelcer took his second career start, finishing with one strikeout and three earned runs allowed across 1.1 innings. Gaines Estridge followed in relief, logging four full innings pitched with three strikeouts and allowed three earned runs. Across a new career-high 3.2 innings, Patrick Davidson picked up his third career win after striking out a pair of Cougars and only giving up two earned runs, leading to a Falcon victory.

Following a scoreless first inning, Washington State scored first to lead 3-0, in the top of two.

In the top of the third inning, Air Force defense went three up, three down with a pair of ground outs and a fly out to Peters.

To put the Birds on the board in the bottom of the third frame, T.J. Oster drew a walk and was brought around the bags on a shot over the left field wall by Chase Spencer, 3-2.

The Cougars answered with one unearned run to extend their lead to 4-2, in the top of the fourth.

In the bottom of the same inning, Air Force leveled the score at 4-4. With one out, Alex Adams reached on a fielding error by Washington State's shortstop, while Zach Peters followed with a single. Luke Elmore sent Adams home on a single through the right side. After a Cougar pitching change and an Elmore stolen base, Cam Anstey entered as a pinch hitter and successfully executed a sacrifice bunt squeeze to bring Peters across the plate.

WSU shifted back into the lead in the top of five with RBI extra-base hits for a 6-4 advantage.

The Falcons plated one run to trim the deficit to 6-5, in the bottom of the fifth. Lead off batter, Spencer, was hit by a pitch, went to second on a single hit by Elmore, and made it to third base on a Zapp fly out. Spencer took advantage of a wild pitch to head home.

In a back-and-forth manner, the Cougars marked an RBI ground out in the top of the sixth inning, 7-5.

For the first time in the game, Air Force took the lead, 8-7, in the bottom of six. Back-to-back free bases in the form of a hit by pitch from Peters and a walk to Elmore put two Falcons on the bags. In his first collegiate plate appearance, Cole Jenkins laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners into scoring position. With two outs, Christian Taylor flew a pitch to right center for a bases-clearing double.

The score held through the seventh, until AF recorded a big six-run bottom of the eighth. To open the inning, Jenkins doubled down the left line and Oster reached on a sacrifice bunt that sent Jenkins to third. Oster stole second and saw Spencer walk to load the bags. Taylor struck again with a two RBI double through the left side. With two Falcons still on, Zapp sent his third long shot of the season out of the park, bringing in three runs. Following a double play, Peters hit a double to left center and scored on single from Elmore.

The Cougars attempted a comeback with two runs in the top of the ninth frame, but Davidson and the Air Force defense held them for a final score of 14-9.

The Falcons will pick up more Mountain West action at San Jose State from Friday March 21-March 23, at Excite Ballpark.

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.