Falcons Soar Past Dayton in 13-3 Run-Rule Win

DAYTON, Ohio., - The Falcons (9-16) soared past Dayton (11-16) in a 13-3 run-rule victory, on Wednesday afternoon at AES Ohio Stadium. The Air Force batters tallied nine hits, nine RBIs, and one home run, while the pitchers combined for six strikeouts and only allowed two earned runs off six hits.

At the plate, Luke Elmore batted 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and one run scored. Tripp Garrish hit his fourth homer of the season, logged two RBIs, and scored a pair of runs. The other Falcon to finish with two RBIs was T.J. Oster.

Josh Shropshire took his first collegiate start on the bump, striking out three Flyers and allowing one run off two hits across 2.1 innings. Freshman Marcus Downing took over in relief for two full innings and gave up one earned run. The winning pitcher, Sam Hentges, picks up his second career win for a record of 2-0. He matched his season high strikeouts with three and allowed only one hit. Charlie Russell closed for the Birds, giving up no runs and a single hit in one inning.

The bottom of the first was a three up, three down frame for the Falcons, highlighted by a pair of Shropshire strikeouts and a ground out.

For an early 2-0 lead, Air Force scored a pair in the top of the second. Opening the inning in an exciting manner, Garrish sent a pitch out of the park for a solo shot to put the Birds on the board. Alex Adams drew a walk and advanced to second on a Elmore single. With two outs, both base runners stole a bag to put themselves into scoring position. To plate one run, Adams took advantage of a wild pitch.

In the top of the third, the Falcons added one to the score, 3-0. With two outs, back-to-back free passes were issued to Walker Zapp and Garrish. On a Garrish rundown, Zapp moved from second all the way home.

Downing utilized his defense for a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth with a pair of pop ups and a line out to hold the Flyers.

Dayton leveled the board at 3-3, in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Birds posted an exciting top of the sixth, scoring nine runs, the most Air Force has scored in a single inning this season, 12-3. The inning opened with consecutive singles by Zach Peters and Adams along with a hit Elmore to juice the bases. With a sacrifice squeeze from Ben Niednagel that turned into an error on Dayton's catcher, Peters was able to score. A pair of bases-loaded singles hit by Oster and Chase Spencer added three for the Falcons. To reload the bags, Christian Taylor reached on a fielder's choice just in time for Zapp to walk in a run. The following batter, Garrish, walked as well and Peters earned an RBI after being hit by a pitch. With two outs, Elmore singled to center field, enabling the final pair of runners to cross the plate.

Hentges caught two Flyers swinging, while Zapp combined with Oster at second base to catch a runner stealing to protect the lead in the bottom of the sixth frame.

The top of seven saw AF cross into mercy rule territory, 13-3. Spencer drew a one-out walk, took second on a Taylor single, and shifted to third on an error by the Flyers' left fielder. To finalize the score, Spencer scored on an error by Dayton's catcher.

Up next, the Falcons will play New Mexico in their third Mountain West series of the season. Game one is slated for Friday March 28 at 6 p.m. MT.

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