Air Force Baseball Concludes 2025 Season

LAS VEGAS, Nev., - Air Force baseball (20-34, 12-18) closed their season after falling late to UNLV (31-22, 16-14), 9-8, in the series finale on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons collected 11 hits with a pair of doubles, a triple, and a homer while the pitchers totaled eight strikeouts.

At the dish, Christian Taylor went 1-for-3 with a two RBI double, while senior Chase Spencer notched a pair of RBIs off his seventh home run of the season. Walker Zapp, Zach Peters, Alex Adams, and T.J. Oster each brought in one run.

Ethan Dillinger took the game three start and went four full innings on the mound, marking five strikeouts and four runs allowed. The first reliever, Gunner Gilmore entered for one inning and struck out one Rebel but allowed a pair of runs. Joey Collier (1-3) tallied two strikeouts and two earned runs across two innings pitched. To close, Gaines Estridge logged a clean three up, three down frame.

The Falcons came out swinging and took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first. The two-hole batter, Zapp reached base on an error by UNLV's left fielder and made it all the way to third. Senior, Zach Peters, put the Birds on the board with his last career RBI, a double to the gap in left center, scoring Zapp. With two away, Luke Elmore drew a walk and he scored along with Peters on a Taylor triple deep down the left line. Adams closed the enabled Taylor to plate a run off a single straight up the middle.

The Rebels answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the same frame but still trailed 4-2.

The top of the second saw Air Force extend their lead to 6-2. After Ben Niednagel was issued a walk, Chase Spencer hit the 20^th and final home run of his career to help the Falcons strengthen the advantage.

In the top of three, AF shifted further ahead, 7-2. The leadoff batter, Taylor, marked a four-pitch walk and was sent across the plate on an Oster double to right center.

UNLV cut the deficit to 7-3 with one run in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Rebels inched ahead in the bottom of five with a sacrifice fly 7-4.

The Falcons responded with one run in the top of the sixth frame to hold an 8-4 advantage. Niednagel opened the inning with a single to right and advanced to second on a fielding error by the Rebel right fielder. A fly out from Spencer enabled Niednagel to take third. Zapp recorded a clutch ground out to plate the runner.

In the bottom of the same inning, UNLV shifted ahead and maintained the lead for a final score of 9-8.

Air Force concludes the 2025 season with a 20-34 mark and the seniors end their time on the field with 103 Falcon wins. The five-man class was pivotal to the success of Air Force baseball and were members of the 2022 Mountain West Tournament Championship team, the 2022 NCAA Regional Team, and helped the Birds to their first ever Mountain West Regular Season Championship title in 2024.

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Team Stats

Zach Peters

Alex Adams

Chase Spencer

Luke Elmore

Players Mentioned

Alex Adams

Joey Collier

Ethan Dillinger

Luke Elmore

Gaines Estridge

Gunner Gilmore

Ben Niednagel

T.J. Oster

Zach Peters

Chase Spencer

Christian Taylor

Walker Zapp

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