Friday, March 6
Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark | Waco, TX
5:30 p.m. MT
Air Force Academy
3-9
0
at
7
Baylor University
7-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Air Force
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
1
Baylor
0
0
0
4
0
2
0
1
X
7
11
0
Falcons Fall to Baylor in Series Opener
3/6/2026 9:30:00 PM | Baseball
WACO, Tex. – Air Force dropped the opening game of the weekend series, falling 7-0 to Baylor on Friday evening at Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark. Falcon pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts while the offense tallied four hits.
RHP Gaines Estridge (1-3) made his fourth start of the season, tossing five complete innings with five strikeouts while allowing five runs. Ethan Dillinger provided strong middle relief, throwing two scoreless innings and striking out four batters. Cranz Smelcer entered for the final inning, recording two strikeouts while allowing one run.
At the plate, Walker Zapp led the Falcons with two of the team's four hits, while Landon Boyd and Wyatt Hanoian added one apiece.
Zapp reached with a single in the top of the first with one out, but a strikeout and groundout ended the early scoring chance.
In the fourth inning, Boyd led off with a single before being caught stealing second. Hanoian followed with a single of his own, but a flyout left him stranded.
After three scoreless innings, Baylor broke through in the bottom of the fourth with four runs.
The Bears extended their lead to 6-0 in the sixth.
Baylor added its final run in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single to push the score to 7-0.
Zapp tried to spark a late rally in the ninth with a double down the left field line, but the Falcons were unable to bring him home.
Air Force returns to Magnolia Field for game two of the series against Baylor at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 7.
RHP Gaines Estridge (1-3) made his fourth start of the season, tossing five complete innings with five strikeouts while allowing five runs. Ethan Dillinger provided strong middle relief, throwing two scoreless innings and striking out four batters. Cranz Smelcer entered for the final inning, recording two strikeouts while allowing one run.
At the plate, Walker Zapp led the Falcons with two of the team's four hits, while Landon Boyd and Wyatt Hanoian added one apiece.
Zapp reached with a single in the top of the first with one out, but a strikeout and groundout ended the early scoring chance.
In the fourth inning, Boyd led off with a single before being caught stealing second. Hanoian followed with a single of his own, but a flyout left him stranded.
After three scoreless innings, Baylor broke through in the bottom of the fourth with four runs.
The Bears extended their lead to 6-0 in the sixth.
Baylor added its final run in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single to push the score to 7-0.
Zapp tried to spark a late rally in the ninth with a double down the left field line, but the Falcons were unable to bring him home.
Air Force returns to Magnolia Field for game two of the series against Baylor at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 7.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ruais, RJ (1-1)
L: Estridge, Gaines (1-3)
Batting:
2B: Zapp, Walker 1
Base Running:
SB: Campbell, Blake 1
CS: Boyd, Landon 1
HBP: Bradshaw, Kayden 1
Batting:
2B: Sanders, Travis 2 ; Janusek, Brady 1
3B: Snow, Hunter 1 ; Johnson, Ty 1
RBI: Clements, Brytton 1 ; Dodson, Cade 1 ; Janusek, Brady 1 ; Snow, Hunter 1 ; Johnson, Ty 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sanders, Travis 1 ; Janusek, Brady 2 ; Armstrong, Tyce 1 ; Snow, Hunter 1 ; Johnson, Ty 2
SB: Johnson, Ty 1
CS: Sanders, Travis 1 ; Janusek, Brady 1
HBP: Dodson, Cade 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
1
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
C
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballIF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
C
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