Air Force comes back to down Jacks

Tuesday, March 6

USAF Academy, Colo.

3 p.m.

South Dakota State University

2-9

Air Force

3-8

South Dakota State

Air Force

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

3/6/2018 7:28:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Air Force overcame a six-run deficit, rallying for five runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth, to defeat South Dakota State, 8-7, in nonconference baseball action Tuesday afternoon at Falcon Field.

The Falcons, who were playing their home opener, improved to 3-8 overall. SDSU dropped to 2-9 as it began the third leg of a nine-game, four-city road trip.

Trailing 7-1, the first eight Air Force batters of the seventh inning reached safely against three different Jackrabbit pitchers. Rob Dau plated the first run of the five-run frame with a double and Nic Ready followed with a run-scoring single. After the next batters reached via a hit by pitch and walk to load the bases, pinch-hitter Tyler Ward drew a base on balls to force in a run.

The Falcons then drew to within a run at 7-6 on a run-scoring single by Colby Brown and ensuing groundout off the bat of Drew Wiss. Brown, who singled in the first run of the game in the third inning, was one of four Air Force players with two hits.

Ready, who was 2-for-4 with three runs batted in, gave the Falcons the lead in the eighth by launching a 3-0 pitch from Mitchell Oehme over the fence in left-center for a two-run home run.

Air Force reliever Josh Leaser pitched two shutout frames to earn the victory.

SDSU sent 10 men to the plate in a six-run fourth inning. Newt Johnson opened the inning with a double and scored when Kolton Michalski was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Gus Steiger followed by bouncing a single up the middle that plated two runs and Tony Kjolsing added a sacrifice fly before Josh Falk crushed a two-run homer to left. It was Falk's first home run as a Jackrabbit.

Falk made the score 7-1 in favor of the Jacks with a single to right in the sixth that plated Kjolsing, who doubled with one out.

Jackrabbit starter Korey Kuhlmann limited Air Force to one run until running into trouble to begin the seventh. Kuhlmann struck out three, did not walk a batter and surrendered four runs on seven hits in six-plus innings.

The Falcons' Nick Biancalana kept Air Force in the game by striking out six over four innings of work.

SDSU held a 13-11 advantage in hits and was led by Steiger's 3-for-5 effort at the plate. Falk, Josh Kutzke and Philip Jacobson each tallied a pair of hits.

UP NEXT
SDSU and Air Force are scheduled to play the final game of their two-game series at 2 p.m. Mountain Time (3 p.m. Central) on Wednesday at Falcon Field.

NOTES
• Air Force leads the all-time series, 10-5
• Tuesday's game marked the first meeting between the two squads since 2014
• SDSU's six-run fourth inning was its most runs scored in any inning this season
• Falk extended his hitting streak to a team-best seven games and recorded his team-leading fourth multi-hit game of the season
• Falk became the fifth Jackrabbit to hit a home run in 2018
• Kjolsing has reached base safely in 25 consecutive games dating back to last season
• Kuhlmann has not issued a walk and has recorded nine strikeouts in a team-best 15.1 innings pitched so far this season

-GoJacks.com-