'Dogs survive marathon contest at AF

Saturday, April 23

USAFA, CO

1 P.M. PT

Fresno State

20-19, 0

Air Force

17-21, 0

Fresno State

Air Force

Photo by: Musashi Sukeda

'Dogs survive marathon contest at AF

4/23/2022 6:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Travis Blanshan / Assistant Director of Strategic Communications

USAFA, Colo. - The Diamond 'Dogs survived the chilly and windy elements of Falcon Field on Saturday afternoon to defeat Air Force, 14-12 and even the series at one game apiece.

After being held down offensively on Friday, Fresno State (20-19, 10-7 MW) rebounded on Saturday belting 19 hits in the contest with all nine starters recording at least one base knock.

Zach Morgan went a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate and also reached base on a walk and hit by pitch while adding two RBI and scored three runs.

Andrew Kachel and Vinny Bologna each tallied three hits apiece with Bologna smacking his sixth home run of the season and Travis Welker joined Morgan scoring three runs.

On the mound, Roman Angelo made the start tossing two innings before giving way to Nikoh Mitchell who went a season-best three innings to earn his second win of 2022.

Tommy Hopfe, Trevor Garcia, Robbie Peters and Cooper Bergman each tossed one apiece to close out the final four frames with Bergman picking up his fourth save.

How It Happened
The Bulldogs wasted little time getting started scoring with a two-run home run by Bologna to left in the first. The Falcons answered back with a five-run bottom of the frame recording three RBI doubles, an RBI single and an RBI groundout.

Kachel cut Air Force's lead to two with an RBI double in the second, but the Falcons extended their lead to four with a two-run home run by Paul Skenes.

A six-run third inning gave the 'Dogs their first lead of the series at 9-7 as the Bulldogs collected six hits in the inning that included a trio of RBI doubles from Morgan, Ivan Luna and Bologna.

The Bulldogs extended their lead to 12-7 in the fifth with a two-run double by Hopfe followed by an RBI single by Payton Allen.

Air Force answered back with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly to cut the 'Dogs lead down to three and the Falcons looked to close the gap loading the bases in both the sixth and seventh, but Hopfe and Garcia were able to work around both situations without allowing a run.

Two more runs came home in the eighth for Fresno State to push the 'Dogs lead back to five at 14-9. An RBI triple by Welker down the right field line scored Josh Lauck and Kachel knocked him home with a single to right.

Those two key insurance runs proved mighty important as Air Force scored three runs over the final two innings adding one in the eighth and two more in the ninth, but Bergman was able to induce a groundout to first to seal the win.

Up next
The 'Dogs and Falcons wrap up the series on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. PT.

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