Falcons Take Both Games of Saturday Doubleheader With Portland

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – Air Force baseball swept a doubleheader with Portland Saturday  at Falcon Field.  The Falcons took game one, 8-3, and game two 9-4.  The Falcons, who have won three in a row, and four of their last five, improve to 10-10 on the season.

Portland falls to 8-9.

In game one, Sean Carley (2-2) gave the Falcons eight solid innings to pick up his second-straight win.  Carley struck out six and scattered nine hits.  After allowing runs in the second, third and fourth innings, Carley settled down and tossed four consecutive scoreless innings.

Trailing 3-0, Air Force rallied with two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead.  The Falcons tacked on three more in the seventh and one in the eighth.

The Falcons had 13 hits in the game.  Blair Roberts and Vai Schierholtz led the way for the Falcons offensively.  Schierholtz went 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs.  Roberts went 3-for-5 with a run and two RBIs.  Parker Mayo added two hits as well.

Portland starter Owen Jones (1-2) took the loss, allowing five runs in six innings pitched, striking out five.  The Pilots had 10 hits in the game.  Gill Turner led Portland by going 4-for-4 with a run and RBI.

In game two, home runs by Matt Thorne, Garrett Custons and Alex Bast helped lift Air Force to the 9-4 win.

Starter Ben Bertelson (1-2) pitched a career-high six innings to earn his first win of the season.  Luke Dorlac followed with three scoreless innings of relief for his first-career save.

Trailing 3-2, the Falcons put up two runs in the fifth inning to take the lead.  Back-to-back RBI singles by Seth Kline and Mayo put AFA ahead.

After Portland tied it up 4-4 in the top of the sixth, the Falcons hit back-to-back homers to jump ahead 7-4.  Thorne connected on a two-run homer to left–the first of his career–to put the Falcons ahead 6-4.  Custons followed by launching a solo shot over the fence in left-center to make it 7-4.

Bast then homered in the seventh to make it 8-4.

Air Force had 13 hits in the game.  Custons led the way, going 3-for-4 with two runs.  Bast, Schierholtz and Thorne had two hits each.  Thorne also had three RBIs.

Portland starting pitcher Kyle Krause (2-1) took the loss, allowing seven runs in 5.2 innings pitched.  The Pilots had 11 hits in the game.  Craig Smith, Tyler Thompson, Garrett Queen and Kris Kauppila had two hits each.

The Falcons and Pilots wrap up the four-game series tomorrow.  First pitch is 12 p.m.