USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – With Utah Valley holding to a 15-14 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, Air Force's Ashton Easley managed to belt out a two-run walk-off homer to straight away centerfield to propel the Falcons to a 16-15 slugfest over UVU in the first game of a two-game midweek series on Monday afternoon at Falcon Field.
The Wolverines (7-24) scored 11 runs over the final four innings to overcome a 14-6 deficit and hold a 15-14 lead into the ninth. But following a leadoff single from Drew Wiss, AFA's Easley managed to erase UVU's late lead with the ninth-inning walk-off homer to give the Mountain West Falcons (14-15) the non-conference victory.
The two teams combined to score 31 runs, slug out 28 hits, hand out a total of 23 free passes, and commit seven combined errors in the non-conference midweek contest.
The Wolverines were the first to get things going by scoring four runs in the third all without a hit to take a 4-0 lead. UVU quickly loaded the bases after back-to-back-to-back walks. After a wild pitch brought home
Trevor Howell for the first run of the frame,
Alexander Marco then drew another walk to again load the bases. With one out,
Mick Madsen then reached on an error that brought in
Michael Beltran to make it 2-0.
Pacen Hayes and
Jake Kirchhoff then followed by reaching on the fifth and sixth walks of the inning to bring in
Ryan Eastburn and Marco and give the Wolverines the early four-run cushion.
The Falcons then responded with an unearned run in the bottom of the third to make it 4-1 and followed with an eight-run fifth to take a 9-4 lead. Drew Wiss and Nic Ready both had RBI triples in the big inning for Air Force while Tommy Gillman and Colby Brown each added RBI singles. Up 6-4 with runners on first and second, Braydon Altorfer delivered the big blow with a three-run home run to straight away centerfield to give the Falcons a 9-4 advantage.
UVU then responded with two runs in the top of the sixth to make it a 9-6 ballgame. After
Kody Hall reached on an error and stole second, Eastburn then reached on a walk to put two on with just one out. After a balk call advanced both runners into scoring position, Marco then promptly delivered a two-run single up the middle to pull the Wolverines within three runs.
Air Force then responded with five more runs in the last of the sixth to take a 14-6 advantage. With two outs and the bases loaded, AFA drove in a pair of unearned runs on a throwing miscue to make it 11-6. Air Force then followed with a two-run double off the bat of Cole Blatchford followed by an RBI double from Altorfer to give the Falcons the eight-run cushion.
Utah Valley then struck back with a crooked number of its own in the top of the seventh by scoring seven runs to make it 14-13 contest. With runners on first and second, Howell started the scoring in the big inning with an RBI single to bring home Kirchhoff. After a single from Hall loaded the bases, Beltran then followed with a two-run single down the leftfield line to make it 14-10. Following back-to-back outs, UVU then continued the scoring with an RBI single from Madsen followed by a three-run home run off the bat of Hayes to make it a one run game. Hayes' big fly to deep left marked his fifth of the season and his fifth in the team's last six ballgames.
After UVU reliever
Kevin McConnell struck out the side in the last of the seventh, Utah Valley's offense kept things going in the top of the eighth via a two-out rally to take a 15-14 advantage. Following walks by Beltran and Marco as well as a single from Eastburn, the freshman Madsen then delivered the clutch hit with a two-out two-run go-ahead double to right to give the Wolverines the lead. The go-ahead double scored both Beltran and Eastburn.
With one on and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, UVU closer
Jesse Schmit then came on and Air Force's Ready managed to belt out the winning home run.
AFA's Nathan Price earned the win in relief to improve to 4-2 while UVU's Schmit was tagged with the loss to drop to 2-4.
A total of four Wolverines finished with multiple-hit outings on the day led by two hits and four runs batted in from both Madsen and Hayes. Beltran and Marco each added two hits and drove in a pair of runs apiece for UVU while Kirchhoff walked five times, as the Wolverines managed to erase a 14-6 deficit by scoring 11 runs over the final four innings on their way to pulling out the non-conference contest. The five walks drawn by Kirchhoff is a new Utah Valley single-game school record.
Altorfer paced the Falcons offensively by going 3-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored.
The contest marked UVU and AFA's 17th all-time meeting but just the fourth all-time contest played at Falcon Field in USAF Academy, Colorado.
The Wolverines and Falcons will conclude the two-game midweek series on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Falcon Field. Following Tuesday's contest, UVU will return home to host Chicago State for a three-game league series beginning Friday, April 12 at 6 p.m. at UCCU Ballpark.
