Air Force Academy

Falcons Host Northern Colorado In Tuesday Doubleheader
The Air Force baseball team (5-26) hosts Northern Colorado (11-25) for a noon doubleheader this Tuesday, April 19, at Falcon Field. Live stats will be available for both games at www.AirForceSports.com.

The Falcons
Air Force is 5-26 on the season and 0-12 in Mountain West Conference play. The Falcons were swept in a three game set against New Mexico in Albuquerque. On Friday, the Falcons lost 7-4. After getting rained out on Saturday night, the Falcons lost 18-7 and 12-6 in a Sunday doubleheader to the Lobos.

The Falcons are batting .269 as a team. Sophomore Karl Bolt headlines the AFA offense with a .356 average and eight home runs and an .488 on base percentage. The Air Force pitching staff has a 11.86 earned run average, led by junior righty Paul Pratt, who is 2-7 with 31 strikeouts in 47.1 innings pitched.

Head Coach Mike Hutcheon
Mike Hutcheon begins his second year as the head coach of the Falcons. Prior to his stint at the Academy, Hutcheon spent the last four years at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Ind. and compiled a record of 130-78 during his tenure there. In 2002, Hutcheon was named the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA) National Coach of the year after leading Bethel to the 2002 NCCAA national title. Prior to his stay at Bethel, Hutcheon coached at Belhaven College in Jackson, Miss., for five seasons where he went 109-62. Through ten seasons as a head coach, Hutcheon has compiled a 250-212 record and is 11-72 at Air Force.

Scouting Northern Colorado
The Bears of Northern Colorado, located in Greeley, enter the week with a 11-25 record. Kevin Smallcomb is 74-69 in his third year as the head coach for UNC. The Bears are batting .261 as a team, led by Colorado Springs native Phil Delich, who is batting .299 with two home runs and 28 RBI. The UNC pitching staff has an earned run average of 8.25 and are led by sophomore right-hander Tyler Pearson, who is 4-1 with 32 K's in 43.0 innings pitched.

AFA-Opponent History/Notes/Etc.
The Falcons and Bears are the lone two Div. I programs in Colorado...UNC leads the all-time series 76-47...The teams have played four times already this year, with UNC having won 3-of-4...last year, the two teams met 8 times, with UNC winning 7 of the contests...The Falcons have three players on their roster from Colorado (Kasel, Oakley, Tittle)...Phil Delich's father, Chuck Delich, was the head coach for Air Force's Hockey program from 1986-97...AFA's Brent Tittle and UNC's John Ray both attended Monarch HS in Louisville.

AFA-UNC: The Last Meeting
The Air Force baseball team (5-17) split a doubleheader at Northern Colorado (7-21) Tuesday afternoon at Jackson Ballpark. The Falcons took game one, 6-3, and the Bears won the second game, 15-6.

In the opening game, the Falcons jumped out an early 5-0 lead and hung on to win 6-3. Air Force cranked out seven hits in the first two innings to build the big lead.

In the first inning of game one, Karl Bolt doubled to knock-in Geno Salazar from second. Dustin Smith then grounded out to score Matt Ghigna from third to go ahead 2-0.

The Falcons scored all three of their runs with two outs in the second inning to jump out to the big 5-0 lead. Reid Lamson doubled to left-center to score Dale Kasel, who doubled earlier in the inning. Lamson then came around to score, along with Salazar, on Ghigna's single to left.

Bolt then singled up the middle to knock UNC starter Craig Ayers out of the game with two outs in the second. Ayers (0-7) was tagged for five runs on seven hits in 1.2 innings of work.

Northern Colorado came back with two runs in the third off Mitch Brown to make it a 5-2 game. UNC then scored a run in the fourth to climb to within two runs. Kyle DePierre, who relieved Brown in the fourth, pitched a scoreless fifth and gave way to closer Sam Rosener, who pitched two scoreless innings for his second save of the season.

The Falcons added an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Price Paramore singled to right to drive in Troy Jeffers, who came into pinch run for Bolt, who doubled to right to lead off the inning.

Air Force had 12 hits in the game, led by Bolt and Ghigna. Bolt went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and Ghigna was 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.

Falcon starter Paul Pratt (2-5), who was predetermined to only go two innings, earned his second win of the season, holding the Bears to two hits in a scoreless two innings of work.

In game two, an eight run sixth inning helped UNC to a 15-6 win. The Bears also had 17 hits while the Falcons self-destructed defensively with five errors.

The Falcons led early-on 1-0 after the first inning, but UNC rallied with two runs in the second. After Air Force tied the game up in the third on Karl Bolt's seventh homer of the season. Again, the Bears answered right back in the bottom of the inning with three runs off John Meyers (0-2) to retake the lead at 5-2.

Dustin Smith hit his second-career homer with a solo blast in the fifth to make it a 5-3 game. UNC scored two in the bottom of the fifth to make it 7-3.

Northern Colorado then put the game out of reach with eight runs in the sixth inning to jump ahead 15-3. The Falcons made it 15-6 with Troy Jeffers clearing the bases with a bases-loaded triple in the top of the seventh.

AFA had 10 hits in the game with Smith collecting three and Bolt and Jeffers with two hits apiece. John Meyers took the loss in relief. Falcon starter Jeff Tetrault went two innings, allowing two runs on two hits. Mike Garrison, Price Paramore and Andrew Goss also saw action in relief.

Hitting/Offensive Notes
The Falcons batted .269 in the New Mexico series...Reid Lamson extended his hitting streak to nine games with base hits in all three games...Lamson also leads the Mountain West with 14 stolen bases...Bolt leads the MWC with a .488 on base percentage...Bolt had four RBI vs. UNM...Lamson scored five runs vs. UNM and stole two bases...Price Paramore went 3-for-4 on Friday...Jon Polston had a pair of hits vs. UNM...Lamson and Bolt both batted .417 (5-for-12) vs. UNM...Nathan DeRohan hit his fifth homer of the season vs. New Mexico...Troy Jeffers tied a career-high with three RBI in the second game of the series vs. UNM.

Pitching Notes
The Falcons pitched staff had a 13.12 ERA for the New Mexico series...Kyle DePierre was the Falcons most effective pitcher, holding UNM to two runs in 5.1 innings of relief in two games (3.38 ERA) and striking out four...Travis Fugler and Andrew Goss made their first starts in more than a month...Sam Rosener ranks third in the conference with 10 games closed for the Falcons.

Fielding Notes
The Falcons fielded .955 over the weekend, committing five errors, which was three less than the weekend before...catcher Jon Polston leads the conference with 14 runners thrown out...The Falcons turned three double plays in the series...Karl Bolt had 20 putouts over the weekend...Geno Salazar had 11 assists...Polston has thrown out 50 percent (6-of-12) of base runners attempting to steal on him in conference play.

Probable Starters
Pos. Player (Yr./BA/HR/RBI/SB)
1B Karl Bolt (So./.358/8/25/2) Drove in four runs in two games on Sunday vs. UNM
2B Troy Jeffers (Fr./.248/0/15/2) Drove in three runs on Sunday vs. UNM
SS Geno Salazar (So./.276/2/13/1) Has started last five games at shortop
3B Nathan DeRohan (Sr./.247/5/14/2) Drilled fifth homer of the season vs. New Mexico
LF Price Paramore (Jr./.264/0/9/6) Leads team with .387 average in conference games
CF Reid Lamson (Sr./.336/1/13/14) Leads conference with 14 stolen bases
RF Matt Ghigna (Fr./.283/1/20/7) Second on team with 20 RBI
C Jon Polston (So./.241/1/2/3) Has started 20 games at catcher
DH Dustin Smith (Jr./.308/1/11/1) Steady offensive numbers when healthy enough to play
Pos. Player (Yr./W-L/IP/BB/K)
P Paul Pratt (Jr./2-7/47.1/18/31) Leads team in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts
CL Sam Rosener (Fr./1-1/24.2/12/17) Freshman leads team with two saves

Bolt Named to Service Academies All-Tournament Team
Sophomore first baseman Karl Bolt was named to the 2005 Service Academies Spring Classic All-Tournament Team for his efforts this past weekend. Bolt led the Falcons by batting .375 over the weekend hitting two home runs at USA Stadium in Millington, Tenn.

Bolt, Pratt Sweep MWC Player & Pitcher of the Week Honors
Karl Bolt and Paul Pratt were named MWC Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively on Feb. 7. Bolt was 6-for-13 (.462) with a pair of home runs, 4 runs scored and 6 RBI in a 4-game series vs. Southern Utah. Pratt, from Tooele, Utah, tossed a complete-game 5-hitter in Air Force's opening game vs. Southern Utah, giving the Falcons an 8-2 victory. In his first appearance since serving a two-year mission, he struck out 7 batters, while allowing 2 earned runs and 2 walks.

Up Next: San Diego State
The Falcons travel to San Diego, Calif., from April. 22-24, to take on San Diego State. The Falcons and Aztecs were only able to play one and a half innings in a series that was cancelled due to snow at the Academy from March 24-26.

Falcons Announce 2005 Radio Schedule
Eight regular-season games, plus the Mountain West Conference Tournament will be broadcast in Colorado Springs on The Sports Animal AM 1300. Jay Ritchie, in his eighth season of Air Force baseball, will do the play-by-play. Dave Toller will handle the color commentary. The pregame show begins 20 minutes before the first pitch.

Telephone: The radio broadcast can also be heard on TeamLine by dialing 1-800-846-4700. The team access code is 0671. The service is available on subscription basis only.

Internet: The broadcast can also be heard on the internet at www.AirForceSports.com. The service is on a subscription basis only by clicking on the "Bolt Action" box on the front page.

2005 Air Force Baseball Broadcast Schedule (The Sports Animal AM 1300)
Date Opponent Game Time
Sat. April 30 BYU 1 p.m.
Sat. May 7 UNLV 1 p.m.
Sun. May 8 UNLV Noon
Sat. May 21 New Mexico Noon
Wed.-Sat. May 25-28 MWC Tournament TBA

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