May 5, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Air Force (14-31, 3-12) vs. San Diego State (31-18, 10-8)
Schedule
Friday, May 8 - 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 9 - 1 p.m.
Sunday, May 10 - 1 p.m.
- Series at Tony Gwynn Stadium - San Diego, Calif.
Live Stats/Radio:
Radio and Live Stats available at goAztecs.com.
The Coaches:
AF: Mike Hutcheon (Wayne State (Neb.), 1984) is 65-239 in his 6th year at Air Force and 304-379 in his 15th year as a head coach.
San Diego State: Tony Gwynn (SDSU) is 204-208 in his seventh year at SDSU .
Series:
SDSU leads, 74-15.
Last Meeting:
Lost a three game set at the Academy in 2008.
Last Time Out:
Air Force: Went 0-5 last week in games vs. Northern Colorado and Utah.
SDSU: Went 3-1 at Santa Clara last weekend.
Falcons Travel To San Diego State
The Air Force baseball team makes its final road trip of the season, traveling to San Diego State, May 8-10. Internet radio and live stats will be available for the series.
Scouting The Falcons
Air Force enters the weekend with a 14-31 overall record. The Falcons went 0-5 last week, dropping a pair of mid-week games with Northern Colorado and getting swept at home by Utah. The Falcons are led offensively by junior DH/1B Matt Alexander, who is batting .408 with a MWC leading 15 homers and 62 RBIs. Junior RHP Alex Truesdale anchors the pitching staff and has a 2-7 record in 54.1 innings pitched, to go with 40 strikeouts.
Scouting San Diego State
San Diego State enters the weekend with a 31-18 record after going 3-1 at Santa Clara. The Aztecs are led offensively by sophomore outfielder Cory Vaughn, who is batting .337 with 10 homers and 44 RBIs. Vaughn is the son of former MLB standout Greg Vaughn. SDSU's top pitcher is junior RHP Stephen Strasburg, regarded by many as the top pitcher in all of college baseball. Strasburg is 11-0 with a 1.38 ERA. He leads the nation with 147 strikeouts in 78.1 innings pitched. San Diego State is batting .283, fielding .974 and has a team ERA of 4.01.
Series History
- Air Force and San Diego State have played each other 89 times.
- The Aztecs lead the series 74-15.
- San Diego State has won 25 straight games in the series.
- Air Force's last win over San Diego State came on April 26, 2003, a 3-0 win at the Academy.
- The two teams first met on April 1, 1961, where the Aztecs won, 6-3.
AF-SDSU Connections
- Air Force has seven players on its roster from California, the most of any state.
- SDSU freshman RHP Matt Skipper (Arvada - Ralston Valley HS) is the lone Aztec from Colorado.
Alexander Leads MWC In Several Categories
Air Force junior designated hitter Matt Alexander leads the Mountain West Conference in several categories.
Category # MWC Rank
Home runs 15 1
RBIs 62 1
SLG .764 1
Total Bases 145 1
Alexander Moving Up AF Record Lists
Alexander has moved into several Air Force top 10 lists for hitting. In addition to cracking the single-season records, Alexander is just outside several AF all-time records in hits, homers, RBIs and doubles.
Category # AF Season Rank
Home runs 15 7th
RBIs 62 5th
Hits 78 6th
Falcon Offense Significantly improved
After 45 games, Air Force is having its best season offensively in coach Mike Hutcheon's six years. The Falcons are averaging 1.20 homers per game, the highest total since the 2003 team averaged 1.17 per game.
Air Force Offensive numbers the last five years
Year Avg. HR/PG SLG. RPG
`09 .304 1.20 .480 7.1
`08 .275 0.61 .424 6.0
`07 .272 0.44 .379 4.6
`06 .249 0.67 .375 4.4
`05 .279 0.96 .441 6.1
Still A Young Team
Despite returning eight starters in the field and two of its three weekend starters from the 2008 team, Air Force is still a relatively young team. Of its ten starters with 115+ at bats, five are underclassmen and five are juniors. All four of Air Force's seniors are pitchers. Conversely, Air Force's freshmen have pitched the most innings of any class.
Percentage of starts by grade
Hitters Pitchers % of IP
Seniors 0% 33% 28%
Juniors 46% 19% 24%
Sophomores 29% 8% 10%
Freshmen 25% 40% 38%
Top Home Run Hitting Team In MWC
Air Force leads the Mountain West Conference with 54 home runs. The Falcons have hit 24 homers over their last 12 games. The 54 homers are the most by AF since the 2003 team hit 63 homers.
Recent Home Run Surge For Ausbun
Air Force junior Ben Ausbun hit his first-career home run in his 100th career game. Ausbun has gone on to hit six homers in the last 21 games.
Road Warriors
Air Force played 32 of its first 35 games on the road. Conversely, Air Force ends the season playing 11 of its final 16 games at home.
First Win at BYU Since 2002
Air Force's 5-4 win Thursday, April 9, was its first at BYU's Miller Park since 2002, covering a span of 22 games. It was also Air Force's second extra inning win of the season.
Several Falcons Playing Summer Ball
Nine current Falcons are slated to play for collegiate summer baseball teams this summer. Five Falcons are slated to play in the Northwoods Collegiate Wood Bat League, including four for the Alexandria Beetles. Junior Addison Gentry will be playing for the Wareham Gatemen in the prestigious Cape Cod League.
Player - Summer Team (League)
K.J. Randhawa - Alexandria Beetles (Northwoods)
Matt Alexander - Alexandria Beetles (Northwoods)
Evan Abrecht - Alexandria Beetles (Northwoods)
Aaron Kurcz - Alexandria Beetles (Northwoods)
Michael Ruvolo - St. Cloud River Bats (Northwoods)
Addison Gentry - Wareham Gateman (Cape Cod)
Brad Pingel - Danville Dans (Illinois Collegiate League)
Jon McMahon - Fayetteville Swamp dogs (Coastal Plains League)
Mike Kazakoff - Pittsfield American Defenders (New England Collegiate League)
Kurcz One of Top Closers In MWC
Despite being a freshman, right-hander Aaron Kurcz is developing into one fo the top closers in the Mountain West. Kurcz ranks third in the conference with seven saves and is second with 15 games finished. The seven saves ranks fourth all-time in a season at Air Force. Kurcz is averaging nearly a strikeout a game, with 28 K's in 29.2 innings pitched.
Ruvolo Moving Up Most Games Pitched List
Junior right-hander Michael Ruvolo is well on his way towards becoming the most durable reliever in Air Force history. Through three-years, Ruvolo has made 82 pitching appearances, ranking third all-time. He needs nine more appearances to overtake all-time leader Steve Carson, with 90 career appearances. Ruvolo has appeared in 24 games so far in 2009, tied for first in the MWC.
Hitting/Offense Notes
- Air Force is batting .304 as a team, ranking fifth in the MWC.
- Air Force leads the conference with 54 homers and is second with 66 stolen bases.
- The Falcons are batting .294 in MWC play.
- The Falcons batted .344 in its five games last week.
- Air Force has seven regulars batting .300+, and three batting above .346. Air Force's top hitter in 2008 (Nathan Carter), batted .312.
- Matt Alexander's 15 homers are the most by a Falcon since Josh Phifer hit 15 in 2003.
- Freshman outfielder Blair Kessler has six hits on the year. Five are home runs.
Pitching Notes
- Air Force has a 8.01 ERA, ranking seventh in the MWC. Air Force' s ERA last year was 8.34.
- Opponents are hitting .366 vs. Air Force. Opponents hit .358 vs. AFA in 2008.
- Aaron Kurcz is third in the MWC with seven saves.
- Michael Ruvolo is first in the MWC with 24 appearances.
Fielding Notes
- Air Force is fielding .954 on the season, ranking seventh in the MWC. the .954 fielding percentage is the third best total in Academy history.
- Addison Gentry is third in the MWC with 371 chances and 345 putouts.
- Air Force has thrown out 22 runners attempting to steal, ranking second-best in the MWC.
- Air Force is fourth in the MWC, turning 43 double plays.
Alexander Has Monster Series At Utah Valley
Junior designated hitter/first baseman Matt Alexander had a series for the ages at Utah Valley, batting .632 (12-for-19) from the plate, with six home runs, one triple, one double, 17 RBI and 11 runs scored in the Falcons' 2-2 series split vs. Utah Valley. His three home runs in game one of Saturday's doubleheader was the first bay a Falcon since 2002. For his efforts, Alexander garnered several honors listed below.
Matt Alexander's Accolades on April 6 & 7
- Collegiate Baseball News Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week
- MWC Player of the Week
- AirForceFalcons.com Athlete of the Week
- College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup
Alexander On Preseason All-MWC Baseball Team
Air Force junior designated hitter Matt Alexander was named to the 2009 Mountain West Conference Preseason All-Conference Team.
Alexander batted .306 last year as a sophomore, leading the Falcons with seven home runs. He was second on the team with 45 RBIs and a .529 slugging percentage. In one of the best single-game performances in school history, Alexander went 6-for-7 in a game last year against Doane College. In that game, Alexander hit for the cycle, hit two triples and drove in 11 runs. The 11 RBIs and 14 total bases are conference records.
Major League Bloodlines
Air Force has two sophomores, both from the East Bay region of Northern California, with brothers on Major League Baseball rosters. Third baseman Vai Schierholtz has a brother, Nate, who is an outfielder with the San Francisco Giants. Outfielder Nathan Carter has a brother, Chris, who is an outfielder for the Boston Red Sox. Schierholtz batted .320 in 19 games for the Giants in 2008. He was also a member of the U.S. Olympic baseball team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and also played in the 2008 MLB All-Stars Futures Game. Carter batted .333 in nine games for the Red Sox in 2008. The elder Carter played his college ball at Stanford.
Up Next
Air Force concludes the 2009 regular season with a three-game set hosting New Mexico, May 14-16.
