Air Force rallies from 8-0 deficit to defeat Northern Colorado

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GREELEY, Colo. (AFPN) --  Trailing 8-0 after the third inning, Air Force Academy baseball rallied to an improbable 13-12 win over Northern Colorado April 20 at Jackson Field in Greeley, Colo. The win improves the Falcons to 13-24 on the season and drops the Bears to 14-24.

Northern Colorado scored eight runs in the third inning to jump ahead with the big lead. The Falcons began their comeback with three runs in the fourth to cut it to 8-3. The Bears responded with a run in the fourth as well before AFA closed the gap significantly with a five-run sixth to make the score 9-8 UNC.

The Falcons put up four runs in the seventh and jumped ahead 12-8. Air Force was not done, adding an insurance run in the eighth that would prove to be significant as Northern Colorado rallied with three runs in the eighth.

Reliever Alex Truesdale then shut the door on UNC in the ninth, retiring all three batters faced to pick up his first-career save. David Miller (2-3) earned the win with 4.1 inning of solid relief. Falcon starter Michael Ruvolo pitched three-plus innings, running into trouble in the third and Brad Pingel also saw action in relief.

Reliever Sean Peery (2-3) took the loss for UNC. Northern Colorado starter Jon Klausing went 5.2 innings, striking out eight, but allowing eight runs.

The Falcons had big days from shortstop K.J. Randhawa and third baseman Vai Schierholtz. Randhawa was 3-for-6 with two RBI and Schierholtz was 3-for-5 with four RBIs, including the game-winner in the eighth.

Freshman outfielder Tytus Moss also had a solid game for the Falcons. Moss went 2-for-3 with two walks, two stolen bases and three runs scored, including the game-winning run. Addison Gentry and Daniel Walker had two hits apiece with Walker scoring two runs and hitting his sixth triple of the season. Josh Meents had two RBIs and two runs scored and Jeff Abt scored two runs off the bench.

Kevin Sandberg led the was for UNC, which had 13 hits as a team. Sandberg went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and highlighted the eighth inning with a two-run homer.

The Falcons return to action Thursday, hosting BYU in the first game of a three-game set.

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