Air Force rallies to beat Colorado Christian

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U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) --  Josh Meents doubled in Tytus Moss in the tenth inning as Air Force walked away with a 9-8 win over Colorado Christian April 8 in non-conference baseball action at the Academy's Falcon Field. The Falcons improve to 11-19 on the season while the Cougars fell to 10-28.

Alexander led off the tenth with a double down the left field line. Moss then came into replace Alexander as a pinch-runner. Two batters later, Meents slapped a shot down the left field line as the Falcons rallied to the win.

Falcon closer Michael Ruvolo (3-3) picked up the win, tossing a scoreless ninth and tenth inning. Cougar reliever Lawson Cook (0-4) took the loss, pitching the final 2.1 innings for CCU.

The Falcons rallied back after Chris Guyer of Colorado Christian hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to tie the game up at 8-8. CCU pushed across four runs in the inning total. Guyer led CCU's 16-hit attack by going 4-for-6 with three runs and three RBIs.

The Cougars put up three runs off five hits in the first inning to stake an early lead. The Falcons chipped away at the lead by scoring a run in each of the first four innings to take an 8-4 lead. The Falcons scored one run in the first, two in the second and third innings and three in the fourth.

The game settled into a pitchers duel as CCU went scoreless for five innings beginning with the third inning. Air Force also went scoreless for five innings, starting in the fifth.

Falcon starter Matt Barattino went four innings, allowing four runs. Gregg Laswell and Alex Truesdale also piched in relief for AFA. Colorado Christian starter James Dinges went two innings, giving up three runs. Nicholas Leader, Brett Myatt and David Hendricks also pitched in relief for CCU.

Air Force had 12 hits and did not commit an error in the field on the day. Addison Gentry went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs. K.J. Randhawa and Jason Griggs also had two hits for the Falcons. Randhawa also scored three runs. The Falcons also had another strong day on the basepaths, stealing four bags in four tries.
The 11 wins is the most in a season so far in the Mike Hutcheon era and most since the 2003 team won 15 games.

Air Force returns to action with a three game set against New Mexico this weekend, April 11-13. The series will be played in Farmington, N.M. at Ricketts Park.

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