Baseball: Air Force rolls to 8-4 win over Savannah State

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AFPN) --  Matt Alexander broke out of a slump with three RBIs and Jeff Abt hit his first career homer for the Falcons as the U.S. Air Force Academy baseball team won its second game in as many days, defeating Savannah State 8-4 March 25 at Tiger Field here. 

The Falcons improved to 9-12 on the season to eclipse the 2007 team's total for wins in just 21 games so far this year. 

Air Force starter Matt Barattino, with a record of 1-2, picked up his first career win for the Falcons, pitching six strong innings. The freshman right-hander allowed three runs, one earned, on seven hits and struck out two. Colin Shepherd also gave the Falcons two strong innings of relief and Michael Ruvolo closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth. 

The Academy jumped ahead 2-0 in the first with a pair of two-out RBI singles by Alexander and Josh Meents. After Savannah State got a run back in the second, Jeff Abt drilled a mammoth, two-run homer to the opposite field to put the Falcons up 4-1 after three. 

Air Force pushed the lead to 6-1 in the fourth, as Alexander came up clutch again with a two-out, two-run single. Ben Ausbun scored a run in the fifth off a sacrific fly by K.J. Randhawa to extend it to a 7-1 Falcon lead. 

After the Tigers scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth, the Falcons scored another run in the sixth as Ausbun doubled to the gap and scored Meents from first. 

The Falcons had 10 hits in the game with Ausbun leading the way with a pair of doubles in a three-for-four performance. Abt, Alexander and Meents had two hits apiece. The Falcons also drew 11 walks in the game with Nathan Carter leading the way with three free passes. 

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