Feb. 8, 2006

Box Score

PUEBLO, Colo. - The University of Northern Colorado baseball team evened its record on the season by topping in-state rival Air Force 13-5 on Wednesday afternoon at Runyon Field. The meeting was the season's first of six total matchups between the teams, who are the only Division I baseball teams in the state of Colorado.

Northern Colorado (2-2) improved to 79-47 all-time against the Falcons and have now won four in a row and 14 of the last 16 in the series. The meeting was the first at a neutral site between the squads since 1961 (when they played in Laramie).

Air Force (2-1) used seven different pitchers on the day, six of whom were making their collegiate pitching debuts. The Falcons hit eight UNC batters, which tied a Mountain West Conference record and was only two away from the NCAA record (set by Washington against Rice on May 22, 1998).

Air Force starter Jake Petro retired six of the first seven batters he faced before leaving the game prior to the start of the third inning due to a blister on his throwing hand. That was an unfortunate turning point for the Falcons, as the Bears exploded for six runs in the fourth inning.

John Ray opened that inning with a single, Zach Harris was hit by a pitch and Grady Gorman singled to load the bases. Devin Warner then singled home one run and Harris came around to score on a balk by the new pitcher, Casey Allen. A batter later redshirt freshman Kevin Sandberg blasted an Allen pitch over the left-center field wall for a three-run home run, his first collegiate round tripper. Pueblo native Zach Brockman later added a RBI single to push the Bears lead to 6-0.

In the fifth, Warner and Sandberg added RBI's to push the Bears lead to 8-2.

Bears starter Chris Johns ran into some trouble in the bottom of the fifth, allowing five runs on three hits after allowing only one hit in is first four innings of work. He walked a pair of batters and balked in a run during the frame. Matt Musser and Geno Salazar each had RBI singles in the inning for Air Force.

But after struggling in the fifth, Johns (1-0) returned strong in the sixth, striking out the side. He finished the day allowing four hits and five runs in six innings; he struck out six and walked three.

That allowed the Bears to tack on two more runs in the seventh inning thanks in-part to sophomore Jeff Horn. Horn, who doubled in his first at-bat of the day, singled home two runs with a ball back up the middle with two outs.

Horn, who finished the day 3-for-5, had no career hits (0-for-12) and only one RBI in 19 prior games entering the contest.

Harris added a home run in the eighth inning, his second of the season, to close the scoring.

In relief of Johns, junior Eric Maydew allowed only one hit in two innings while striking out two. Junior Brennan Garr, who had not seen action since suffering an injury during summer baseball, saw his first action of the year in the ninth inning, striking out the side.

Allen (0-1) took the loss for the Falcons, allowing five runs in his one inning of work.

Gorman finished the day 3-for-5 to raise his batting average to .545 on the season. Ray also added two hits for Northern Colorado, who had 12 hits on the day compared to the Falcons five.

The Bears are off until next weekend (Feb. 17-19) when they head to College Station, Texas to battle Texas A&M in a three-game set.