May 2, 2006

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GREELEY, Colo. - University of Northern Colorado head baseball coach Kevin Smallcomb won his 100th career game at Northern Colorado and his 350th game overall as a college coach as the Bears routed in-state rival Air Force 20-4 on Senior Day at Jackson Field on Tuesday.

After losing its last five games at home, Northern Colorado (15-27) snapped out of that season-long losing streak by scoring in all but one inning, posting 14 hits and eclipsing the 20-run plateau for the third time this season. It did mark the first time the team had score double-digit runs in eight games.

The win was big for Smallcomb, who became only the fourth coach in the long and storied history of the program to reach 100 wins, doing so in his fourth season with the program. He is now 100-105 with the Bears and 350-252 overall as a head coach.

"This is not only a big win for me but also for our program," Smallcomb said after the game. "It shows we are making progress with our team. We have lofty team goals and you can see that by the schedule we play and some of the teams we have beat this season. I am just happy to send our seniors out with a win at home and thankful that every position player got into the contest."

The Bears concluded their 2006 season series with Air Force, taking four of the five contests by a combined score of 55-17. Air Force won the other game, a 3-1 meeting in Greeley on April 4. Northern Colorado now leads the all-time series with the Falcons by an 82-48 margin and have won 17 of the last 20 overall.

Air Force (10-27), which lost its 11th game in a row, did not help itself defensively early in the contest, committing four errors in the first four innings. AFA starter Josh Meents was effective, not allowing a hit in two innings, but a pair of errors in the first inning allowed Northern Colorado to score, giving itself a lead it would not relinquish.

The Bears did not score in the second inning and did not even get its first hit until Nate Saylor singled in the third inning, a hit that scored Zach Brockman and made the score 2-0. A batter later Brennan Garr hit his fifth home run of the season to push the lead to 4-0.

Walks and errors led to two more UNC runs in the fourth, as the Bears scored twice more without a hit. After four innings were complete, Northern Colorado had six runs on only two hits.

But the Bears bats picked it up after that, punishing the Falcon bullpen, as Garr and Zach Harris had back-to-back doubles in the fifth and Adam Symons drove in another run to push the advantage to 8-0.

After Air Force scored in the top of the sixth, Harris came up huge in the bottom of the inning, hitting his team-leading 11th home run of the season, a blast that plated three runs and pushed the lead to 11-1. The multiple-RBI home run was Harris' first since April 8, as his last four round trippers had all been solo blasts.

The Bears went on to score three more times in that inning and Josh Payne added a RBI single in the seventh, giving the Bears a 15-1 lead.

Air Force slugger Karl Bolt hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning, giving the Falcons their only other runs of the game.

The Falcons then proceeded to walk five Bears batters in the bottom of the frame, as Northern Colorado scored five more times, including backup catcher Derrick Keeton's three-run home run, his first home run in a Bears uniform.

The Bears pitching staff was solid on the day, allowing only earned runs on the Bolt home run. A quartet of seniors got to pitch in their home finale, as Roy Allen started and made way for Evan Linn, Jon Leines and Chris Johns.

Allen (2-2) went five innings, allowing only two hits and matching his career-high of seven strikeouts (equaling a feat he reached in a win over No. 12 Arkansas two weeks ago). Linn struck out four and Leines, in his 17th appearance of the season (eighth most in a season in school history), fanned three, meaning the Bears struck out 14 of the first 24 batters they faced. Johns pitched the final inning, as he needed only three pitches to retire the side.

Meents was the hard luck loser, falling to 0-4 despite not allowing a hit. Air Force used six pitchers in relief of Meents.

Garr finished the day 3-for-6 with two RBI and four runs scored. Harris drove in a team-high five runs in his home finale. In all, 11 different Bears batters had at least one hit.

Price Paramore, who came into pitch and record the final two outs of the game, had two hits for Air Force.

The eight seniors, Allen, Chad Clark, Harris, Johns, Leines, Linn, Seth Tartler and Devin Warner, were honored in a pre-game ceremony.

Northern Colorado is off until next Tuesday when they start a road trip that will see them play their final 10 games of the season on the road. That road swing starts at Wichita State, where the Bears and Shockers will play a two-game set (6 p.m. each day). The Shockers (34-15) are ranked No. 22 in this week's national polls.