Recap: Nine Runs over Two Innings Does in @NCBearsBaseball

Tuesday, March 20

Greeley, Colo.

3:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

14-8

Air Force Academy

8-12

Air Force

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Rob Trubia

3/20/2018 9:01:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Air Force scored nine runs over the seventh and eighth to defeat UNC 12-6 Tuesday

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Nine runs scored over the seventh and eighth inning led Air Force over Northern Colorado baseball Tuesday afternoon at Jackson Field 12-6. Defensive errors and the inability to end innings hurt the Bears in the loss.

How It Happened
Air Force wasted no time plating a run in the first inning as leadoff hitter Ryan Robb singled up the middle to start the game and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nic Ready. Robb then brought home the second run of the game in the third with another single right back to the pitcher.

UNC evened the game at two in the fifth inning. Evan Johnson started the rally when he was hit by the very first pitch of the at-bat. Alex Kiel doubled off the right field wall after that to put runners on second and third with no outs. Freshman, Matt Zoba scored Johnson on an infield single on a slow roller to short. Kiel, tied the game up on a delayed steal when Air Force's catcher threw down to first trying to pickoff Zoba and Kiel took off as the ball was released, sliding in just before the return throw and tag could be applied.

The tied ballgame did not last long, with Air Force reclaimed the lead with a two-out double to center. Trailing 3-2, UNC scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to lead for its first time of the game. The first two Bears reached without the ball leaving the infield on an error by the Falcons' third basemen and single to short. Those hitters, Jack Pauley and Matt Burkart moved into scoring position on a wild pitch with Tyler Yamaguchi at the plate. He and Johnson hit back-to-back singles to score the pair and go up 4-3. Another error of Air Force's third baseman extended the inning and led to the final two runs of the inning scoring.

A pair of Northern Colorado errors in the seventh allowed Air Force to reclaim the lead for good in the seventh. The Falcons scored four runs on one hit, two errors, two walks and a hit by pitch. In the eighth, Air Force strung together five hits along with a walk and two hit by pitches into five runs putting the game away. UNC put a pair on in the ninth but the damage had been done as Air Force won 12-6.

What They Said
Associate head coach RD Speihs

Overall Thoughts
"It was a really good battle early. Air Force is a really good mid-week opponent for us. They have played a good amount of ranked teams this year so we know it was going to be a battle. We got some good early innings out of Gavin Gorrell, put some offense together in the middle innings and then it just unraveled a little at the end."

On Gavin Gorrell's performance
"The freshman lefthander from Seattle threw three pitches for strikes. He threw backward a little bit, threw some fastballs in and got hitters to chase elevated fastballs in pitchers counts. He had been pounding the zone and had some innings under his belt and it felt like the right guy at the right time today. We will definitely be seeing more innings out of him in the future."

About the importance of the bottom of the lineup
"It is a huge factor to have a strong bottom of the lineup. As a pitching coach and being in the opposite shoe of it is fun to watch. It's great to have an offense that has no holes and tough to record outs and then you flip it over and you have guys like Jack Pauley at the top of it who do not give away a pitch and battle every at-bat, it's just great to have."

Keys to starting WAC play strong
"Utah Valley has had a great non-conference schedule and we look to start the conference season off right. It will all start on the mound, we need good starting pitching first and foremost. Then we will need to have a good defense behind it, which we will have to improve upon after today. Finally, to have timely hitting starting with the leadoff hitters getting on, the middle of the lineup doing what we know they can and then the bottom of the order to continue to be consistent like they have been and flip over the lineup."

Game Changer
Leadoff hitter Ryan Robb started things early for Air Force and kept it going all day long, going 3-for-6 with three runs scored and three RBI. One of his three hits was for extra bases, a double in the eighth.

Stat to Know
Four errors by the Bears' defense lead to six unearned runs for Air Force on Tuesday, UNC's unforced errors were the difference in the ball game.

Game Notes
- Freshman Gavin Gorrell came out and had a strong first collegiate start going 5.0 innings allowing two runs, only one earned, on two hits and one walk. He struck out a career-high eight batters, after entering the game with three in his career.
- Jack Pauley extended his hit streak to eight games with his single in the seventh.
- Matt Burkart and Matt Zoba each recorded multi-hit games, each recording two in the game.

What's Ahead?
Northern Colorado hits the road for its first WAC series of the season. The Bears will take on Utah Valley for three games, starting Friday at 6 pm MT. UNC went 2-2 against the Wolverines last year, including defeating UVU in the WAC Tournament 6-4.

To stay up to date on all things UNC baseball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Twitter at @NCBearBaseball.