Baseball: Utah Valley State downs Air Force 7-3

by Nicholas Arseniak

Air Force dropped a 7-3 baseball game to Utah Valley State at the SPORT Banana Belt Tournament March 3 at Harris Field here.

The loss drops the Falcons to 4-11 on the season.

A four-run fourth inning was the difference as UTVS improved to 3-8 on the season. A Wolverines starter pitched a complete game to earn the win, scattering six hits while striking out six. Falcons starter Mitch Brown (1-3) took the loss, allowing five runs on three hits, five walks in 3.2 innings pitched.

Trailing 5-0, Air Force got on the scoreboard in the fifth as Chay Derbigny tripled off the fence in center field and came around to score on Erol Kelter's ground out.

UTVS rebounded with a run in the bottom of the fifth. Air Force then tacked on two runs in the sixth inning on Matt Alexander's pinch hit two-run homer to right to make it a 6-3 game. The Wolverines added a run in the bottom of the sixth to round out the scoring.

The Falcons return to action March 7 in a makeup game at Colorado Christian University. Air Force and CCU were supposed to open the season against each other but were snowed out.