This is what we were expecting out of Air Force at the start of the season!

The Falcons went down to Austin in the midweek and took a game against the No.10 ranked Texas Longhorns, losing the second game on a walk-off. If that doesn’t juice you up with confidence as a baseball team, I don’t know what will?

They’ll enter a nine-game homestand where they can build on that 16-20 record. For Navy and Army, it’s the back half of their yearly series and the start of an 11-game homestand for the 18-17 Black Knights.

A lot of confidence-building chances are ahead entering into May.

Results

Thursday

Air Force 10, Nevada 3

Friday

Nevada 14, Air Force 12

Saturday

Army 5, Lafayette 3

Lehigh 13, Navy 12

Lafayette 8, Army 4

Nevada 14, Air Force 7

Sunday

Navy 11, Lehigh 4

Army 15, Lafayette 6

Navy 3, Lehigh 2 (10)

Nevada 4, Air Force 1

Tuesday

Air Force 14, No.10 Texas 2

Fordham vs Army (PPD)

Wednesday

Bucknell 11, Navy 1

Navy 15, Holy Cross 3

No.10 Texas 12, Air Force 10

Schedule

Friday

Fresno State vs Air Force – 2 p.m. (Mountain West Network)

Saturday

Navy vs Army – 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Fresno State vs Air Force – 2 p.m. (Mountain West Network)

Navy vs Army – 3 p.m. (ESPN+)

Sunday

Navy vs Army – 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Fresno State vs Air Force – 2 p.m. (Mountain West Network)

Tuesday

Marist vs Army – 4 p.m. (ESPN+)

Kansas vs Air Force – 5 p.m. (Mountain West Network)

Navy vs Maryland – 6:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network+)

Wednesday

Kansas vs Air Force – 3 p.m. (Mountain West Network)

Columbia vs Army – 6 p.m.

UMES vs Navy – 6 p.m.

Air Force

If you’ve been reading this notebook weekly, you would know how much potential this Air Force Falcons baseball team has. They proved it on the field in the midweek.

After dropping three of four against Nevada over the weekend, it seemed like Air Force had no momentum. They got outscored 32-20 in the final three games, giving up 14 runs on both Friday and Saturday. On Tuesday, Air Force was the one to score 14, beating No.10 Texas by a score of 14-2.

“We had a disappointing weekend, and it was great to see our boys respond the way they did tonight,” said head coach Mike Kazlausky. “We’ll enjoy the evening and get back at it tomorrow.”

The Falcons had a quick-hitting start to the evening, putting up eight runs in the first two innings. Two-way player Paul Skenes did a lot of damage, tallying four RBI including three on a home run to left field.

On the mound, Air Force retired 11 straight heading into the 8^th inning. You could say it was an all-around game for the Falcons as they tallied on some more run support late to pad onto the victory.

The two would play another game on Wednesday where Texas came out on top via a walk-off home run, but Air Force erased an 8-1 deficit to make it back into a game. That’s a pretty strong moral victory to carry out of the midweek.

Air Force will look to tally on a couple more wins as they host Fresno State over the weekend. The Falcons took two of three from the Bulldogs in Fresno earlier this season.

Army

For the first time since the season-opener, Army is above five hundred! The Black Knights would take two of three against Lafayette and win their last two games by a combined score of 30-9 to accomplish that feat.

After splitting a doubleheader against Lafayette on Saturday, the Black Knights would come back strong to dominate the Leopards by a score of 15-6. Hunter Meade highlighted the afternoon with five RBI on a 2-4 day, as Army opened the afternoon by taking a 9-0 lead.

They would continue that offensive onslaught by dominating Holy Cross in the midweek by a score 15-3. Army’s bullpen would only give up one run on the afternoon, as the offense tallied 16 hits.

The Black Knights will look to continue their strong play when they host Navy for a three-game series over the weekend. They shut out the Midshipmen in a Sunday doubleheader in Annapolis by a score of 16-0.

Navy

Navy’s starting to play much better baseball which is definitely something the Midshipmen want to hear. They won their second straight Patriot League series over the weekend, taking two games from Lehigh. They would drop the opener on Saturday by a score of 13-12 but respond with two strong victories on Sunday.

“It’s tough to lose a 13-12 game and then come back like we did to win the next two. We showed an awful lot and we’ve been building towards that; I really feel like it was a complete team effort. Everyone chipped in to help us win today,” Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos said on Sunday.

Alex Smith led the way offensively, hitting 6-10 with four RBI on Sunday. The strong play led to him winning the Patriot League Player of the Week, the third honor of his career.

The Midshipmen have a strong chance to make some noise against rival Army this weekend. Navy was shut out in Annapolis earlier this season against the Black Knights.