Air Academy baseball mashes its way to a win over Doherty

COLORADO SPRINGS – After blasting a triple, a double and scoring two runs at UC Health Park, home of the Rocky Mountain Vibes, Peter Tassler made no secret of Air Academy’s approach at the plate.

“You hang em, we bang em,” he said with a smile.

The Kadets have been on a tear offensively and that was the case again as they rolled to a 15-0 win over Doherty on the very field where professional baseball is played in Colorado Springs. UC Health Park also hosted the Class 4A state baseball championship and would happily welcome the event back in the future.

But for now, the Vibes staff is settling for regular season contests on the field. And the Kadets (6-2 overall, 4-1 5A/4A Pikes Peak Athletic Conference) put on a hitting show on a sunny, but windy afternoon.

The offensive output came across just two innings as they scored four runs in the bottom of the second and 11 in the bottom of the fourth.

“You’d like it to be a little more distributed throughout the innings, but it was good,” Air Academy coach Steve Whiting said. “It was a lot of fun (playing at UC Health Park). Twenty years ago I was coming here and it’s awesome to just stand out there.”

Tassler got the offense going with a leadoff triple in the bottom of the second. He scored on a Ryder Banks single and the first four hitters of the inning eventually crossed home plate.

That allowed starting pitcher Cody Sheets to really settle in.

Through the four innings he threw, he faced 16 hitters and threw first-pitch strikes to 11 of them. He stuck out five hitters and issued no free passes.

“Getting a lead definitely plays a factor in pitching,” Sheets said. “It’s not like there’s less pressure or anything, but you just feel better about the game. You feel better about your pitches and you get more confident.”

Doherty (3-8, 2-6) threatened a few times during the course of the game. Garret Weaver led off the second inning with a single and tried to score on a Brett Boone double, but was thrown out at the plate.

In the third inning, the Spartans had runners on second and third with one out but a line drive to Banks and a fly ball to Jake Palomo ended the threat.

Then the Kadets started mashing the ball in the fourth inning. Jason Jones struck out to start, but the next 11 hitters reached base and scored.

“We just tell each other to just get the barrel on the ball and it’ll go,” Tassler said.

It’s an approach at the plate that seems relatively simple, yet the Kadets have used it to score a total of 100 runs this season. And it’s an approach that they’ll continue to use as they make their way through the rest of PPAC play this season.

If opposing teams hang them then the Kadets will bang them.