PUEBLO, Colo. (March 14, 2025) – Washington State dropped its Mountain West Conference opener 15-14 after Air Force scored five runs in the eighth on a windy game played in Pueblo, Colo. on the campus CSU-Pueblo Friday afternoon.
 
Friday's game was played in 30-40 mph wind blowing out to right field after being moved 45 minutes south of the Air Force Academy due to snow in the Colorado Springs forecast. Saturday's game will also be played at CSU-Pueblo while the site of Sunday's finale has not been decided.
 
The Cougars collected a season-high 18 hits and scored a season-high 14 runs as four players recorded multiple hit games led by freshman Ollie Obenour's first career five-hit game, the first five-hit game since 2023 and just the 29^th five-hit game in program history.
 
Max Hartman picked up his fourth four-hit game of the season, drove in three runs and scored three runs while Obenour drove in two and scored three times. Ricco Longo collected three hits and drove in three runs and Luke Thiele finished with two hits and two RBI.
 
Air Force hit five home runs as the fifth long ball capped a five-run eighth inning after the Cougars had scored three times in the top of the eighth to build a 14-10 lead.
 
KEY MOMENTS OF THE GAME
In the first inning, Hartman led off the game with a bunt single in front of the third baseman and Obenour followed with an opposite-field double to right-centerfield and both came across on a Longo's two-out two-run single in center field. Air Force answered a run on two hits, a walk and hit-by-pitch to make it a 2-1 Cougar lead.
 
In the second, WSU scored five runs after a Hartman 2-run triple to left-center, an RBI-single back up the middle by Obenour, Skjonsby followed with an RBI-double down the right field line and Longo made it 7-1.
 
Both teams traded runs in the next couple innings as the Falcons cut the Cougar to 8-6 with a solo homer in the fourth but WSU answered with three in the fifth inning. Obenour got things going with an opposite-field triple off right field wall and scored on Ryan Skjonsby's sacrifice fly to center. A couple batters later, Luke Thiele lined two-run double to right-centerfield to push the lead to 11-6. Air Force came right back four runs in their half of frame to cut the WSU lead to 11-10.
 
The sixth and seventh innings were the only innings that didn't feature any runs.
 
In the eighth, WSU scored four runs on an Obenour RBI-single through the right side, Ryan Skjonsby drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Johnstone drove in a round with a groundout to shortstop for a 14-10 advantage.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Air Force started their one-out rally with a pair of singles followed by an RBI-double to left-center and two-run single to cut the Cougar lead to one. The next Falcon hitter hit an opposite-field go-ahead two-run home run to right field.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Max Hartman put down a bunt singled in the 1st to extend his hitting streak to 12 games
Ollie Obenour doubled in the 1^st to extend his on-base streak to 13 games
Ryan Skjonsby doubled in the 2^nd to extend his on-base streak to 10 games
Gavin Roy singled in the 4^th to extend his hitting streak to 7 games
Reliever Jake Tedesco worked scoreless 6^th and 7^th innings, struck out 4 along the way
 
NEXT UP
The series continues Saturday at 12:05 pm at Rawlings Field in Pueblo, Colo.