The Colorado Springs Gazette final

Falcons earn big victory

Kulasingam becomes first Falcon to earn MVP honor in MW

BY BRENT BRIGGEMAN brent.briggeman@gazette.com

The newly minted top player and co-pitcher of the year in the Mountain West helped Air Force to a victory in the conference tournament.

Sam Kulasingam, who earlier in the day was named the Tony Gwynn Mountain West Player of the Year, collected two hits and Paul Skenes, the Co-pitcher of the Year, threw seven dominant innings as the fourth-seeded Falcons topped No. 1 seed UNLV 5-2 in the first round Thursday in San Diego.

Catcher Brayden Altorfer drove in four runs for Air Force the day after graduating.

The victory means the Falcons can win the conference with two wins in their next three games. A loss would have left them with four must-win games.

Kulasingam, the first from Air Force to win MW Player of the Year in baseball, stretched his team

record to 100 hits with a pair of singles. He also reached with a walk and scored a run.

Skenes threw seven two-hit shutout innings, striking out 10. He walked four – including three straight in the fourth – and hit a batter.

Skenes went 8-1 with a 2.34 ERA in 11 conference starts during the regular season. He led the MW in innings and was second in strikeouts.

Air Force had claimed top MW pitcher honors once before, with Griffin Jax in 2016. Last year Jax became the first service academy graduate to reach the majors with the Twins.

While Skenes, preseason All-american, entered this season with hype, Kulasingam flew under the radar. Just not that of coach Mike Kazlausky.

“He’s an incredible talent,” Kazlausky said before the season of the infielder who had taken just 81 atbats as a freshman.

Kulasingam had a .457 average, .797 slugging percentage and a .516 on base percentage as a sophomore.

All this came after a move to install Kulasingam at the leadoff spot.

SPORTS

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2022-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/282093460361775

The Gazette, Colorado Springs