COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV Rebels were unable to hold onto their one-run lead early in their Mountain West contest at Falcon Field, as the host Air Force Falcons scored seven straight over the third through fifth innings to claim Friday's series opener, 11-5.
 
The Scarlet & Gray was paced offensively by three hits, two runs and an RBI from James Gamble, while Dillon Johnson and Max Smith contributed two hits, one run and one RBI apiece. Austin Pfeifer had two hits and one RBI, while Bryson Stott had one hit, one run and one RBI, as well.
 
The Rebels (17-15 overall, 5-8 MW) fell behind by two runs after the opening frame of action, but turned things around in the third with help from an error and three run-scoring hits. Gamble got the inning started by reaching on a defensive miscue and promptly scored from first base one pitch later when Stott drilled an RBI double to right-center field. Johnson and Pfeifer followed Stott's hit with an RBI double and an RBI single to give UNLV a one-run advantage, 3-2.
 
The Falcons' Gabe Martinez played a major role in the home side's comeback with his at-bats in the third and fourth innings that resulted in two home runs and four RBI. Martinez drew Air Force even at 3-all with a solo shot in the third and then capped a five-run outburst in the fourth with a three-run homer. He ended the day 3-for-5 with two runs and five RBI, the last of which came off a single in the eighth.
 
UNLV managed to score two runs late with solo homers from Gamble and Smith in the seventh and ninth, respectively.
 
Air Force's Rob Dau and Tommy Gilman added two RBI apiece, with the latter also scoring three runs. Gilman and teammate Colby Brown both had four hit efforts, with identical 4-for-5 performances at the plate.
 
REBEL OF THE GAME: Gamble had a season-high three hits and scored twice with one RBI coming off his first career collegiate home run.
 
STAT OF THE GAME: UNLV's pitching staff surrendered a season-high 19 hits in the game, and eight of those occurred with runners in scoring position for Air Force. Moreover, the Falcons hit .480 (12-for-25) with runners on base and .421 (8-for-19) with runners in scoring position. Conversely, the Rebels had 11 hits in the game, with six of those coming with runners on base for a .375 clip (6-for-16); however, the squad was only 2-for-9 (.222) when those runners were in scoring position.
 
QUOTABLE: "Once Air Force gets going offensively, they're very tough to hold down, and they got on a roll today," said head coach Stan Stolte. "We saw some good things out of our younger kids, which was a bright spot."
  
REBEL NOTES:
- Air Force's Jake Gilbert (3-1) earned the win in 6.0 innings of work, giving up only one earned run (three total) off three hits and two walks. Gilbert struck out two.
- UNLV's Cameron Jabara (1-3) suffered the loss after he allowed seven runs off of 10 hits, with one walk against one strikeout.
- Despite the loss, UNLV maintains a 66-game lead over Air Force in the all-time series, which sits at 101-35 in favor of the Rebels.
- UNLV has lost three straight and four of its last five games.
- UNLV is 3-8 in road games this season.
- UNLV is 4-12 in games it scores five runs or fewer.
- UNLV is 1-4 in games it allows an opponent to score 10 or more runs.
- UNLV is 8-9 in games an opponent scores first and 4-6 in games an opponent scores in the first inning.
- UNLV is 3-9 in games it is outhit by an opponent.
- UNLV has registered double-digit hits in four straight and nine of its last 10 games.
- UNLV had four players register multiple-hit games: Smith (13th), Johnson (12th), Gamble (eight) and Pfeifer (first).
- Williams extended his season-best, reached-base streak to 30 games.
- Williams is hitting .366 (15-for-41) over his last 10 games with at least one hit in nine of the contests, and seven runs and six RBI. Additionally, he five of those have been multiple-hit efforts.
- Smith extended his hit streak to 12, and is hitting .396 (19-for-48) during this stretch with five multiple-hit games, eight extra-base hits (four doubles and four homers), 21 RBI and 10 runs.
- Gamble is hitting .533 over his last four games, beginning with the second game of the New Mexico series (March 30), with eight hits in 15 at-bats, three multiple-hit games, five RBI and three runs.
 
UP NEXT: UNLV and Air Force continue their conference series at Falcon Field the next two days. Saturday's contest is slated for 12:00 pm PT (1:00 pm MT), while Sunday's finale has been moved up to 8:30 am PT (9:30 am MT).
 
BACK AT EARL E: Following its trip to the Centennial State, UNLV returns home to host five straight against the likes of Arizona State, San Jose State and Grand Canyon. ASU, which is mentioned in all six top-25 polls and is ranked as high as No. 2 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, travels to Las Vegas for a Tuesday night affair (6:05 pm). SJSU will follow for three over the April 12-14 weekend, while GCU completes the home-and-home series on April 16 (2:05 pm).
  
PURCHASE TICKETS: Single-game ticket prices this season are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, faculty and staff seniors, and $4 for groups of 15 or more. Fans that purchase tickets online up to three hours prior to first pitch can get them for an advanced single-game price of $5.
 
All high school, middle school and elementary students are now free under UNLV's new admission policy. To receive free admission, high school students must present valid Nevada area school I.D. at the box office on gameday to receive one (1) complimentary ticket. All other students will receive a complimentary ticket at the box office (no I.D. required). Kids not yet elementary school age will continue to receive free admission for all UNLV Olympic sports.