DAVIDSON, North Carolina -- The Red Foxes suffered an 8-4 loss to the Air Force Academy Falcons on Saturday in the team's second game of the Davidson Tournament at Wilson Field. The loss drops Marist to 0-2 (0-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) while the win brings Air Force to 2-0 (0-0 Mountain West Conference). 

Freshman Jack Shirk led the Red Foxes with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate with one run batted in and three assists. Freshman Anthony Lazar came in as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth and picked up a single, the first of his career, in the lone at bat. Freshman Tyler Kapuscinski picked up the first run batted in of his career on an RBI fielders choice grounder. 

Sophomore Charlie Jerla got the start and pitched five inngings while giving up five hits, four runs, one walk to go along with four strikeouts. Sophomore Spencer Bunting pitched a third of an inning giving up three hits and four runs, freshman Tyler Poulin faced two batters giving up two hits and no runs and sophomore Michael Hunter pitcher 3.2 innings giving up two hits. 

Junior Adam Groesbeck led the Falcons with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate to go along with one run batted in and three putouts in the field. 

The Red Foxes continued a trend of scoring in the first inning when they plated two runs in the bottom of the inning. Senior co-captain Graham McIntire walked to lead off the inning followed by a fly out by senior Joey Aiola and two more walks by junior Zachary Racusin and junior Tyler Kirkpatrick, setting up a bases loaded one out situation for Marist. Kapuscinski reached on a RBI fielders choice and the Red Foxes had a 1-0 lead. During the next at bat, a wild pitch by Air Force scored Racusin from third and following a strike out to end the inning, Marist held a 2-0 advantage.

The lead remained until the Falcons came to bat in the top of the fith inning. Sophomore Ryan Robb was hit by a pitch to start followed by a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Travis Wilkie, moving the runner to second with one out. Junior Russell Williams homered in the next at bat and the game was all even 2-2. 

Air Force added to their lead in the sixth. Freshman Nic Ready singled to lead off and advanced to second and third on two wild pitches. Junior Tyler Jones gave the Falcons their second two-run home run of the game and a 4-2 lead. Following the homer, Bunting replaced Jerla on the mound for Marist and gave up a single to junior Bradley Haslam before retiring the next batter on a flyout. Robb was hit by a pitch in the next at bat and was replaced by a pinch runner, setting up first and second with one out for Air Force. Wilkie singled to left field scoring Haslam and the Falcons led 5-2. Williams singled in the next at bat on a bunt to third loading the bases. Marist made another pitching change, bringing in Poulin who surrendered consecutive RBI hits to Groesbeck and senior Spencer Draws and Air Force held an 8-2 lead. A third pitching change by the Red Foxes, bringing in Hunter was then able to end the inning.

Marist answered back in the bottom of the sixth when Kapuscinski walked followed by Frankie Gregoire reaching on a fielding error by the third baseman. A single up the middle by Shirk then scored Kapuscinski trimming the score to 8-3. During the next at bat, both Shirk and Gregiore advanced on a pass ball before Matt Iantosca flied out to right field for the innings first out. Sophomore Andrew Rouse grounded out to second base in the next at bat, scoring Gregoire and bringing the deficit to 8-4 but that was all Marist could manage in the inning.

Defense was the name of the game for the remainder of the contest. The Red Foxes got their third hit of the afternoon down by four runs with one out in the bottom of the ninth but a strikeout and groundout by the next two hitters ended the afternoon with Air Force emerging with the 8-4 victory.

Up next for Marist is the third and final game of the Davidson Tournament vs. Buffalo on Sunday at 10 AM. Follow the live stats here http://www.sidearmstats.com/davidson/baseball/.