Perhaps it didn’t quite deserve Al Michaels’ famous “Do you believe in miracles?” call from the USA hockey team’s upset of the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympic Games.

But Air Force baseball’s 14-11 victory over TCU on Friday at Falcon Field at least elicited the sincere question of: “Are you sure the scoreboard’s right?”

As Michaels shouted back in 1980, “Yes!”

In likely the biggest upset of the college baseball season and the academy’s biggest victory in more than a decade, the Falcons – winners of just three games in 19 tries against Division I opponents prior to Friday – knocked off the nation’s fifth-ranked team in their Mountain West Conference opener.

“We came out knowing these guys who came to play us probably aren’t giving us any chance to win,” said senior pitcher Alex Truesdale, who went seven innings to pick up the win. “We’re completely overmatched, let’s just show them what we can do.”

Defending MWC champion TCU brought a 16-4 record into the game and had lost just once to Air Force in 19 games before Friday – in 1997.

Air Force, meanwhile, entered Friday’s game mired in what appeared to be another lost season. The Falcons, who went 65-245 (including 12-136 in MWC games) in coach Mike Hutcheon’s first six seasons, had lost five of six games heading into their league opener, and they had to sweat out the lone victory in the stretch – a 12-10 win over Division II Colorado School of Mines. Through 21 games, they’d been outscored 221-135.

But on Thursday, several players called the MWC season a fresh start. And on Friday they showed that – for at least one day – those weren’t hollow words.

Air Force hit four home runs – two by senior first baseman Addison Gentry (4-for-5, four RBIs) – and scored in each of the first seven innings. The Falcons also played well defensively, committing no errors, and got solid pitching performances from Truesdale and sophomore Evan Abrecht, who struck out four in the final two innings.

“We just kind of put it all together today,” Hutcheon said of his 6-16 team.

Truesdale did not yield a hit in the first three innings, as Air Force built a 6-0 lead and knocked out TCU’s talented freshman left-hander Matt Purke. The Horned Frogs responded and tied the game in the sixth, but Air Force did not back down with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Notes: The second half of Friday’s scheduled doubleheader was postponed because of inclement weather. The teams will attempt to play two games Sunday if weather permits. … Senior pitcher Michael Ruvolo and sophomore outfielder Blair Kessler have been removed from the team for breaking team rules, Hutcheon said.

Air Force’s Garrett Custons is tagged in the head by Matt Curry of Texas Christian after nearly getting caught off bag in the fourth inning. Air Force defeated Texas Christian 14-11 at the Air Force Academy on Friday. Photo by BRYAN OLLER, THE GAZETTE

Bryan Oller