CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CJ Brown hit his team-leading fifth home run, and
Andrew Papp continued his solid pitching with two perfect innings out of the bullpen, but Gardner-Webb used a five-run sixth inning to pull away in an 8-1 win against Appalachian State at BB&T Ballpark on Wednesday night.
A crowd of 1,641 was in attendance at the Uptown home of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights, where the Mountaineers (11-29) were appearing for the third straight year, and the Runnin' Bulldogs (25-18) took the finale of the 2018 Sunbelt Rentals Collegiate Baseball Series in Charlotte.
Brown's third home run in the last six games cut App State's deficit to 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, but Gardner Webb's Chandler Redmond homered to lead off the five-run sixth. With two outs in the inning, the Runnin' Bulldogs got a two-run single from Mickey Dugan and a two-run triple from Corey Howard.
Papp entered in the seventh inning and totaled four strikeouts while retiring all six batters he faced, and
Jason Cornatzer pitched a perfect ninth. In his last seven appearances, Papp has given up one run, allowed four hits and struck out 12 batters over a combined 12.2 innings.
"Once
Andrew Papp came into the game, I thought we settled down a little bit," App State head coach
Kermit Smith said. "He and Jason did a good job. We just were really unable to get anything going offensively tonight."
With App State's
Brandon Boone (2-4) and Gardner-Webb's Jordan Hampton starting on the mound, the first 17 batters of the game were retired, as Appalachian's
Beau Myers became the first baserunner with a two-out single in the bottom of the third.
Gardner-Webb's Mason Fox led off the fourth inning with a double and was on third with two away when Eric Jones delivered an RBI single to left field.
Boone responded with one of his five strikeouts in 4.1 innings, but the Runnin' Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out in the fifth thanks to a hit batter on a 2-2 pitch, a 3-2 walk and a hit batter that followed an unsuccessful sacrifice, as first baseman
Conner Leonard threw to third baseman
Drew Beck to erase the lead runner.
Cameron Kepley replaced Boone, and Fox hit a two-run single to left.
With two away in the bottom of the fifth, Brown hit a no-doubt homer to left to continue his recent power surge.
In addition to Brown and Myers,
Riley Smith had the other hit for App State, which resumes its Sun Belt Conference schedule Friday in Boone with the start of a three-game home series against division-leading Little Rock.
