FOREST CITY, N.C. - Led by another stellar performance from its bullpen, Appalachian State University baseball completed a three-game weekend sweep of Jacksonville State with a 6-3 win on Sunday afternoon at blustery McNair Field. With the win, Appalachian moved to 3-0 for the first time since 1996.
ASU's bullpen combination of Chris Patterson, Taylor Miller and Zach Quate allowed only three hits over 4.2 scoreless innings to close out the ballgame.
The trio's performance on Sunday mirrored the results that Appalachian's relievers delivered all weekend. In 15.2 innings of work in the series, the ASU bullpen surrendered only one earned run ? including 15-consecutive innings without an earned run to close out the weekend ? while striking out 17 and holding the JSU hitters to a paltry .179 batting average. The relief corps recorded two of the three wins and two saves in the series sweep.
The Mountaineers scored all six of their runs on Sunday in the first four innings and never trailed en route to the win. First baseman David Towarnicky led the way, driving in the Apps' first run with an RBI single up the middle in the first inning, scoring the second later in the stanza on an infield single by Rand Smith and knocking in the Black and Gold's sixth and final run with an RBI double off the left field wall in the fourth. Towarnicky finished 2-for-4 to go along with the two RBI and run scored.
Smith was the only other Mountaineer with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and run. Leadoff hitter Wes Hobson reached base in three of his four plate appearances (a hit and two walks) and scored twice.
ASU starter Aubrey Edens struck out six in 4.1 innings of work but struggled with control, walking five before being lifted in favor of Patterson in the fifth. Patterson struck out four and allowed only one hit in 2.2 innings to earn the first win of his career. Miller worked a hitless eighth and Quate closed it out in the ninth for the save, despite taking a line drive off his left shin against the first batter he faced.
Blake Seguin, Jake Welch and Steven Leach had two hits apiece for Jacksonville State, which won the Ohio Valley Conference with a 23-4 record in league play a season ago.
Appalachian faces non-conference tilts at Wake Forest (Tuesday at 6 p.m.) and Gardner-Webb (Wednesday at 2 p.m.) this week before welcoming defending Southern Conference champion Elon to Boone next weekend to open league action.
