As has become a summer tradition, appstatesports.com is counting down Appalachian State University athletics' 30 most memorable games, matches and meets from the 2014-15 academic year. This year's countdown begins on Monday, July 6 and will continue until Tuesday, August 4, the opening day of Appalachian State football's fall camp.
Be sure to check appstatesports.com each day to relive all of the Mountaineers' most lasting memories of an exciting and successful 2013-14.
Three-Run Ninth Lifts App State to Win in Finale
May 12, 2015
BOONE, N.C. — Bradley Morton's game-tying two-run homer and Zach Hummel's walkoff RBI triple in the bottom of the ninth inning capped a wild late-inning rally and lifted Appalachian State University baseball to a 5-4 win over East Tennessee State in the Mountaineers' season finale on Tuesday night at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
Appalachian State trailed 4-0 after six innings but rallied for single runs in the seventh and eighth before battering ETSU closer Dillon Cate (3-3) for two triples and a home run in the three-run ninth.
Trailing 4-2, senior Noah Holmes started the Mountaineers' ninth-inning rally with a leadoff triple over the head of ETSU right fielder Zach Thompson.
That brought Appalachian State's hottest hitter to the plate in Morton, who was already 2-for-3 with two doubles. After falling behind 1-2, the senior crushed a full-count delivery from Cate for a no-doubt game-tying homer to left-center field.
Two batters later, true freshman Dylan Hamel drew a five-pitch walk and Hummel, a sophomore making his first at-bat of the night after entering the game at catcher in the top of the ninth, followed with the winning run on first base.
Like Morton, Hummel fell behind 1-2 in the count but he ripped the fourth pitch from Cate into the left-center-field gap. As the ball rattled around at the wall, Hamel came all the way around from first to easily score the winning run while the Mountaineers poured out of the dugout to celebrate their only walkoff win of the 2015 campaign.
All playing in their final collegiate game, Morton, departing fourth-year junior Brandon Burris and senior Michael Pierson combined for eight of Appalachian State's 11 hits.
Morton led the way by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a homer and three RBI. Burris also went 3-for-4 while Pierson went 2-for-4 with a pivotal two-out RBI double in the eighth.
Travis Holden, the last of Appalachian's eight pitchers on the evening, pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his second win in five days and close his freshman campaign at 2-4.
Thompson paced ETSU's 10-hit attack by going 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI.
The walkoff win was Appalachian State's third-straight in season finales. The Mountaineers previously rallied for walkoff triumphs over Western Carolina (9-8) in 2013 and Furman (6-5) last season.
Appalachian State closes the 2015 campaign with a 17-36 overall record and 8-21 mark in its first season in the Sun Belt Conference. ETSU enters its final weekend of the regular season at 19-33 overall (6-15 Southern Conference).
Appalachian State Athletics' Most Memorable Moments of 2014-15
No. 30: Baseball 5, ETSU 4 (May 12, 2015)
