STATESBORO, Ga. — Appalachian State pitchers
Andrew Vaccacio and
Kaleb Bowman collectively struck out 14 batters and allowed one earned run on four hits in a 2-0 loss at Sun Belt Conference foe Georgia Southern on Friday night.
Kendall McGowan,
Jason Avers and
Riley Smith had hits for the Mountaineers (5-14, 0-4). Vaccacio gave up two hits and struck out a season-high nine batters in six innings, and Bowman recorded five strikeouts while allowing two hits in two scoreless innings.
The Eagles (10-11, 3-1) scored an unearned run in the second inning, when Mitchell Golden raced home from third during a sequence in which Christian Avant was caught in a rundown and picked off from first base. Mason McWhorter's RBI double with two away in the sixth inning accounted for the other run.
The series will resume Saturday with a doubleheader at 4 p.m.
Colin Schmid is scheduled to pitch Game 2 for App State, and
Travis Holden is the probable starter in Game 3.
The Mountaineers' leadoff batter reached in four of the first seven innings Friday.
Alex Leshock, who has reached base in all 16 of his career games, benefited from a game-opening error and advanced to second on
CJ Brown's sacrifice bunt, but Georgia Southern starter Brian Eichhorn (10 strikeouts, three hits allowed in eight innings) retired the next two batters.
McGowan's leadoff single in the fourth was erased by a double play, and a sacrifice bunt pushed
Joel McDaniel to second base following his leadoff walk in the fifth. Avers doubled to begin the seventh inning, and Eichhorn retired the next three batters.
App State's pitchers did their part to make it a low-scoring affair.
Vaccacio struck out two batters in a perfect first inning, had one strikeout in a perfect fourth and struck out the side in a perfect fifth.
Golden singled with two out and nobody on in the second inning before he stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. After a walk to Avant, Golden scored on the pickoff play. A leadoff walk and a one-out wild pitch preceded McWhorter's two-out double in the sixth.
Bowman took the mound in the bottom of the seventh and worked around a one-out single in each of his two innings. He has allowed no runs, given up five hits and totaled 11 strikeouts in 6.2 innings over his last five appearances.
