MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama took both games of a Saturday baseball doubleheader against visiting Appalachian State, winning 2-0 and 5-0 at Stanky Field.
App State's
Andrew Vaccacio started the doubleheader opener on the mound, recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts and allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings.
Freshman pitcher
Cameron Kepley made his first career start in the second game, and reliever
Kaleb Bowman pitched three scoreless innings against the Jaguars, who led 4-0 after one inning. Bowman has given up no runs, allowed seven hits and struck out 16 batters in his last 12 innings of work.
The Mountaineers (6-19, 0-9 Sun Belt) return to action Tuesday at Radford and play host to league opponent Troy next weekend in Boone. Preseason favorite South Alabama improved to 19-11 overall and 6-2 in the Sun Belt.
GAME 1 RECAP
Vaccacio (1-6) has struck out 19 batters in his last 13 innings, as he eclipsed his previous season high of nine strikeouts against Georgia Southern in his previous start. Relief pitcher
Luke Watts struck out one batter in a scoreless eighth inning.
Drew Beck (double) and
Bailey Welch both went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead App State's offense.
Alex Leshock and
Kendall McGowan had one hit apiece.
South Alabama scored on a third-inning sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning. Vaccacio retired the first two batters of the fourth before allowing back-to-back singles to Hunter Stokes and Deyvid Silva. Welch fielded Silva's hit in shallow center and fired to shortstop
Joel McDaniel at second base, but Stokes was ruled safe on a close play as he slid back into the bag. Felix Aberouette delivered his RBI single in the next at-bat.
Two times in the first four innings, App State put a runner on third with nobody out.
Beck led off the second inning with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch, but pitcher Tyler Carr retired the next two batters with a strikeout and comebacker to the mound. When a pitch got away from Aberouette, the catcher, his throw to Carr covering home led to Beck being tagged out on his attempt to score.
Singles by Leshock and Welch, followed by a hit by pitch as McGowan squared to bunt, loaded the bases with no one out in the fourth and App State trailing 1-0. Carr escaped the jam with a strikeout, infield pop-out and another strikeout.
The Mountaineers put together one more threat, as McGowan and Beck had two-out singles in the sixth inning. They moved to third and second on a passed ball, but a flyout to center ended the frame.
GAME 2 RECAP
App State's
Conner Leonard delivered a one-out, second-inning double for an offense that also got hits from Welch, Beck and
Riley Smith.
Kepley (0-1),
Tristan Helms,
Andrew Papp,
Bobby Hampton, Bowman and
Will Sprinkle pitched for the Mountaineers.
After two outs were recorded to start the bottom of the first inning, six straight Jaguars reached base, as Wells Davis hit a three-run homer and Will Luft followed a double with an RBI single.
Helms stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout to end the second inning, and South Alabama posted another two-out run with an RBI single in the third inning.
Papp, Hampton, Bowman and Sprinkle combined to allow no runs and three hits over the final five innings. With a scoreless eighth inning, Sprinkle lowered his ERA to 1.80.
