DECATUR, Ga. — Appalachian State scored a tiebreaking run in the eighth inning, but Georgia State won 3-2 and took the three-game Sun Belt Conference series by scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday.
The Mountaineers (17-33, 8-19 SBC) trail 11th-place Arkansas State (9-18 SBC) by one game and 10th-place Georgia State (25-26, 9-17) by 1.5 games with a home series against regular-season champion Coastal Carolina remaining on the schedule.
The Panthers took a first-inning lead with a solo homer off
Will Sprinkle, who gave up only two hits and recorded five strikeouts in seven innings. App State tied the game when
Joel McDaniel scored on
Alex Leshock's RBI groundout in the second inning and established an eighth-inning lead when
CJ Brown beat a throw home following a diving stop on
Conner Leonard's hard-hit ball to short.
A walk, error and strikeout preceded a game-tying double in the bottom of the ninth. After closer
Luke Watts' intentional walk loaded the bases, Ryan Glass hit a game-winning single through the left side.
Moving forward from a 4-3, extra-inning win against Georgia State on Saturday, App State got a spectacular start from Sprinkle and a perfect eighth inning from
Kaleb Bowman.
Sprinkle faced one batter over the minimum through seven innings and retired 20 of the 22 hitters he encountered, as a leadoff single in the fourth inning was erased by an unsuccessful steal attempt. After Sprinkle recorded the second out of the inning with a swinging strikeout, catcher
Riley Smith threw to second baseman
Bailey Welch to complete the inning-ending double play.
Sprinkle, who had five 1-2-3 innings, was helped by three defensive gems from third baseman
Drew Beck and a diving stop at first by Leonard. In the fifth inning alone, Beck reached above his head to snag a line drive and then cleanly fielded a hard-hit, short-hopped ball before throwing to first.
Offensively, Brown went 2-for-5 with one run scored while extending his hitting streak to 17 games. McDaniel, Leshock and
Beau Myers accounted for the Mountaineers' other hits.
Brown's infield single to open the eighth preceded Welch's sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch that put Brown on third with nobody out. Leonard's RBI put App State in position to possibly move into a tie for 10th place, but Georgia State pulled out the victory on its Senior Day.
The Mountaineers return to action against Radford on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Boone. The home series against Coastal Carolina will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium, with start times of 6 p.m., 6 p.m. and 1 p.m.
It will be Little League Weekend, with free admission for registered teams and $3 tickets for additional parents. In recognition of Military Appreciation Month, there will also be free admission for military personnel and $3 tickets for accompanying family members.
