ARLINGTON, Texas — Appalachian State completed a Texas-sized sweep on Sunday.
The Mountaineers went ahead for good in the sixth inning of their Sun Belt Conference series finale at UTA and won 6-4 as senior closer Luke Watts recorded a six-out save in relief of victorious starter Will Sprinkle.
App State, which didn't trail during any of the 27 innings contested in Arlington, posted its first three-game sweep in conference play since the highly decorated 2012 team took a three-game set at Wofford.
With two series victories in the last three weekends, Appalachian (16-31, 7-17) matched the Sun Belt win total of East Division foe Georgia State (22-25, 7-16) in advance of their matchup next weekend in Georgia and pulled within one game of West Division member Arkansas State (17-26, 8-16). Ten of the league's 12 teams will participate in the postseason tournament.
After winning by scores of 5-0 and 2-1 in a Saturday doubleheader at UTA (21-27, 11-13), App State had six extra-base hits among its 12 total hits Sunday. The Mountaineers got two hits apiece from No. 6 batter Kendall McGowan (2-for-4, one RBI), No. 7 batter Joel McDaniel (2-for-4, one double), No. 8 batter Beau Myers (2-for-3, two RBIs, double) and No. 9 batter Alex Leshock (2-for-4).
CJ Brown, Bailey Welch and Drew Beck all had doubles, and Riley Smith hit a triple.
On the mound, Sprinkle improved to 2-1 with a 2.68 ERA on the season by pitching seven effective innings. He turned a 5-4 lead over to Watts, who allowed one hit and faced the minimum of six batters over the final two innings. An inning-ending double play erased an infield single that opened the bottom of the eighth.
Watts has six saves in App State's last 12 games and nine saves on the year, moving him into sole possession of fifth place in the school's single-season records. He hasn't allowed an earned run in 18.0 innings over his last 16 appearances, giving him 23 outings with no earned runs in 26 total appearances as a senior.
App State established a 2-0 lead Sunday on second-inning RBI groundouts from Beck (following Smith's leadoff triple) and Myers (sacrifice bunt after back-to-back singles from McGowan and McDaniel). UTA tied the game with an RBI single and RBI double in the bottom half of the third inning, but Sprinkle ended the inning by forcing a foul-out to right field.
Back-to-back doubles from Brown and Welch to begin the sixth inning gave the Mountaineers a 3-2 lead, and they added to it when Welch advanced to third on Smith's foul-out to the UTA first baseman and scored on a throwing error.
The Mavericks cut their deficit in half with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Appalachian moved ahead 5-3 in the seventh on Myers' infield single that brought home McDaniel, who had doubled with one out and advanced to third on a throwing error.
UTA again trimmed its deficit to one run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning, but a two-out RBI single from McGowan in the top of the eighth inning scored Beck, who had doubled in the previous at-bat.
