BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State pitcher
Will Sprinkle took a no-hitter and a five-run lead into the seventh inning as the Mountaineers recorded a 5-2 win against Manhattan in their 2019 home opener at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium on Saturday.
App State (1-3) scored twice in the fourth inning, twice in the fifth inning and once in the sixth inning in support of Sprinkle, who didn't allow a hit until Matt Padre singled with one out in the top of the seventh.
Sprinkle (1-1) gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits over seven innings,
Andrew Papp allowed one hit in a scoreless eighth and
Kaleb Bowman recorded his first career save with a scoreless ninth. With a runner on first, the game ended as shortstop
Joel McDaniel fielded a grounder and flipped the ball to second baseman
Bailey Welch for a forceout.
App State catcher
Riley Smith led the offense by going 2-for-4 with a triple that turned into a fifth-inning run and an RBI double in the sixth inning. Welch, who started at third base, went 2-for-4 with a fourth-inning triple that resulted in a run and an RBI single in the fifth inning.
Kendall McGowan hit an RBI double, and a single apiece from McDaniel and
Luke Drumheller helped the Mountaineers outhit Manhattan 7-3.
Welch led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a triple over the center fielder's head and scored on a sacrifice fly to left from Drumheller.
Phillip Cole was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat, and he scored all the way from first on McGowan's double.
Smith opened the bottom of the fifth with a triple to right, and after
CJ Brown was hit by a pitch, Smith came home on a groundout to short to give the Mountaineers a 3-0 lead over the Jaspers (1-3). An attempt to turn a double play led to a throwing error that put
Kyle Decker in scoring position, and he raced home on Welch's single.
App State increased its lead to 5-0 in the sixth inning thanks to a one-out walk to
Robbie Young, who scored from first on a double by Smith. That was enough offense with the way App State pitched and played defense. Sprinkle, Papp and Bowman combined for six strikeouts and just one walk.
After hitting Manhattan's first batter of the game, Sprinkle retired 19 of the next 21 hitters, with a hit batter in the second inning and infield error by Sprinkle on a sixth-inning grounder to the mound accounting for the only baserunners during that stretch. After a passed ball put two seventh-inning runners in scoring position, Alex Cerda produced the Jaspers' only runs with a two-run single.
The series resumes Sunday with a doubleheader starting at noon.
Tyler Tuthill and
Cameron Kepley are the projected mound starters for the Mountaineers.
On Sundays, the first 100 fans to enter the gates will receive a free biscuit courtesy of App State Athletics. Members of the Faith community can also bring a Sunday program to the ticketing area to buy a game ticket for only $3, and those tickets can be purchased in advance by using the online promo code: FAITH.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
