COLUMBIA, S.C. — Appalachian State Baseball jumped ahead quickly and stayed within striking distance of South Carolina before falling 3-1 on the road Tuesday afternoon.
App State (2-5) took a lead two batters into the game at Founders Park, as
Luke Drumheller followed
Bailey Welch's infield single with an RBI double down the left-field line, but South Carolina (7-1) tied the game on Jacob Olson's solo homer in the second inning and moved ahead on Luke Berryhill's RBI double in the third.
The score remained 2-1 until the eighth inning, when a leadoff double preceded a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly to right field.
The Mountaineers benefited from a strong start by senior
Brandon Boone, who allowed two runs on five hits in six innings and finished with six strikeouts. Technically, the last 10 batters he faced were retired in order.
Boone ended the third inning by stranding two runners with a swinging strikeout on a 3-2 pitch, then struck out the side in the fourth. When he ended a perfect fifth with a strikeout, that made it five strikeouts in a span of seven straight retired hitters.
South Carolina doubled off the left-field wall to open the bottom of the sixth, but left fielder
Kendall McGowan threw out the baserunner trying to stretch the hit into a triple, and Boone induced a pair of flyouts before exiting.
Andrew Papp took over to begin the bottom of the seventh and quickly struck out the side.
Kaleb Bowman allowed an eighth-inning run but ended that frame with the 10th strikeout by the App State pitching staff.
Luke Allison led the Mountaineers with two hits in his first career start at third base.
Phillip Cole and
Robbie Young also had hits as both teams totaled six apiece.
The Mountaineers return to action Friday night as the home team in a 7:05 p.m. game against Gardner-Webb at BB&T Ballpark in uptown Charlotte. That three-game series will conclude in Boone with a 2 p.m. game Saturday and a noon finale Sunday at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
To purchase tickets for Friday's game in Charlotte, with Home Plate Club tickets available for $15 and Field Box tickets available for $10,
click HERE.
Season tickets for App State's home schedule, which still has 25 more games remaining on it, are available at a cost of just $85 for adults, $75 for App State staff/faculty (limit of two) or senior citizens (limit of two) and $45 for youth (ages 3-12). Additionally, there is a Family Four Pack plan that includes two adult season tickets and two youth season tickets for $235 ($25 off the regular price for all four).
Season tickets can be purchased by
clicking HERE, by calling the Appalachian State athletics ticket office at (828) 262-2079 or by going to the ticket office, located at the Holmes Center, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.
To purchase single-game baseball tickets online,
click HERE, and there's also a package for all Saturday home games that's available by
clicking HERE.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
