BOONE, N.C. — Georgia State edged Appalachian State 2-0 in a pitchers' duel Friday between
Will Sprinkle and Hunter Gaddis, a Preseason All-American.
In the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams, the visiting Panthers pushed across single runs in the third and fifth innings against Sprinkle, who battled through seven innings. He allowed two runs on seven hits while stranding eight baserunners, and
Kaleb Bowman had two strikeouts in two scoreless innings.
Gaddis struck out 10 batters and allowed four hits in eight innings before Joseph Brandon picked up the save by allowing one hit in a scoreless ninth. According to the @AppStSportsData account,
Riley Smith (2-for-3) had an exit velocity of 106 mph on a single over the third baseman's head in that inning.
App State's hits off Gaddis were a first-inning infield single by
Alex Leshock (who reached base twice),
Bailey Welch's first-inning single that produced one out on runner interference, Smith's leadoff single off the third baseman's glove in the second inning and
Luke Drumheller's sharp single to center in the bottom of the eighth inning.
That two-out hit, coupled with a one-out walk to
Luke Allison, put the tying run on base against Gaddis. A running catch on a line drive to shallow right field ended the inning and App State's best chance to score.
Georgia State had two runners on with one out in the second inning when Sprinkle induced consecutive groundouts, and a leadoff single in the third inning came around to score thanks to a stolen base, sacrifice bunt and RBI groundout from Jake Corso.
After a perfect fourth inning from Sprinkle, Luke Leonard doubled to begin the fifth and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. He scored on an RBI single from Griffin Cheney.
The Panthers (6-12, 1-0) were held scoreless in the sixth even though a single, error and sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position with one away. Allison's defense on a slow chopper in front of third and a pop-up to Welch at second erased that threat.
Allison made several strong plays at third base for the Mountaineers (6-10, 0-1), and Bowman alertly got an out on a body-smashing comebacker to the mound with an exit velocity of 102 mph.
The conference series continues Saturday at 1 p.m. with App State's
Tyler Tuthill (3-1) and Georgia State's Jake Rogers (1-2) scheduled to pitch.
Single-game tickets can be purchased online by
clicking HERE, and the game will be shown on AppVision.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
