BOONE, N.C. — Riley Smith hit a fifth-inning grand slam, but Georgia State clinched a series victory at Appalachian State by winning 17-6 in eight innings Sunday afternoon.
The Panthers posted an eight-run second inning and led 10-0 before Smith cleared the bases with a 400-foot shot that had an exit velocity of 99 mph as it started toward left field. It was the first grand slam for the Mountaineers (7-11, 1-2) since
CJ Brown had one in the first inning of an April 17 home game against North Carolina Central last season.
Those two teams will meet again Tuesday in Boone at 5 p.m. The game will be available on AppVision, and tickets can be purchased online by
clicking HERE.
Appalachian won 9-3 against Georgia State in the second game of their opening Sun Belt Conference series of 2019, and Smith's third homer of the season was the highlight for the short-handed Mountaineers.
Tyler Leek went 2-for-4, and relief pitcher
Will Herman struck out three of the five batters he faced.
Cameron Kepley struck out one batter in a clean first inning on the mound, and App State loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the first. A strikeout preceded a hard lineout to center from
Phillip Cole, who had an exit velocity of 103 mph on a ball that forced the center fielder to make a catch running toward the warning track, according to the @AppStSportsData account.
Georgia State (7-13, 2-1) posted five hits while taking advantage of one error in the second inning, which began with back-to-back walks. Luke Leonard's two-run single, Dalton Davies' RBI double and Daino Deas' three-run homer gave the Panthers a 6-0 lead.
Trailing by double digits entering the bottom of the fifth inning, App State began a one-out rally thanks to a single from Leek, a walk to
Alex Leshock and a hit by pitch of
Luke Allison.
Bailey Welch's RBI single drove home Leek, and Smith drilled a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left.
Brown, on as a pinch-runner following a seventh-inning single by Cole, scored App State's final run on a single from
Robbie Young.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
