BOONE, N.C. — Brandon Boone started a shutout of North Carolina Central for the second straight year, and he had plenty of help Tuesday.
Boone,
Cam Roberts,
Evan Mauldin,
Austin Primm and
Kaleb Bowman combined on a three-hitter in a 13-0 home victory for Appalachian State, which scored three runs apiece in the second, third, fifth and eighth innings.
The Mountaineers (8-11) used 23 players overall and had seven stolen bases in the first five innings, including two steals from
Alex Leshock and three from
Tyler Leek, who scored four times. App State's 14 hits, coupled with five errors by N.C. Central (9-12), contributed to the lopsided result.
Boone, who was relieved by Bowman in a seven-hit shutout of the Eagles last season, struck out four batters and allowed one hit in three innings Tuesday before exiting because he had reached his designated pitch count. Roberts, who took the mound with a 6-0 lead, gave up one hit and struck out two batters in three scoreless innings.
Mauldin, Primm and Bowman each pitched an inning apiece to close out a victory in which N.C. Central didn't have a baserunner reach third.
Leek made a diving catch in left field, first baseman
Robbie Young initiated a 3-6-1 double play,
Drew Beck made an over-the-shoulder catch beyond first base and second baseman
Luke Allison followed a diving stop and acrobatic flip for a ninth-inning forceout by starting a game-ending double play.
Offensively, App State had its leadoff hitter reach base in each of the team's last six at-bats, and 12 players had at least one hit for the Mountaineers. Leshock (2-for-2, two RBIs, two runs) and reserve catcher
Hayden Cross (2-for-2) had multi-hit games.
Leek's first steal of the game, followed by a walk to Allison, a double steal and a hit by pitch, loaded the bases in the second inning for
Luke Drumheller, who had entered the game as a pinch-runner following a hard-hit single by
Kendall McGowan. Drumheller, who took over at second base after
Bret Baldwin made his first career start, picked up his 19th and 20th RBIs of the season with a two-run single, and an unearned run gave Appalachian a 3-0 lead.
Young and
Phillip Cole scored on an infield error in the third inning, and Leshock delivered an RBI single for a 6-0 advantage. Leshock had another RBI single in the fifth inning, and
Riley Smith hit a two-run single for a 9-0 lead. Allison's sixth-inning sacrifice fly pushed the margin to double figures, and
Kyle Decker's leadoff triple triggered a three-run eighth.
Facing his brother Ryan's team, Decker scored on an infield single from Beck, Leek scored on
Andrew Terrell's fielder's choice with the bases loaded and
CJ Brown raced home on an RBI single from Cross.
App State returns to action Friday with Game 1 of a Sun Belt Conference road series against Louisiana.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
