BOONE, N.C. — Moving forward from an inauspicious start, Appalachian State Baseball recorded its first home shutout in league play since its first-ever Sun Belt Conference victory in 2015.
App State closed its series with top-55 RPI opponent Texas State by winning 3-0 on Sunday at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
Joel McDaniel's second-inning homer was one of three two-out RBIs for the Mountaineers, and the trio of
Brandon Boone,
Jack Hartman and
Kaleb Bowman limited the Bobcats (18-10, 6-3) to five hits.
Despite hitting Jaylen Hubbard with the first pitch of the game and walking the next batter, Boone pitched five scoreless innings while finishing with a career-high-tying seven strikeouts and three hits allowed. Hartman and Bowman pitched two scoreless innings apiece, with Bowman posting his second save of the season for Appalachian (11-15, 4-5).
The Mountaineers, who added fifth-inning runs on two-out RBI singles from
Alex Leshock (to score McDaniel) and
Luke Drumheller (to score Leshock) against previously unbeaten starter Connor Reich (4-1, 2.30 ERA), beat Texas State for the first time as a Sun Belt member. App State's last home shutout in league play was a 7-0 win against ULM in the program's first-ever Sun Belt win.
After putting two on with nobody out in the top of the first inning, Boone got a groundout and two straight strikeouts. He then struck out the first two batters of the second and followed a two-out single with his fifth strikeout in a span of six batters.
Texas State, with help from a leadoff single, had a runner on third with two away in the third inning. Starting at shortstop, McDaniel ranged far to his right to catch a line drive.
A pair of two-out walks in the fourth were stranded by a flyout to Leshock in center, and Boone stranded two more runners in the fifth after allowing a one-out double and two-out walk. Hartman retired six of the seven batters he faced, posting two strikeouts, and Bowman also had two strikeouts in his two innings of work.
Of App State's six shutouts since the beginning of the 2018 season, Boone has started four of them.
Offensively, McDaniel (2-for-3, two runs, one RBI), Leshock (2-for-4, one run, one RBI) and Drumheller (1-for-3 to give him a .409 average for the season) led the way.
McDaniel started the final two games of the series and went 4-for-7 with only one swing and a miss. The balls he put in play, from highest to lowest according to the
@AppStSportsData account on Twitter, had exit velocities of 109, 108, 105, 103, 100 (Sunday's homer), 96 (Saturday's double) and 91 mph.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season. The Mountaineers return to action Tuesday with a 5 p.m. home game against Wake Forest.
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