BOONE, N.C. — Fans stood up from their seats and Appalachian State players darted away from the home dugout, but there was no Black and Gold rush to leave Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium at the end of a record-setting weekend.
App State completed a sweep of league-leading UTA with an 8-4 victory Sunday, prompting players to high-five near the mound as fans continued to stand and applaud the performance.
Tied for fifth in their 12-team league, the Mountaineers (19-22 overall) improved their program-best Sun Belt record to 11-9 by securing their first three-game home sweep of a conference opponent since 2012. They followed wins by scores of 9-7 and 6-0 in a Saturday doubleheader with a balanced effort that included home runs by
Robbie Young (go-ahead, two-run shot in the second inning) and
Tyler Leek (3-for-4 in his second straight game with a homer).
Alex Leshock added two doubles in support of App State's pitching staff, as senior starter
Brandon Boone improved to 5-2 by allowing two runs on five hits in five innings. With five strikeouts, he increased his two-year total to 101 strikeouts in 96.1 innings.
Kaleb Bowman took over with a 3-2 lead entering the sixth, and the Mountaineers increased their advantage to 8-2 during his first two innings of work.
Jack Hartman got the final two outs of an eighth in which the Mavericks (28-17, 14-7) hit a two-run homer, and
Andrew Papp pitched a scoreless ninth.
App State improved to 4-1 in Game 3 conference starts from Boone, who allowed a second-inning run on a two-out RBI single before his offense responded with three runs in the bottom half of that inning.
Joel McDaniel led off with a walk and moved to second on an infield single by Leek to set up a sacrifice bunt from
Riley Smith. The runners advanced again on a game-tying passed ball, and Young then gave App State a 3-1 lead with a 408-foot homer to right.
A two-out double and triple by UTA in the fifth cut Appalachian's lead to 3-2, but Boone induced a flyout to right to keep the Mountaineers ahead. McDaniel's two-out double in the sixth chased UTA starter David Moffat, who had retired 12 of the last 13 batters prior to that hit, and Leek homered to left-center on the first pitch from reliever Wyatt Divis.
After Bowman pitched a scoreless seventh with a 5-2 lead, App State added three more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Leshock led off with a double down the left-field line and scored on
Bailey Welch's single to center. Welch was out at home on
Luke Drumheller's single into the gap, but Drumheller scored from first on
Kendall McGowan's RBI triple, and McGowan raced home on a wild pitch with two away.
The Mountaineers return to action Tuesday with a home game against Western Carolina and resume their Sun Belt schedule with a weekend series at Arkansas State.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
