BOONE, N.C. — A four-run fourth inning, capped by two unearned runs on back-to-back sacrifice bunts, propelled South Alabama to a 4-1 road win against Appalachian State in their Sun Belt Conference series opener Friday.
With forecasts for a rainy weekend, Game 2 is now scheduled to begin Saturday at 4 p.m. in Boone. The schedule for the remainder of the series between the Mountaineers (21-25, 12-12) and Jaguars (27-22, 13-12) will be reassessed mid-morning Saturday.
With normal Game 2 starters
Tyler Tuthill (App State) and Drake Nightengale (South Alabama, 33 strikeouts in his previous three starts) taking the mound for Game 1, each team managed seven hits.
Bailey Welch and
Luke Allison had two hits and one stolen base apiece for App State, with its lone run coming in the sixth inning thanks to
Riley Smith's leadoff double, Allison's sacrifice bunt and
Alex Leshock's RBI groundout.
App State pitcher
Kaleb Bowman, who took over in the fifth inning, and
Andrew Papp combined to allow two hits in 4.1 scoreless innings of relief that set up a chance for a late-inning rally. Welch and
Luke Drumheller opened the bottom of the ninth with consecutive singles, but a strikeout preceded a game-ending double play in which closer Zach Greene cleanly fielded a hard-hit comebacker.
Tuthill and Nightengale held each offense scoreless through three innings, and a leadoff single in the top of the fourth came around to score on Wells Davis' RBI double that dropped fair near the left-field corner. A single put runners at the corners for Santi Montiel, who put down a bunt to the right of the mound.
With the lead runner in position to score, the left-handed Tuthill bobbled the ball, spun around toward first and made an off-target throw toward the bag. Dakota Dailey scored from first on the play, and Montiel advanced all the way to third before scoring on another bunt to the mound in the next at-bat from Kaleb DeLaTorre.
Tuthill was responsible for three strikeouts and two earned runs on five hits in 4.2 innings. He gave way to Bowman with a runner on third and two out in the fifth inning. Bowman followed a walk by inducing a pop-up to end that threat.
He pitched around a one-out double in the sixth, stranding a runner at third on a defensive gem by Allison at short, and first baseman
Robbie Young started a 3-6-1 double play in the seventh. Papp struck out two batters in a scoreless eighth and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
