BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Starting pitcher
Shane Roberts allowed just two hits and one run in a 5-4 loss to Gardner-Webb on Saturday.
After allowing a home run to the leadoff hitter, Roberts responded by giving up just three more base runners in six innings on the mound. The right-hander finished with two strikeouts and delivered three innings where he faced the minimum.
"Really nice to see Shane have an outing like that," head coach
Kermit Smith said. "Anytime you can get six [innings] from your starter this early in the year you have to be elated with it, especially when he only gives up one run on two hits."
App State (0-2) fell behind in the first after a leadoff homer from Gardner-Webb's Cam Pearcey. In the top half of the second, junior
Andrew Greckel blasted a game-tying home run on a 3-2 pitch. Greckel finished 2-for-4 at the plate on Saturday.
The Mountaineers then took a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning after RBIs from junior
Jack Lipson and senior
Luke Allison. Sophomore
Phillip Cole reached base via an error to open the inning before junior
Bailey Welch singled to right field to put runners at first and third. Lipson then split the gap in left center for a ground-rule double to give App State the lead. Allison brought home another run with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring a head-first sliding Welch from third.
Gardner-Webb (2-0) knotted the game at 3-3 in the seventh inning after a pair of bases-loaded walks. The Mountaineers retook the lead in the eighth when sophomore
Luke Drumheller smacked the first pitch he saw for a double. Lipson scored after drawing a walk earlier in the inning, but Allison was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first.
The Runnin' Bulldogs tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth before notching a walk-off single in the ninth.
App State will close out the series on Sunday at 2 p.m. Left-handed pitcher
Quinton Martinez will make his App State debut in Game 3.
"A couple of guys bunched some freebies together there in the seventh, and we paid the price," Smith said. "Those guys will be back out there and will learn from this."
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2020 season.
