CHARLESTON, S.C. – App State's baseball team secured its second straight weekend-series victory with a 9-1 win at Charleston Southern on Saturday afternoon.
The Mountaineers (7-6) set the tone in the second inning, scoring five runs with two outs to move above .500 for the first time this season. App State loaded the bases with no outs before doing all its damage with two away in the frame.
Sophomore
Andrew Terrell, who drew four walks in Saturday's win, put App State's first run on the board with a bases-loaded walk. Junior
Bailey Welch then extended his hitting streak to five games with a two-out, two-run single up the middle to plate junior
Kendall McGowan and senior
Robbie Young. The Mountaineers scored their final two runs in the second with a two-RBI triple from sophomore
Luke Drumheller, which brought home Terrell and Welch to boost App State's advantage to 5-0.
With a 5-0 lead, junior left-hander
Quinton Martinez shut down the Charleston Southern offense from the mound, allowing just five hits and one earned run in six innings pitched. The southpaw earned his second victory and upped his season strikeout total to 22 with five punch outs.
After Charleston Southern (7-9) cut the lead to 5-1 in the fourth, the Mountaineers responded with a pair of runs in the seventh and eighth innings to stretch their lead to 9-1. McGowan capped off his 3-for-3 day at the plate with an RBI single in the seventh, extending App State's lead to 6-1. Young then recorded an RBI groundout to push the lead to 7-1.
Welch helped App State tack on its final two runs with a two-run homer over the wall in left center in the eighth inning. The junior finished 2-for-5 in the leadoff spot with a home run, four RBIs and two runs scored.
Junior
Andrew Greckel recorded his seventh straight game with an extra-base hit with a double in the third inning. Greckel has now reached base safely in all 12 games he's played in this season.
Relievers
Cy Smith,
Austin Primm and
Shane Roberts all delivered scoreless outings in relief in the 9-1 win. App State pitchers combined for seven strikeouts in Saturday's series-clinching triumph.
"Very complete night tonight!" head coach
Kermit Smith said. "Extremely proud of our guys for answering the call on some improvements from the past few games. Obviously, it's a great feeling to win the weekend. I think the great teams that I've coached over the years have looked at the Sunday game as a great opportunity after winning the first two. Looking forward to seeing our level of focus and passion tomorrow as we look to finish the weekend."
The Mountaineers will go for their first series sweep of the season with left-hander
Cole Hooper on the mound. Hooper will make his first Sunday start with a first pitch set for 1 p.m.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2020 season.
