ROCK HILL, S.C. — App State left Winthrop with a series win but not a sweep after the Eagles scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning to record a 10-9 victory in Sunday's finale.
After winning 4-1 and 4-0 in a Saturday doubleheader, the Mountaineers trailed 5-1 after one inning of Game 3 but rallied to hold leads of 8-6 in the top of the sixth inning and 9-8 after
Alex Leshock's RBI single in the top of the seventh.
Winthrop followed a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth with a sacrifice bunt and one-out walk. After a pitching change, a first-pitch double to right tied the game while putting two runners in scoring position. An intentional walk loaded the bases for Jonathan Strauss, who singled down the left-field line.
The result ended an eight-game winning streak dating back to last season for the Mountaineers, who return to action Tuesday at ETSU. They are 13-7 since the start of the 2020 season, and four of the losses have been one-run, walk-off defeats on the road.
Leshock went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI on Sunday, while
Robbie Young was 2-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs.
Andrew Terrell also had two RBIs, and the other Mountaineers with two hits apiece were
Andrew Greckel and
Phillip Cole, who scored twice.
On the mound,
Trey Tujetsch (pronounced TOO-ish) replaced starter
Cole Hooper in the first inning and had officially allowed just one run in 5.1 innings before Winthrop hit a two-out, two-run homer to tie the score at 8-all in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Eli Ellington, another pitcher making his App State debut, threw 2.1 scoreless and hitless innings to help the Mountaineers take a 9-8 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning.
App State was able to even the score at 5-all by the top of the third inning, as two runs scored in the second inning on an errant pickoff attempt with two errors and Terrell's RBI groundout with
Bailey Welch at third. Cole and Greckel both scored on Young's two-run double in the third.
The Mountaineers turned inning-ending double plays with the score tied in the third and fourth innings.
After Winthrop took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Mountaineers responded with a three-run top of the sixth. Young's leadoff double,
Jack Lipson's infield single and Leshock's walk loaded the bases for Welch, who delivered a sac fly. Lipson scored from third as Terrell beat out an infield single, and a plunked batter to again load the bases set up a sac fly from Greckel.
