NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mid-inning comeback. Extra-inning win.
App State opened a three-game series at Lipscomb with a dramatic 9-5 victory in 11 innings Friday night.
The Mountaineers (14-15) trailed 5-0 after three innings, tied the game in the top of the seventh and took control with a four-run top of the 11th, highlighted by
Phillip Cole's two-run double to left to break the tie.
Following a resilient start from
Tyler Tuthill (retired the final 10 batters he faced in a six-inning effort) and strong relief work from
Eli Ellington,
Noah Hall improved to 5-0 this season and 7-0 in his career by allowing no hits over the final 2.2 innings against the Bisons (11-18).
App State won an extra-inning game for the first time since a 4-3, 10-inning victory at Georgia State in 2018, and it was the Mountaineers' first win in a game that went as long as 11 innings since a 3-2 victory against Georgia Southern in the 2014 Southern Conference Tournament.
Andrew Terrell opened the 11th inning with a single and moved to second on a one-out walk to
Kendall McGowan before they both advanced on a wild pitch. A walk to
Robbie Young (4-for-5, two runs) loaded the bases for Cole, who drilled a ball off the wall in left to produce a 7-5 lead.
Young scored and Cole (3-for-6, three RBIs, two doubles) moved to third as
Carson Arnold reached on an infield error.
Alex Leshock's single through the left side sent Cole home with the final run.
Hall, who had used a strikeout to escape a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 10th inning, retired the side in order to end the game. He took the mound after Ellington pitched 2.1 scoreless innings in relief of Tuthill, with two runners in the bottom of the seventh being stranded by an Ellington strikeout on a 3-2 pitch.
Trailing 5-0 before the third inning was complete, App State managed to tie the game at 5-all with one run in the fourth, three runs in the sixth and another run in the seventh. Tuthill retired the last 10 batters he faced following an unsuccessful first-and-third double steal in which second baseman
Luke Drumheller threw home to catcher
Hayden Cross for a tag, ending the third inning with a strikeout and getting two more over three flawless frames.
McGowan scored App State's first run on a sacrifice fly from Cross in the fourth inning, and Young's one-out single in the sixth preceded an RBI double from Cole. With two away, Leshock and
Bailey Welch were both hit by pitches to set up a bases-loaded walk from
Peyton Idol, and Leshock scored on Terrell's infield single.
McGowan and Young opened the seventh inning with singles, and an error allowed McGowan to race home with the tying run.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday and be available on ESPN3.
