NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Luke Drumheller homered in the top of the first inning, and
Jason Cornatzer retired eight of the 10 batters he faced in three scoreless innings to keep App State's comeback hopes alive, but Lipscomb won 4-2 on Saturday.
The Mountaineers, who won Friday's opener in 11 innings, will go for the series victory Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. The game will be shown on YouTube Live.
Lipscomb tied the game with a run in the bottom of the first inning and took the lead for good with a three-run fifth that included a leadoff double, which later came in on an RBI fielder's choice. With a 2-1 lead over the Mountaineers (14-16) and two away, the Bisons increased their advantage on Malik Williams' two-out, two-run double.
App State's best chance to rally came in the eighth inning, as it loaded the bases with nobody out thanks to
Bailey Welch's leadoff double and a pair of 3-2 plunkings involving
Peyton Idol and
Andrew Terrell, who were both down 0-2 in the count. Drumheller's sacrifice fly to left-center brought in Welch, but a strikeout and flyout to center ended the frame.
App State starter
Quinton Martinez struck out four batters and allowed five hits in five innings. Cornatzer, who retired eight of the nine batters he faced in a win last weekend against Georgia State, had another strong outing by allowing no hits in three relief innings.
With one on in the seventh inning, a comebacker up the middle hit the mound and deflected off Drumheller's glove behind the second-base bag before Welch fielded the redirected ball, stepped on the base and fired to first to complete a highlight-worthy double play.
For the second straight day, App State threw out an attempted steal of home, as a Lipscomb runner broke from third on a post-pitch return throw to the mound from catcher
Carson Arnold. Martinez fired back home to Arnold, who applied the tag in time.
