NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Winning a weekend series for the third time in its last four chances, App State took a shutout into the ninth inning Sunday and closed out its trip to the Music City with a 4-3 victory at Lipscomb.
A triumphant bus ride home from Nashville feels like a fitting time to celebrate with some Luke Combs.
The Mountaineers are leavin' Lipscomb with a 2-1 weekend record, as they improved to 4-0 this season in
Noah Hall's starts. Hall,
Shane Roberts,
Eli Ellington,
Andrew Papp and
Andrew Terrell held the Bisons scoreless on four hits through the first eight innings and survived a three-run bottom of the ninth.
App State (15-16 overall, 6-3 in Sun Belt play) scored single runs in the fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth innings, with
Luke Drumheller and
Hayden Cross driving in two runs apiece. Drumheller and
Kendall McGowan both went 2-for-5 at the plate as the Mountaineers finished with seven hits.
App State reached base to lead off an inning five times, and four times that baserunner came around to score, accounting for all of the team's runs Sunday.
Two days after pitching 2.2 scoreless innings to close an 11-inning victory, Hall shut out the Bisons for the first four innings of Game 3, and Ellington (2-0) earned the win in relief after Roberts recorded one out in the fifth. Ellington's 1.2 scoreless innings Sunday gave him five strikeouts in four scoreless innings during the series.
Papp pitched a scoreless seventh inning before Terrell posted a save for the second straight Sunday by getting the final six outs. A one-out RBI single and two-run double with two away put the tying run at second base in the ninth, but a groundout to third baseman
Peyton Idol ended the game.
McGowan's leadoff double in the fourth inning helped break a scoreless tie to that point. He moved to third on
Dalton Williams' groundout to the right side and scored on Cross' groundout to short.
Bailey Welch was hit by a pitch to open the fifth inning, and he stole second before advancing to third on a groundout by Idol. Welch raced home on Drumheller's groundout to second.
The score remained 2-0 heading to the sixth despite back-to-back walks to open the bottom half of the fifth. Roberts induced a pop-up to Cross before giving way to Ellington, who struck out the next batter and induced a groundout to short.
Papp retired the next two batters after a one-out triple in the seventh, following that hit with a strikeout, and App State added important insurance runs over the final two innings.
Robbie Young singled to open the eighth, moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt, reached third on a groundout and scored on Cross' two-out single up the middle.
Terrell used an inning-ending groundout to strand two runners in the bottom of the eighth, and Drumheller's two-out RBI single in the ninth scored
Alex Leshock, who was hit by a pitch to begin the inning.
App State returns to action Tuesday with a 5 p.m. home game against Charlotte.
