BOONE, N.C. — Playing its final midweek home game, App State appeared to take an early lead, then went into rally mode before falling 10-5 against ETSU on Tuesday night.
Tyler Leek had three hits despite missing out on another big one in the early going, and
Kendall McGowan homered in the ninth inning.
Bailey Welch,
Robbie Young and
Alex Leshock had two hits apiece for the Mountaineers (16-27), while
Dalton Williams joined three of them by reaching base three times.
Welch opened the bottom of the first with a double and was on third when Young drew a two-out walk. Leek crushed a high flyball down the left-field line, and the Mountaineers' dugout erupted in celebration when the ball cleared the wall, but the play was ruled a foul ball rather than a three-run homer.
Three-run homers in the third and fourth innings gave ETSU a 7-0 lead before App State responded with a four-run bottom of the fourth.
Young led off the frame with a double and moved to third on a Leek single before a walk to Williams loaded the bases.
Leshock's double down the right-field line scored two runs, and Williams scored on a
Peyton Idol groundout that cut the deficit to 7-3. Welch's two-out walk extended the inning for
Luke Drumheller, who drilled an RBI single to left field.
On a staff day, nine pitchers threw one inning apiece.
Helped by a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded, starter
Cam Roberts tossed a scoreless first.
Cy Smith and
Ben Peterson pitched scoreless fifth and sixth innings, respectively.
Andrew Papp struck out two batters in the eighth inning, which included a frame-extending error, and
Phillip Cole made his season debut on the mound by striking out one batter in a perfect ninth.
App State (7-8 Sun Belt) resumes its Sun Belt schedule Friday with the start of a three-game weekend series at Little Rock (19-23, 9-9).
