BOONE, N.C. — A festive day that began with a Senior Day ceremony continued with clutch swings, a fortunate "slip" and a series-clinching victory.
Playing a close game with first-place South Alabama for the second straight day, App State made a late-inning push for the second straight day and won 4-2 on Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
The Mountaineers (20-29, 11-9) had erased a 2-0 deficit with a five-run seventh in a 6-4 win Thursday, and they fell behind 2-0 on Friday before tying the game in the middle innings and taking the lead with a two-run bottom of the eighth.
With the victory, App State has clinched a winning record in Sun Belt play for the first time since joining the league, and the Mountaineers will be no worse than the six-team East Division's No. 4 seed for next week's conference tournament in Montgomery, Ala. A fourth-place divisional finish would mean pool play games against the West's No. 6 seed on Tuesday night and the West's No. 1 seed on Thursday night.
Hayden Cross' RBI double with
Andrew Terrell on first in the eighth broke the 2-2 tie, as Terrell scored a late-inning run after beating out a double-play ball for the second straight game, and Cross scored on a triple from
Phillip Cole, who had three extra-base hits during a 4-for-4 outing.
Eli Ellington picked up the win by closing out a flawless performance with a perfect ninth. He actually recorded 11 outs despite facing only 10 batters, five of whom were retired on strikeouts.
South Alabama (28-20, 14-9) unsuccessfully attempted a bases-loaded squeeze play immediately after Ellington entered with the game with the score tied and one away in the sixth. The ball slipped out of his hand on the pitch, creating a high, outside offering that couldn't be bunted with the runner on third breaking for home, and Cross easily applied a tag before Ellington struck out the next batter with two runners in scoring position.
Ellington replaced starter
Jason Cornatzer, who pitched a career-high 5.1 innings in his second start of the year and allowed just single runs in each of the first two innings. Over the last six games, App State has allowed a combined 13 runs and gone 4-2 against two league opponents and No. 21 South Carolina.
The home finale is scheduled for Saturday at noon, and the Mountaineers instead celebrated Senior Day before Friday's game, with eight players being recognized:
Luke Davis,
Alex Leshock,
Joseph Lowder,
Kendall McGowan,
Andrew Papp,
Cam Roberts,
Robbie Young and
Bailey Welch, whose barehanded catch and throw to first following a high chopper to short from Ethan Wilson created a highlight-reel out.
South Alabama opened the game with a double and single, but a 4-6-3 double play helped limit the damage to one run. A one-out single and double preceded a run-scoring sac bunt in the second inning, and a groundout to third prevented another run from crossing.
That started a stretch in which Cornatzer retired 12 of 14 batters, with two walks serving as the only baserunners.
App State cut into its deficit thanks to a third-inning sac fly from Young to score
Luke Drumheller, who had doubled and moved to third on a McGowan groundout. The Mountaineers tied the game in the next inning as
Tyler Leek singled with one away and went from first to third as a single to left was misplayed. Leshock's groundout to second evened the score.
Drumheller finished 2-for-4 as App State totaled 10 hits and held South Alabama to six.
