MONTGOMERY, Ala. — App State head coach
Kermit Smith vividly remembers his introduction to each of the Mountaineers' seniors. One-by-one, he shared those stories with his team as they gathered for one last postgame huddle.
A record-setting, out-of-the ordinary year ended Thursday with a 7-2 loss to top-seeded Louisiana in Riverwalk Stadium. After a 1-0 win Tuesday against Texas State produced the first Sun Belt Championship victory in program history, the Mountaineers were one out away from heading to the ninth inning with a 3-2 deficit and a chance to claim a spot in the Sun Belt semifinals.
Designated hitter Ben Fitzgerald delivered a grand slam to give the Ragin' Cajuns needed separation, and Louisiana advanced to a Saturday matchup with Georgia Southern.
Despite a gritty, often-dominant effort from starting pitcher
Tyler Tuthill and a timely two-out RBI single from
Luke Drumheller, App State took the field for the final time with a senior class that included the first players to commit to play for Smith's staff in Boone.
What a ride it's been for guys like
Bailey Welch,
Kendall McGowan,
Alex Leshock,
Andrew Papp,
Cam Roberts and
Robbie Young.
By the end of their careers, they had served as commendable representatives of App State while helping the Mountaineers finish with a winning record in Sun Belt play (11-10) for the first time.
Peyton Idol and Welch scored in the fifth inning on Drumheller's second big run-producing hit in two tournament games, enabling App State (21-31 overall) to pull within 3-2 right after the fourth inning ended with right fielder
Phillip Cole catching a flyball near the bullpen mound and firing home a strike to
Hayden Cross, who completed the double play by tagging out a runner who attempted to leap over the catcher.
That began a stretch in which Tuthill recorded 11 outs while retiring 10 straight batters from the Ragin' Cajuns (32-22). He entered the eighth inning having struck out six of the last eight hitters he had faced.
Tuthill ended up with nine strikeouts in 7.2 innings in a matchup of two starting pitchers who had the second-lowest and third-lowest ERAs in Sun Belt play. Louisiana's Connor Cooke lasted 4.2 innings before giving way to Brandon Tolley, who earned the win with two scoreless innings, and Spencer Arrighetti, the team's normal Friday night starter.
Drake Osborne homered leading off the bottom of the first inning, and Louisiana added two runs during a third inning that included a tough-luck bloop single between two defenders, an RBI double and a sac fly with one out rather than two.
Idol, who had App State's first hit, reached base for the second time with a one-out walk in the fifth. He was on second when Leshock drew a walk, and they immediately advanced a base each when Cooke caught a throw back to the mound from his catcher and quickly tossed the ball toward the Louisiana dugout in hopes of receiving a new ball.
After Welch was robbed of a hit on a line drive toward second, Drumheller came through with an RBI single to right.
App State's best chance to tie the game or move ahead came in the eighth inning, when McGowan ended up on second thanks to a two-out throwing error into the dugout. An intentional walk to Young preceded a strikeout.
The first two Louisiana batters in the bottom of the eighth reached, and Tuthill made a strong play to prevent a sacrifice bunt from becoming an infield single. An intentional walk loaded the bases before Tuthill struck out the next batter on three pitches.
Fitzgerald homered, and
Eli Ellington struck out the only batter he faced to cap his own dominant end to the season.
