BOONE, N.C. –
Xander Hamilton struck out ten for the Mountaineers, but App State was held in check at the plate in a 5-2 loss to Georgia Southern, Saturday, at Smith Stadium.
Hamilton has now struck out 51 batters in five starts this season to lead Sun Belt pitchers. He worked seven innings, yielding just two runs on seven hits and walked only one against the Eagles. He has fanned at least nine batters in every outing this season.
Georgia Southern (13-6, 2-0) starter Ty Fisher was equally as impressive. The lefty retired the first ten batters he faced, giving up just one unearned run over seven innings of work.
Neither team scored until the sixth inning when the Eagles got on the board with a two-out RBI single from Noah Searcy, driving in Christian Avant, who doubled earlier in the frame. Georgia Southern tacked on another run in the seventh with a two-out RBI double from Jesse Sherrill.
App State (6-11, 0-2) responded with a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Phillip Cole reached on an error to begin the inning, and later in the frame
Jacob Whitley and
Alex Aguila notched back-to-back singles to score him, to make it 2-1.
The Eagles responded with three runs in the eighth, scoring on three bases loaded walks, and sending nine men to the plate in the frame.
The Mountaineers did get one run back in the ninth. Cole and
Austin St. Laurent each singled to put runners at the corners ahead of an RBI groundout from
RJ Johnson to plate a run.
App State will look to salvage the series finale Sunday when they send righty
Trey Tujetsch to the mound with first pitch against the Eagles scheduled for 1 p.m.
The 2022 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
