BOONE, N.C. – The App State offense put together a pair of four-run innings at the plate, while the pitching staff combined to strike out 14, as the Mountaineers took down Georgia Southern 11-6, to take the finale of the three-game series.
Phillip Cole opened the scoring for the Mountaineers when he led off the second inning with a solo homer to left field. The blast measured 459 feet, the longest for the Mountaineers in the Trackman era.
Later in the second inning,
Andrew Terrell was hit by a pitch, and after stealing second,
Alex Aguila drove him in with an RBI single to center.
RJ Johnson reached on an error to prolong the inning, and
Austin St. Laurent followed with a two-run double to the gap in left-center field to put App State ahead, 4-1.
Meanwhile on the mound,
Trey Tujetsch was dialed in. The right-hander struck out a career-high nine over six innings to earn the win for App State. Tujesch struck out the side in the second inning, and gave up only three runs in the ballgame, exiting with the Mountaineers ahead, 5-3.
The Mountaineers (7-11, 1-2) pulled away in the late innings. Aguila led off the seventh with a single to center, and two batters later St. Laurent belted a two-run home run to left field to push the lead to 7-4.
App State then batted around in the eighth inning, scoring four more times. Aguila drove in a run with an RBI single for his fourth hit of the ballgame, a career-high. Johnson capped the scoring by tallied his first Mountaineer RBIs with a two-run single to center.
Cameron Kepley struck out four in 2.2 innings in relief, and
Trey Jernigan struck out the only batter he faced to seal the win for App State.
The Mountaineers will head to Chapel Hill on Tuesday to face off with North Carolina at 6 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
The 2022 App State Baseball Season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
