BOONE, N.C. — New Yosef-themed uniforms? Check.
A beautiful day in Boone with a big crowd at Smith Stadium? Check and check.
App State Baseball just needed to beat a quality UNCW program to complete a picturesque home opener the right way, and the Mountaineers did just that by earning a 4-2 victory Friday.
Tyler Tuthill struck out five batters in seven strong innings before
Trey Jernigan and
Eli Ellington pitched a scoreless inning apiece out of the bullpen.
Alex Aguila's two-run double turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning,
Hayden Cross delivered an RBI single for a 3-1 advantage in the sixth and the Mountaineers were ahead 3-2 before
Andrew Terrell scored on
Jacob Whitley's RBI single in the eighth inning.
It was the first-ever baseball game in Boone for UNCW, which arrived in the High Country with a 6-2 record this season and six NCAA Regional appearances in the last decade.
From Terrell's jump throw to first as he went into foul territory along the third-base line, with
Austin St. Laurent securing the out by making a clean pick of the one-hopped delivery, to Tuthill's clean throw to second to erase the lead runner on a sac bunt attempt, App State's defense came up with several big plays.
Ellington allowed a single to open the ninth, right after several defensive changes included St. Laurent moving from first base to shortstop. He started a 6-4-3 double play before top-of-the-order batter Brooks Baldwin lined a hard single toward the left-field line. He tried to stretch the single into a double, but he was thrown out at second to end the game by
Andrew Greckel, who had just moved from center field to left.
Tuthill stranded two runners in each of the first two innings, and UNCW struck first with a solo homer to begin the third. App State (4-5) still trailed 1-0 with two out and nobody on in the fifth when St. Laurent singled and advanced to third on a Greckel single.
Aguila hit a fair ball just inside the bag, past the diving third baseman. and St. Laurent scored easily.
Britt Johnson aggressively waved home Greckel, who had already committed to going when the ball was bobbled by the left fielder.
App State chased starter Matt Gaither (2.19 ERA coming in) by adding a sixth-inning run on
Dylan Rogers' leadoff single and Cross' one-out single with Rogers on third.
The Seahawks cut into the deficit with a two-out RBI double in the seventh, but Tuthill finished his 101-pitch outing by striking out the next batter.
After Jernigan threw a scoreless eighth, helpful insurance followed with Terrell getting hit by a pitch, moving to second on Rogers' sac bunt and scoring on Whitley's single to center.
App State's
Xander Hamilton and UNCW's RJ Sales are the probable starters for Game 2 at 1 p.m. Saturday's game includes free tickets for local health care workers and emergency personnel (and their immediate families).
The 2022 App State baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
