BOONE, N.C. — Andrew Terrell darted away from third at the sign of an errant pitch and slid safely into home, prompting his teammates to charge out of the third-base dugout to celebrate an improbable victory.
App State trailed by seven runs heading to the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday against UNCW, but the Mountaineers scored four times in the eighth and four more times in the bottom of the ninth to walk — or sprint — off with a 12-11 victory.
With that wild ending following a 4-2 victory by App State on Friday, the series concludes Sunday at noon.
At the top of the order, Terrell and
Dylan Rogers both went 4-for-5, with the final dash from Terrell accounting for his fourth run scored. Starting pitcher
Xander Hamilton struck out 11 batters while allowing three earned runs over 4.2 innings, and App State's fifth hurler was
Cameron Kepley, who didn't throw a pitch but recorded the final out with an immediate pickoff to end the top of the ninth.
Returning from injury this season after last making a game appearance more than 1,000 days earlier, Kepley recorded his first college win in the process.
Facing an 11-4 deficit in the eighth, the Mountaineers (5-5) cut into it on
Dylan Rogers' RBI double and
Hayden Cross' RBI single.
Hunter Bryson's third homer of the young season was another big one, as the two-run shot cut the lead to 11-8 for UNCW (6-4).
The bottom of the ninth began with a swinging strikeout of
Austin St. Laurent, but he reached first on the wild pitch. A walk to
Andrew Greckel preceded an infield single by pinch-hitter
Dalton Williams, who was then replaced by pinch-runner
Grey LaSpaluto.
Terrell drew a bases-loaded walk, and Rogers' two-run single tied the game with nobody still out, leaving runners at the corners.
That led to an intentional walk of
Jacob Whitley, and
RJ Johnson came on to pinch-run. The next at-bat resulted in a lineout to second — a scenario that could've triggered a double play — but Terrell then scored on the wild pitch with Bryson in the box.
