BOONE, N.C. – The Mountaineers were forced to overcome a 2-0 deficit Saturday, in addition to having to wait out a 3:36 rain delay, but they prevailed late, taking down Troy, 6-3, at Smith Stadium in the regular season finale.
With the Mountaineers trailing 3-2 in the seventh inning,
Alex Reed led off with a single through the right side, and one batter later
Andrew Terrell reached on an error while trying to bunt him to second. With one out in the inning,
Hunter Bryson came up as a pinch hitter and chopped an RBI double down the left field line to tie the score. Later in the inning,
Hayden Cross served a double of his own into the left field corner to give the Mountaineers a 5-3 lead.
Braxton Church provided App State (19-32, 10-20) with an insurance run in the eighth, with a solo homer to right field, his second of the season, to make it 6-3.
The Mountaineers got a tremendous start from
Austin Primm, who fired a career-high five innings, giving up just two runs on five hits while striking out a pair in his first start of the season. Fellow seniors
Shane Roberts and
Trey Jernigan followed suit. Roberts earned the win, striking out three, in two innings in relief. Jernigan secured his second save of the season with two scoreless innings, inducing a double-play ball to end the ballgame.
Troy (31-23, 15-15) took the lead in the first inning with a solo home run from Kyle Mock. Then with two on and two out in the bottom of the first inning, a lightning strike forced play to stop. The game resumed at 5 p.m. Trey Leonard made it 2-0 Troy with a solo home run in the fifth inning. He hit a second home run in the seventh to put Troy up 3-2.
The Mountaineers got on the board for the first time in the fifth inning.
Dylan Rogers and
Jacob Whitley worked back-to-back walks to begin the frame, and
Dalton Williams loaded the bases with a pinch-hit single through the left side. Terrell and
Luke Drumheller then each lifted a sacrifice fly to center to tie the score at 2-2.
The Mountaineers did not commit an error in the field, and the pitching staff walked only one batter in the ballgame. At the plate, Rogers reached base all four times up, with two hits and two walks.
With the win, the Mountaineers lock up the 9-seed in the Sun Belt tournament, and will face the 8-seed, Little Rock, in a single-elimination contest at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Montgomery, Ala. If the Mountaineers win, they will advance to the double-elimination portion of the tournament on Wednesday. All Sun Belt tournament games will be broadcast on ESPN+. The 2022 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
