MONTGOMERY, Ala. –
Phillip Cole blasted a three-run home run during a six-run sixth inning Tuesday as ninth-seeded App State raced past eighth-seeded Little Rock 10-3 to advance in the Sun Belt Tournament.
The Mountaineers will face second-seeded Georgia Southern on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. ET. to begin the double-elimination portion of the tournament. Also victorious in last year's postseason opener in Montgomery, App State has won the first game of its conference tournament in consecutive years for the first time since the 1990 and 1991 seasons.
At the plate, the Mountaineers tallied 11 hits on the night, including four for extra-bases, with eight different players recording a hit. App State pitchers combined to strike out a season-high 17 batters on the night to eliminate Little Rock.
"Everybody that touched the mound for us tonight did a really, really good job — walking into the tournament and having that kind of performance from four different guys through a rain delay and all the other factors that go into it," App State head coach
Kermit Smith said. "Some shaky defense early, but to come out of that and stay the course, our pitching staff obviously gets the game ball tonight."
With the score tied at 2-2 in the sixth inning Tuesday,
Hayden Cross singled with one out to begin the rally.
Dalton Williams then doubled down the right field line, and
Dylan Rogers reached on an infield single to load the bases.
Andrew Terrell then drew a walk to force in a run and give the Mountaineers the lead, 3-2.
After
RJ Johnson reached on a fielder's choice,
Braxton Church continued the rally with a two-run single through the right side. Cole capped the inning with a blast over the left field fence to make it 8-2.
"Early in the at-bat, I got a lot of fastballs, and I was missing them," Cole said. "They were good pitches. I got a late breaking ball that I saw really good out of his hand. I was in a two-strike approach and just got my hands through and got the ball to left-center. I think it just picked us up and we just ran with it from that point on."
With App State shuffling five defensive positions in the first few innings, partly to address an injury, Church and Cole both came through with timely hits after not being in the starting lineup.
"That speaks to the character of our team," Smith said. "Every guy is ready on any given call. (Cole) wasn't in the starting lineup, and he could have sat over there and pouted about it, and he didn't. He supported his teammates, got an opportunity and popped one for us which was huge. I thought the momentum really shifted once that ball went out of the ball park."
Jason Cornatzer started the ballgame for the Mountaineers and struck out a career-high seven in 3.2 innings of work, allowing just a pair of unearned runs in the third inning. Cornatzer did walk five batters, but he was able to work around trouble, as Little Rock stranded the bases loaded twice in the first four innings.
Caleb Cross relieved Cornatzer in the fourth inning and went on to work two innings, allowing just one run on one hit while striking out three.
Cameron Kepley followed, striking out the side in the seventh inning on his way to 1.2 scoreless innings and four strikeouts on the night.
Following a 1:49 rain delay in the eighth inning,
Grey LaSpaluto took the mound for the Mountaineers, tossing the final 1.2 innings and striking out three.
After falling behind 2-0, App State tied the game in the fifth inning when Terrell and Johnson laced back-to-back doubles, and Johnson scored on a wild pitch.
App State added on insurance runs late. In the seventh, with
Andrew Greckel and
Hayden Cross in scoring position following a pair of walks to begin the inning, Rogers ripped a line drive off the drawn-in Trojan shortstop to score Greckel from third base. In the eighth, Greckel cracked a line drive single into right, scoring Church, who led off the inning with a walk, to make it 10-3.
Winning a game in the Sun Belt tournament for the second consecutive season, the Mountaineers will face second seeded Georgia Southern, Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. The 2022 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
