HICKORY, N.C. — App State Baseball remained unbeaten and clinched a series victory to open the new season by collecting a 5-2 win against Queens on Saturday at L.P. Frans Stadium.
Making their App State mound debuts, starter
Bradley Wilson and reliever
Dante Chirico totaled nine strikeouts while allowing a combined three hits. Wilson gave up one hit over five scoreless innings to earn the win, and Chirico posted a four-inning save in which he struck out four batters.
The Mountaineers (2-0) jumped out to a 5-0 lead thanks to a two-run third inning and three-run fourth, which included RBI doubles from
Hayden Cross and
Dylan Rogers.
Cross opened the scoring with an RBI single as the second, third, fourth and fifth hitters in the lineup —
Xavier Moronta,
Austin St. Laurent, Cross and
CJ Boyd — went a combined 9-for-17 at the plate with all five runs scored. Moronta led the way with three hits in four at-bats, and Rogers reached base twice out of the sixth spot.
Consecutive singles by Moronta, St. Laurent and Cross to begin the bottom of the third gave App State a 1-0 lead. St. Laurent and Cross both moved up on Boyd's flyout to deep right, and Rogers' walk preceded a sac fly to left from
Golston Gillespie.
Facing a new pitcher in the fourth, Moronta singled with one out and moved to third on a St. Laurent single. Cross responded with an RBI double that put two runners in scoring position, and St. Laurent scored on Boyd's groundout to first. Rogers' double to right brought home Cross for a 5-0 advantage.
Wilson struck out two batters in a perfect fifth that ended his outing at 89 pitches. The only hit he allowed occurred in the fourth inning, and he worked around five walks.
Chirico allowed a two-run triple with two away in the sixth inning, but shortstop
Jonathan Xuereb made a nice defensive play by delivering a strong, off-balanced throw off a short-hop to limit the damage, and Chirico faced only 10 batters over the final three innings. A double play erased a leadoff single in the eighth, and he pitched around a leadoff walk in the ninth by inducing a game-ending double play.
The series finale in Hickory is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m., with App State left-hander
Ryan Sleeper and Queens right-hander Jeffery Maidhof scheduled to pitch.
