BOONE, N.C. –
Andrew Terrell's final swing at Smith Stadium is one he'll remember forever.
With the Mountaineers leading the Red Wolves 12-4, with the bases loaded and two-outs in the seventh inning, the fifth-year senior drilled a pitch over the wall in left-center field for a walk-off grand slam to complete a series sweep, run-ruling Arkansas State, 16-4, in the finale.
With the victory the Mountaineers (26-21, 15-11) have clinched a berth in the Sun Belt Tournament, May 23-28 in Montgomery, Ala. It also marked their first Sun Belt series sweep since defeating Arkansas State in three straight games at home in 2021.
Caleb Cross (win, 5-3) matched a career-high with six innings pitched to earn the victory in the finale. Cross gave up back-to-back home runs in the first inning, but settled down thereafter, allowing just one hit over the next four innings, while retiring 13 of 16 batters in that span.
In his final inning of work, Cross loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk, but rolled a timely double-play ball to end the sixth inning, and punctuating his outing.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, the Mountaineers responded quickly.
CJ Boyd led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run to left field to make it 2-1.
Then in the second,
Jonathan Xuereb singled with one out and Terrell walked to put two aboard. Boyd then ripped a double to left-center field to tie the score at 2-2.
Xavier Morotna then laced a go-ahead single to right, and Boyd later scored on a wild pitch to give the Mountaineers a 4-2 lead.
Moronta has now hit safely in 13 straight games. While Terrell walked three times, reaching base in four of his five plate appearances.
App State then doubled their scoring output with a four-run fourth. Terrell led off with a walk, and Boyd followed with his second homer of the ballgame, a two-run blast to left field to make it 6-2. Boyd finished the series going 7-for-15 with four home runs and seven RBIs.
Later in the inning
Luke Drumheller and
Alex Reed hit back-to-back singles, and with the bases loaded, following a walk to
Golston Gillespie,
Dylan Rogers lined a two-run double off the right field wall to make it 8-4.
After the Red Wolves plated two runs and put two on-base in the top of the seventh inning,
Skylar Brooks (save, 1) entered to pick up back-to-back strikeouts to record his first save of the season.
App State will close out the season with a three-game series at Troy, Thursday through Saturday.
