MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Despite trailing 7-0 with a Sun Belt tournament semifinal round berth at stake, the App State offense erupted for 10 two-out runs in the sixth inning on the way to an improbable 14-10 comeback victory over Troy on Friday.
Using 13 consecutive runs to erase their big fourth-inning deficit, the sixth-seeded Mountaineers (29-24) improved to 2-1 in the double-elimination event and are back in action Saturday at 10 a.m. ET, when they will face second-seeded Southern Miss on ESPN+.
By winning multiple conference tournament games for the first time in a decade, head coach
Kermit Smith's club is one of just four teams left vying for a title in the nation's fifth-best conference. A win in the Saturday morning contest would force a rematch with the currently unbeaten Golden Eagles at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday for the right to play in the Sun Belt Championship Game on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
With third-seeded Troy (39-20) leading 7-3, the Mountaineers began the sixth inning with back-to-back singles from
Hunter Wilder and
Andrew Terrell. Then, with the bases loaded and two outs following a walk to
Xavier Moronta, Wilder raced home on a wild pitch.
Hayden Cross walked to reload the bases, and
Golston Gillespie followed with a walk of his own to force in a run and make it a 7-5 ballgame.
Austin St. Laurent continued the two-out rally by lining a two-run single to left field to tie the score. On the very next pitch,
Alex Reed cranked a two-run triple off the top of the wall in left field to give the Mountaineers their first lead at 9-7, prompting excited third-base coach
Britt Johnson to chest-bump Reed off the bag.
The Mountaineers were far from finished.
Batting for the second time in the inning, Wilder worked a walk and then stole second to join Reed in scoring position. Terrell singled by beating out a throw from the shortstop, and it became a two-run infield single when the speedy Wilder aggressively hustled all the way around from second to score and make it 11-7. Boyd then connected on a towering 419-foot home run to left field to push the advantage to 13-7.
App State put up an important zero immediately after taking the lead, as Troy loaded the bases with one out before lining into an inning-ending play to Drumheller, who threw to second to double off the runner.
Boyd blasted a second home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give him 17 on the season, tying Daniel Kassouf's single-season program record that was set in 2012. The ECU transfer has now homered 12 times in his last 14 games.
After falling behind 7-0 four innings into the game, the App State bullpen was tremendous, setting the stage for a comeback.
Eli Ellington enjoyed his best outing of the season, firing two scoreless and hitless innings in which he struck out three batters to quiet the Trojan attack.
Zach Lewis (win, 3-0) followed Ellington by retiring both batters he faced while collecting a strikeout with App State trailing by four.
Ryan Sleeper and
Collin Welch combined to cover the final three innings and add two more strikeouts. Overall, Mountaineer pitching struck out 10, bringing the season total to 435 Ks, one away from matching the program's single-season strikeout record that was set in 2008.
App State opened its scoring with three runs in the fourth inning. Singles from Cross, Gillespie, and St. Laurent loaded the bases, and Terrell worked a walk to force home a run. Boyd then lined a two-run single to left-center to make it 7-3.
Led by three hits apiece from Boyd and Reed, the Mountaineers finished with 15 hits for the third straight game, giving them 34 runs on 45 hits across their three tournament games. Boyd extended his hitting streak to 17 in a row, while Moronta has now hit safely in 19 straight.
