BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – App State rallied from down six runs early to take the lead in the seventh, and later forced extra innings despite trailing again in the ninth, pulling out a 15-11 win in ten innings to take the weekend series from Gardner Webb.
Trailing 11-10 with two outs in the top of the ninth,
Hunter Wilder delivered a game-tying single to center field to plate
Adam Quintero and ultimately push the game to extra innings.
In the top of the tenth,
Austin St. Laurent was hit by a pitch with one out and
Drew Holderbach followed with a walk. After a fielder's choice put men at the corners, Quintero then singled into left field to score St. Laurent, and put the Mountaineers back in front, 12-11.
Later in the inning, after
Joseph Zamora was hit by a pitch to load the bases,
CJ Boyd roped a two-run single to put App State ahead, 14-11. Boyd finished with four hits and four RBIs in the ballgame. Wilder, batting for the second time in as many frames, ripped another single to center, to add an insurance run.
Grey LaSpaluto (win, 1-0) earned the win, tossing two scoreless innings in relief, and picking up a pair of strikeouts.
Zach Lewis followed with a scoreless tenth inning of work, as he delivered a scoreless frame to end each of the Mountaineer wins on the weekend.
Trailing by six runs after three innings of play, App State scored the next nine runs in the contest, going in front in the seventh inning. The rally began in the fourth inning with the Mountaineers behind 7-1. With one out, Zamora walked, and after advancing to second base on a wild pitch, came in to score on a fielding error that allowed Boyd to reach base. Later in the inning,
Banks Tolley lined a single to center to score Boyd and make it 7-3.
App State (2-1) took advantage of another Bulldogs' error in the fifth, as
Kameron Miller reached on a mishandled ground ball, and later came in to score on a wild pitch to trim the deficit to 7-4.
The home run ball began flying in the sixth. Boyd launched his first of the season to straight away center field to score Zamora, who led off the inning with a walk. Then with two outs in the frame,
Braxton Church left the yard to right field, to tie the score at 7-7.
In the seventh, Holderbach and Miller were each hit by a pitch to begin the inning, and Quintero took full advantage, blasting a go-ahead three-run home run to left field for his first as a Mountaineer.
After
Dante Chirico exited the ballgame in the third inning,
Jordan Fisher impressed on the mound, quieting the Bulldog bats and paving the way for the offensive comeback. Fisher tossed three innings, allowing just a run on two hits, while striking out two.
App State pitchers finished with 13 strikeouts in the ballgame. Chirico fanned four batters in two innings, and
Max Tramontana fanned three in 1.2 innings in his first appearance as a Mountaineer.
App State jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning on a Zamora RBI single to score Holderbach. Gardner-Webb tied the score with a run in the second, before putting up six runs in the bottom of the third inning, sending ten men to the plate in the frame.
Then with App State ahead 10-7, Gardner-Webb rallied with two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to take the lead going to the ninth inning.
App State will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to High Point for a 4 p.m. contest against the Panthers.
The 2024 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
