HARRISONBURG, Va. – After falling behind by double digits early, App State stormed back in the middle innings, but were unable to get over the hump in a 13-9 loss at James Madison on Friday.
Facing an 11-0 deficit after three innings, App State (18-9, 5-5) put together a four-run fourth, batting around in the frame. With one out,
Austin St. Laurent singled to left field, and
Banks Tolley and
Braxton Church loaded the bases on a walk and a hit by pitch respectively.
Drew Holderbach was then plunked with the bases loaded to force in a run. Holderbach has now been hit by a league-high 16 pitches this season and has reached base in all 27 games on the campaign.
Adam Quintero then drew a walk to force in another run, and later in the inning,
Hunter Wilder came through with a two-run single to make it an 11-4 game.
The Mountaineers kept their foot on the gas in the fifth.
CJ Boyd led off the inning with a single, and two batters later, Tolley ripped an RBI double, extending his hitting streak to eight straight games. After advancing to third base on a throwing error on the play, Tolley came into score on an RBI groundout from Church. Holderbach continued the rally with a single to left field and Quintero followed by lining an RBI double into the left field corner to make it 11-7.
Grey LaSpaluto steadied the ship for the Mountaineers on the mound. The righty came out of the bullpen tossed 2.2 scoreless and hitless innings in relief, matching a career-high with five strikeouts.
Max Tramontana finished out the ballgame firing 1.2 scoreless innings and adding three strikeouts.
Trailing 13-7 in the eighth, the Mountaineers were able to load the bases, and St. Laurent smoked a two-run double to the wall in straight away center field, but App State was unable to extend the rally any further. St. Laurent extended his hitting streak to seven straight games with a two-hit effort, while
Joseph Zamora singled in the eighth and has now hit safely in nine in a row.
JMU scored seven runs in the bottom of the first inning, hitting five home runs in the frame, with each of the first three batters leaving the yard. The Dukes added a run in the second and three in the third, before tacking on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh.
App State will look to even the series on Saturday, with first pitch set for 4 p.m. in game two of the series.
The 2024 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
