HICKORY, N.C. — Caleb Cross made a successful return to the mound with a strong start into the fifth inning, and first baseman
Juan Correa hit two solo homers in his App State Baseball debut, but a four-run top of the seventh inning carried Queens to a 5-4 comeback win against the Mountaineers on Friday in a 2025 season opener at LP Frans Stadium.
Correa and another App State newcomer, left fielder
John Kramer, both had two hits as the Mountaineers (0-1) totaled six as a team. Kramer, who went 2-for-2 with a double and a walk, and
Dillon Moquin produced one RBI apiece.
Queens pitchers totaled 16 strikeouts, including eight in 3.2 innings from starter Landry Jurecka.
Cross, who missed the entire 2024 season because of injury, appeared on the mound for the first time since May 14, 2023 and was involved in a scoreless game through three innings before leaving with a 1-0 lead early in the fifth. He gave up one run on four hits and struck out four batters in 4.1 innings.
Correa's fifth-inning homer broke a 1-1 tie, and App State held a 3-1 lead before Queens (1-0) scored those four runs in the top of the seventh inning. With App State facing a 5-3 deficit, Correa homered again in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Mountaineers weren't able to push across any more runs.
Cross stranded two runners in the second inning and left a runner at third base in the next inning thanks to a frame-ending strikeout, then pitched a perfect fourth.
App State struck first in the bottom of the fourth as
Tyler Figueroa singled for his team's first hit, moved to second on a walk to
Kameron Miller and scored from second on a one-out hit to right from Kramer.
After
Cody Little replaced Cross in the fifth, a hit batter on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded and one away tied the game, but Little induced a 5-4-3 double play to keep the score tied.
Correa's 395-foot homer to left broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth, and the Mountaineers moved ahead 3-1 in the sixth on Moquin's two-out hit to right to score pinch-runner
Bret Clements, who had replaced Kramer following a hustling double.
In the Royals' decisive half of the seventh, a one-out bunt single and walk preceded an RBI single down the left-field line. With runners on second and third,
Bradley Wilson replaced Little on the mound, and Nick Alderfer gave Queens a 4-3 lead on a two-run single to right. He later scored on a two-out single up the middle.
After Correa's seventh-inning homer, two-out walks in the seventh and eighth innings didn't trigger any game-tying rallies. App State reliever
Liam Best kept the score at 5-4 by recording back-to-back strikeouts with two runners in scoring position to end the top of the ninth, but Queens closer Ryan Brown retired three straight hitters after
Charlie Evans reached on a third-strike wild pitch to open the frame.
The 2025 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
