BOONE, N.C. — App State Baseball broke a fifth-inning tie with a six-run outburst Friday, highlighted by
Kameron Miller's two-run homer, then
Cal Clark's clutch pitching in a bases-loaded jam and
Riley Luft's diving catch during a late comeback attempt carried the Mountaineers to a 12-7 home victory against Gardner-Webb.
Making its High Country debut in Smith Stadium, App State (5-4) didn't secure the series opener against the Runnin' Bulldogs (5-6) until
Jordan Fisher recorded his third save by entering with the bases loaded and pairing a strikeout with a game-ending flyout.
The three-game series resumes Saturday at 3 p.m. in Boone, and Sunday's finale (with a 1 p.m. first pitch) has been moved to LP Frans Stadium in Hickory.
John Kramer hit three doubles during a 3-for-4 day with three RBIs and two runs scored. Miller went 2-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs, including his 412-foot homer to straightaway center as App State turned a 3-all deadlock into a 9-3 lead in the fifth.
Clark helped keep the margin at six by escaping a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the sixth, and the lead grew to 11-3 before Gardner-Webb scored two runs in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth to pull within 11-7.
The last two runs scored on back-to-back errors with two away, and two runners were aboard when No. 5 hitter Garrett Macias hit a ball toward the gap in right-center. At least two runs score if the ball gets over a diving Luft's head, and who knows when Macias would have stopped running, but the freshman came up with the highlight-reel grab going toward the warning track.
A one-out single off
Bradley Wilson with two aboard in the ninth loaded the bases, putting the tying run on deck, but Fisher got a swinging strikeout on a 1-2 pitch and ran the count to 1-2 before watching a looping liner drop into the glove of second baseman
Joseph Zamora.
Tied at 3-all entering the bottom of the fifth, after Clark had replaced starting pitcher
Caleb Cross with two away and stranded two runners with an infield popout, App State scored six times on four hits and one costly error.
Zamora drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a
Juan Correa double that chased starting pitcher Reid Bertram. Kramer greeted reliever Dominic Guzman with a first-pitch double to left-center to push the Mountaineers ahead 5-3. In the next at-bat, Miller's third homer of the season doubled the lead.
A dropped infield pop-up and wild pitch preceded an RBI triple off the wall in left by Luft, allowing
Braxton Church to score an unearned run.
Tyler Lichtenberger's infield single to second with two away brought home Luft for a 9-3 advantage.
Clark faced trouble in the next inning, as Gardner-Webb's first three batters reached, but he induced a 1-2-3 double play on a slow comebacker and painted the inside corner on a 2-2 breaking ball to record a strikeout with two runners in scoring position.
The two teams combined for 25 hits and eight errors in a game that lasted just over three hours.
The 2025 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
