CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Once down by as much as six runs, App State Baseball twice cut the deficit to three, but the team was unable to complete the comeback, falling 14-10 to Western Carolina on Tuesday.
The two longtime Southern Conference foes will play a rematch next Tuesday at Smith Stadium in the 160th all-time meeting between the two programs.
Tyler Figueroa led the way for the Mountaineers (14-14, 5-4) at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and four RBIs in the contest. The Siena transfer drove in the first run of the ballgame for the Mountaineers in the fourth inning. After
Tyler Lichtenberger singled with one out, Figueroa doubled to the wall in left field, to make it a 5-1 game.
Lichtenberger, who entered the contest as the Sun Belt's leading hitter, also tallied two hits and scored a pair of runs, reaching base three times in the contest. The freshman extended his hitting streak to seven straight games, and has now reached base in all 27 games he has played this season.
Lichtenberger ignited the Mountaineers' rally in the sixth inning with a leadoff single. With one out,
Graham Smiley was hit by a pitch, and two batters later
Riley Luft singled through the left side to score a run.
Dillon Moquin followed with an RBI single of his own, and later in the inning
Kameron Miller worked a bases loaded walk to force home a run, but the Mountaineers stranded the bases loaded, trailing 8-5.
App State continued to claw its way back with five runs in the eighth. Luft and Moquin began the inning with back-to-back walks, and Miller was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Juan Correa drew a walk to plate a run, and Lichtenberger pushed a second run across with an RBI groundout. Figueroa then uncorked a three-run home run to left-center field, bringing the visitors to within three runs at 13-10.
The Catamounts (14-15, 2-4), which opened the game with a three-run first inning, pulled away with five-run sixth, and scored at least a run in six of their eight trips to the plate.
Jake Beaty, starting for the second time in three games, yielded only unearned runs in the first frame, while
Cal Clark delivered a scoreless second inning and
Conner Barozzino struck out a pair in 1.1 scoreless innings out of the App State bullpen.
App State will return to Sun Belt play this weekend with a three-game series against ULM in Monroe, La. The 2025 App State Baseball season is presented
