BOONE, N.C. – The stakes for both teams were simple. Win and earn a berth into next week's Sun Belt baseball tournament. Lose and your season is over.
App State's seniors made sure their final home game at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium was a win.
Caleb Cross struck out nine over six strong innings,
Bradley Wilson earned his first career save, and
Braxton Church hit a bases-clearing double off the right-field wall to send the Mountaineers (23-30, 13-17 SBC) to a 5-4 win over Georgia State (26-30, 11-19 SBC) on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
Church's sixth-inning double – that only missed being a home run by four feet – drove in
Kameron Miller,
Tyler Lichtenberger and
Juan Correa to extend App State's 2-1 lead to 5-1.
"We just trusted each other and trusted the coaching staff and knew we were going to get it done," Church said. "This is the stuff you dream of. You want to be in those spots. Coach (Ross) Steedley gave me a good approach to go up there with, I got a pitch I could drive, and I got a hold of it."
That was all Cross and Wilson needed as they managed around some hot GSU bats to close out the pressure-packed affair. Wilson entered in the top of the seventh with a 5-2 lead, a runner on second and no outs. He got a strikeout and flyout before Jesse Donohoe hit a two-run home run to make it a 5-4 game. But Wilson did not allow any more runs to cross the plate in the eighth or ninth.
After Cross, Wilson, Church,
Collin Welch,
Cody Little and student manager
Olivia Lacy were recognized during pregame Senior Day ceremonies, Cross came out firing on all cylinders with his battery mate, Church.
Cross struck out five through the first three innings, six through the first four and eight through the first five in a masterful performance.
Sophomore
Tanner McCammon blasted a 421-foot, two-run homer to break the scoreless tie in the fifth, giving the Mountaineers their first lead of the series.
The Mountaineers finished the regular season with a 17-12 record in home games.
App State will play in the opening game of the Sun Belt tournament in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday, May 20. The No. 10-seeded Mountaineers will face the No. 7 seed that has yet to be determined.
The 2025 App State baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
