HICKORY, N.C. — Shutdown pitching and a late offensive burst carried App State Baseball on an abbreviated Saturday, as the Mountaineers won 10-0 against North Carolina A&T at L.P. Frans Stadium in a game shortened to seven innings by the 10-run rule.
Steven Smith's one-out homer in the bottom of the seventh, after a six-run sixth for App State (5-1), ended the contest in just 2 hours, 15 minutes.
Charlie Evans' two-run single and
Drew DuPont's three-run double were the big hits in the sixth against the Aggies (1-5).
Starting pitcher
Gage Peterson struck out seven batters and allowed just three hits in six scoreless innings, raising his season total to 10 innings with 15 strikeouts and no earned runs allowed, before
Logan Tibbett struck out one batter in a scoreless seventh inning.
After beating North Carolina A&T in Boone on Friday and in Hickory on Saturday, the Mountaineers will face Southern Illinois on Sunday in Hickory at 1 p.m. The Salukis took a 1-3 record into their second game of the weekend Saturday at Queens in Charlotte.
DuPont went 2-for-4 with his three RBIs, and
Ethan Puig also finished with two hits. Evans' big hit came after he replaced
Nico Soul, who reached base twice from the leadoff spot, and
Joseph Zamora scored two runs out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
Runners were at the corners when Peterson ended the top of the first inning with a strikeout, and he retired the next six batters to set up the bottom of the third, when App State moved ahead 2-0. Soul singled and scored from first after Zamora's single to left was misplayed, and
Jonathan Xuereb followed Zamora's steal of second with an RBI single.
North Carolina A&T put runners at the corners with one away in the fourth before Peterson induced a 4-6-3 double play, and the Mountaineers added a run when
Riley Luft scored on
Colton Denton's fielder's choice.
App State took a 3-0 lead to the sixth and broke the game open during a frame that included three hits, four stolen bases and two North Carolina A&T errors. Puig's single and Denton's walk preceded Evans' one-out single over a drawn-in infield with two runners in scoring position.
Back-to-back walks to Zamora and Xuereb loaded the bases, and DuPont followed a strikeout with a double that barely eluded the glove of a diving left fielder near foul territory. DuPont then scored on a throwing error.
After starting a 5-3 double play to end the top of the seventh, Smith homered for the second straight day, and App State earned a shutout win in Hickory for the second straight season.
The 2026 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
