Box Score BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — App State Baseball dropped its series opener Friday at Gardner-Webb, as the Runnin' Bulldogs erased a pair of late deficits before prevailing 7-6 in 12 innings.
App State (7-2) and Gardner-Webb (7-3) will meet again Saturday at 3 p.m.
The Runnin' Bulldogs forced extra innings with a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, then overcame a 6-5 deficit in the 12th by scoring two runs after the first two batters of the frame had been retired.
Back-to-back singles put runners at the corners before the tying run scored on a wild pitch that didn't stray far from home plate, with baserunner Allan Camarillo barely beating the tag as pitcher
Nick DiRito covered home.
After a walk put two runners on, Drew Ripepi pulled a ball to the left side for an infield single that wasn't fielded cleanly as the shortstop went to the ground deep in the hole, with lead runner Merik Carter moving toward third and then breaking for home when the ball got away. With the fielder unable to cleanly pick up the ball and throw home, Carter scored the winning run.
DiRito's lights-out pitching out of the bullpen put App State in position to pull out an extra-inning victory. After Gardner-Webb opened the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 5-all, DiRito entered the game and retired 11 of the next 13 batters he faced, striking out eight in a dominant stretch that had the Mountaineers one out away from a win with the bases empty.
App State had taken a 6-5 lead in the top of the 12th, after
Jonathan Xuereb reached third with a one-out double that included a fielding error to give him an extra base. He scored on
Steven Smith's groundout to a drawn-in shortstop, who had to throw to first when he didn't field the grounder cleanly.
The Mountaineers totaled 11 hits, led by a 5-for-5 night at the plate from
Drew DuPont.
Both teams had four-run third innings, with
Nico Soul producing a 4-0 lead with a three-run double in the top half, and App State took a 5-4 lead on DuPont's sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. The score remained the same until Gardner-Webb's back-to-back doubles in the ninth.
App State relief pitcher
JJ Garcia, who entered the game with two away and the bases loaded in the fifth, retired the next batter on a flyout to left and pitched a perfect sixth. He gave way to
Logan Tibbett with two on and nobody out in the seventh, and Tibbett issued a one-out walk to load the bases, but he escaped the jam thanks to a foulout to third and a strikeout.
Tibbett pitched a perfect eighth and was replaced by DiRito following the consecutive doubles in the ninth. A groundout, strikeout and lineout pushed the game to extra innings.
App State loaded the bases with one out in the 10th inning before grounding into a double play, and DiRito struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th. He followed a leadoff double in the bottom of the 11th with three straight strikeouts.
The 2026 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
