NORFOLK, Va. – App State Baseball grabbed an early lead and continued to add on through the middle innings to earn its first Sun Belt win of the season with a 10-3 triumph over Old Dominion on Saturday.
App State (11-10, 1-4) took the lead with two runs in the top of the first inning and scored in five of the first six innings of play. The offense tallied a season-high 16 hits in the ballgame, with five Mountaineers registering a multi-hit effort.
Batting in the leadoff spot for the first time this season,
Charlie Evans singled to center field to open the ballgame.
Steven Smith followed with a single, and two batters later
Ethan Puig singled up the middle to bring Evans home from second.
Colton Denton continued the rally with a single through the right side to open up a 2-0 edge.
App State doubled its lead in the second when
Riley Luft ripped a two-run double to plate Evans and Smith who again reached on back-to-back singles.
While the Luft double accounted for the lone extra-base hit of the afternoon, the Mountaineers continued to manufacture runs throughout the middle frames with productive outs and timely hitting. The Mountaineers plated a pair of runs on sacrifice flies and went 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Tank Yaghoubi tallied an RBI single in the fifth and sixth, while Evans also drove in a run with a fifth-inning single.
Evans, Puig and Yaghoubi each notched two hits in the win.
The pitching staff allowed just one hit through the first five innings of play. While
Gage Peterson lacked his typical control – issuing a season-high five walks – he made key pitches to wiggle out of trouble, giving up just one run in 4.1 innings and struck out six.
Reyn Watson earned the win in relief, giving up a pair of runs in 2.2 innings while striking out three.
Logan Tibbett slammed the door with a pair of scoreless innings and three strikeouts to seal the victory.
The series will conclude with the rubber game on Sunday, with first pitch set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
The 2026 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
