BOONE, N.C. – After being held hitless through the first three innings, App State Baseball saw the bats come alive, taking the lead with a three-run sixth and pulling away with a three-run eighth to defeat Louisiana 7-2 on Saturday at Smith Stadium.
Gage Peterson delivered another fabulous start for App State (29-19, 16-10). The right-hander went seven innings, allowing just two runs on six hits and struck out six to improve to 8-0 on the season. Peterson has now struck out 94 batters on the season to move into second place on the single-season strikeout list, trailing only Xander Hamilton's 115 strikeouts in 2023.
The offense put Peterson on the right side of the ledger with a three-run sixth inning.
Charlie Evans led off with an infield single. Attempting to steal second, Evans was picked off, but the throw from the first baseman sailed into left field to allow him to advance to third. Two batters later
Riley Luft chopped an RBI single through the left side to tie the game 2-2.
Ethan Puig continued the rally with a single into left-center and with two outs in the inning,
Jake Mummau roped a double to the gap in right-center field to score a pair and put the Mountaineers in front 4-2.
Leading by the same margin in the eighth,
Ethan Puig led off with a single to center field and
Kameron Miller belted a double off the center field fence to score Puig from first base for a valuable insurance run. Later in the inning, with two in scoring position and two outs,
Colton Denton ripped a two-run single back up the middle to push the lead to 7-2.
Jake Beaty tossed a scoreless eighth inning and
Max Tramontana struck out two in a scoreless ninth to finish off the victory.
Louisiana (31-20, 13-13) opened the scoring in the fourth with a solo home run from Colt Brown. App State quickly tied the score in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single from Luft to plate
Steven Smith who tripled to lead off the frame – the first hit of the day for App State. Luft, Puig and Evans each tallied two-hit days.
App State will go for its sixth straight series victory on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. and senior ceremonies begin at 12:30 p.m.
The 2026 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
