After soaring to a 7-1 start in the 2026 season, App State baseball fell back down to Earth with a disappointing weekend in Boiling Springs. The Mountaineers blew multiple late-game leads, and suffered 3 straight walk-off losses against Gardner-Webb University in a wild series that had two games go to extra innings and 49 total runs scored.
App State began the series opener Friday by racing out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Graduate student infielder Joseph Zamora drew a bases-loaded walk and freshman outfielder Nico Soul cracked a bases-clearing double to right field.
Gardner-Webb answered right back with 4 runs in the bottom of the second inning off junior left-handed pitcher Tanner Nolan. Despite the shaky start, Nolan returned to the mound for the third inning and quieted the Runnin’ Bulldogs.
The Mountaineers broke the tie in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by junior outfielder Drew DuPont which scored redshirt junior infielder Jonathan Xuereb.
The bullpen was called on to preserve the one-run lead, and did their job, as the Mountaineers led 5-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. However, the Runnin’ Bulldogs pounced on junior right-handed pitcher Logan Tibbett and tied the game on an RBI double to right field. Tibbett came out of the game for redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Nick DiRito, who got 3 quick outs to send the game to extra innings.
App State had a golden opportunity to retake the lead in the tenth inning. The Black and Gold loaded the bases with only one out, but sophomore utility player Riley Luft grounded into a double play to end the threat.
DiRito struck out the side in the tenth and collected 3 more punchouts in the eleventh.
Xuereb lined an extra-base hit to left center in the twelfth, and scored the go-ahead run on an RBI groundout.
Although he pitched exceptionally in extra innings, DiRito couldn’t keep it going in the bottom of the twelfth. The tying run scored on a wild pitch, and Gardner-Webb won after Xuereb couldn’t corral a ground ball that, if fielded cleanly, would have sent the game to the thirteenth inning. The Mountaineers lost 7-6.
Saturday marked another loss, as the Mountaineers led 8-0 in the fourth inning and 10-6 in the ninth, only to fall in walk-off fashion for the second game in a row, 11-10.
App State scored in each of the first five innings. Senior outfielder Tank Yaghoubi ripped an RBI double to left and later scored on a groundout in the first inning to get the game started.
Freshman catcher Colton Denton blasted his first collegiate home run over the center field fence in the second inning and graduate student infielder Steven Smith hit a 2-run double in the third to make it 5-0.
The Mountaineers added 3 more runs in the fourth inning. Yaghoubi smacked an RBI single and Xuereb collected an RBI double. Xuereb scored on an error by Gardner-Webb to give App State an 8-0 lead before the Runnin’ Bulldogs had a runner reach third base.
Gardner-Webb got off the schneid in the bottom of the fourth when they plated 3 runs, but the Mountaineers answered with 2 in the fifth inning. Sophomore infielder Ethan Puig scored on a base hit by Denton, then Denton scored on an RBI double by Zamora.
The Runnin’ Bulldogs hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the fifth, and tacked on another run in the seventh. After scoring 10 runs in the first five innings, the Mountaineers didn’t score for the remainder of the game, while Gardner-Webb rallied back from down 10-6 entering the ninth, winning 11-10 on a game-winning 2-run single.
Gardner-Webb completed the weekend sweep Sunday by handing App State their third consecutive walk-off loss.
The Mountaineers trailed 2-0 in the fourth inning after Gardner-Webb plated a pair in the first. DuPont hit an RBI single to center field to halve the deficit, but the Runnin’ Bulldogs added 3 more in the bottom of the fourth with a 2-run double and sacrifice fly.
Soul slapped an RBI double in the top of the seventh to make it 5-2, however Gardner-Webb responded again with 2 runs in the bottom of the inning.
App State kickstarted the comeback effort with 3 runs in the eighth. Two runs came via error on an RBI groundout by DuPont, and Denton hit a run-scoring single. The Mountaineers tied the game in the ninth with a 2-run single up the middle by Xuereb, which sent the game to extra innings tied at 7.
Neither team scored in the tenth, and App State went down in order in the eleventh before the Runnin’ Bulldogs hit a game-winning single past the right side of the infield to clinch the series sweep of the Mountaineers.
