App State baseball fought valiantly against No. 16 Coastal Carolina University but was swept by the Chanticleers in a 3-game series to open Sun Belt Conference play.
The series opener Friday night was a pitcher’s duel through the first half of the game.
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Nick DiRito conceded a lone base hit in the third inning and pitched a shutout through 5 innings of work. Not to be outdone, Luke Jones, the Chanticleers’ starting pitcher, allowed only 2 hits in the first five innings.
DiRito was pulled in the top of the sixth inning after giving up a pair of singles. Senior left-handed pitcher Reyn Watson came in to pitch, and Coastal Carolina struck immediately with a 3-run home run to left field by outfielder Rex Watson.
The Chanticleers tacked on a fourth run in the inning with an RBI single, but the defense turned a double play, stopping the bleeding.
Coastal Carolina stretched its lead to 6-0 in the top of the seventh inning with a 2-run blast by infielder Blake Barthol. App State answered in the bottom of the seventh with a 2-run home run of their own off the bat of junior outfielder Drew DuPont.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, graduate student infielder and right-handed pitcher Steven Smith roped an RBI double down the left field line. Freshman outfielder Nico Soul scored on a wild pitch, and sophomore utility player Riley Luft cracked a 2-run single to tie the game.
Smith came on to pitch in the ninth inning, but the defense unraveled for the Mountaineers, who gave up 4 runs and committed 2 errors in the inning. The Chanticleers closed out the bottom of the ninth to earn a 10-6 victory.
App State looked to even up the series Saturday and grabbed an early lead in the third inning. Sophomore infielder Ethan Puig knocked an RBI single up the middle, then freshman catcher Colton Denton hit a double to left field that brought home Luft.
The Black and Gold doubled its lead in the fourth inning on an RBI groundout by Soul and a run-scoring single by Smith.
Junior right-handed pitcher Gage Peterson was nearly unhittable on the mound. Peterson struck out 9 Chanticleers and allowed 2 hits across a season-high 7 shutout innings.
Peterson made way for senior right-handed pitcher JJ Garcia in the eighth inning, but Garcia was unable to keep the shutout intact. Coastal Carolina plated 3 runs on 4 hits, making it a 1-run game, then added 4 more in the ninth, punctuated by a 2-run home run by infielder Trace Mazon.
App State couldn’t spark a rally in the bottom of the ninth, and the Chanticleers clinched the series with a 7-4 win.
The Mountaineers came out firing in the series finale Sunday. Soul led off the bottom of the first with a home run off the batter’s eye beyond the center field wall. Redshirt junior first baseman Jalen Seward ripped a 2-run single, and senior outfielder Charlie Evans hit an RBI bunt single to give App State a 4-0 lead.
Seward recorded an RBI groundout in the third inning that scored Puig to make it 5-0, but Coastal Carolina answered with a 4-run fourth inning. The Chanticleers tied the game in the top of the sixth inning on a long home run by catcher Brice Estep, then took the lead on an RBI groundout and run-scoring single.
Puig knotted the game at 7 with a 2-RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Chanticleers regained the lead with a go-ahead single in the top of the eighth inning.
The Mountaineers had a runner on third base and a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth, but graduate student infielder Joseph Zamora flew out to end the game. Coastal Carolina survived and earned the series sweep with the 8-7 win.
App State has lost 4 straight games and will look to re-enter the win column on the road against Old Dominion University this weekend. Game 1 of its 3-game series begins Friday at 6 p.m, and all 3 games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
