App State baseball defeated the Charlotte 49ers 5-4 Tuesday following a 4-run rally in the eighth inning.
The Mountaineers got off to a poor start, giving up a run on a single by first baseman Cody Gunderson in the top of the first to go down 1-0.
The 49ers kept their momentum going, extending their lead by another run in the fourth and then again in the seventh to extend their lead to 3-0.
The Mountaineers offense was ice cold at this point, as they didn’t get a hit until senior infielder Joseph Zamora doubled in the sixth inning and were unable to get any more.
They were finally able to drive in a run in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a sacrifice fly by senior catcher Braxton Church to reduce their deficit to 2.
Gunderson responded with a solo homer in the top of the eighth to reestablish the 49ers 3-run advantage.
The Black and Gold’s bats finally broke the game open in the fifth. Zamora doubled to put himself and redshirt freshman outfielder Dillon Moquin in scoring position with no outs.
Redshirt junior outfielder John Kramer then mashed a ground rule double to drive them both home and bring the Mountaineers within 1.
Senior first baseman Juan Correa then came to the plate and blasted a 438-foot 2-run homer on an 0-2 count to give the Mountaineers a 5-4 lead.
“I went down 0-2, swung at a bad pitch first pitch, second one kind of backed up on me,” Correa said. “I knew they were going to come at me again with the same pitch, they wanted to make me look ugly, just looking for something over the plate.”
Redshirt junior pitcher Liam Best shut down the 49ers in the ninth, striking out infielder Dawson Bryce with a runner on third to take the victory before celebrating with an elated shout.
Best pitched the last two innings, giving up a run and striking out two batters in the process.
Graduate student pitcher Bradley Wilson also had a strong outing, lasting 2 innings while allowing no hits or runs.
The Mountaineers offense was powered by Correa, Zamora, Kramer and Moquin. Correa went 1-4 with a homer and 2 RBIs, Kramer went 1-4 with a double and 2 RBIs and Zamora went 2-4 with 2 doubles. Moquin had an interesting outing in 4 plate appearances where he got on base each time but didn’t record a hit, he was hit by pitch twice and walked twice.
This win puts App State’s winning percentage back to .500. Their record stands at 8-8 before the start of conference play.
