The Mountaineers defeated Old Dominion 2-1 in a shortened weekend series Friday and Saturday. This is App State’s second Sun Belt series victory of the season and betters their record to 14-13 overall and 5-4 in conference play.
App State capitalized on strong performances from redshirt senior pitcher Caleb Cross and graduate student pitcher Bradley Wilson, as well as strong hitting from multiple position players.
The Black and Gold took the series opener Friday 9-4 on the back of a 7 inning scoreless innings by Cross.
After a scoreless first, App State opened up the scoring on a 2-run double by junior outfielder Charlie Evans, who was driven home two batters later by senior infielder Joseph Zamora to extend the lead to 3-0.
Sophomore first baseman Kameron Miller’s RBI single in the fourth further extended the Mountaineers lead to 4-0.
The fifth and sixth innings were scoreless for both teams, as defense and pitching took center stage for this stretch.
Sophomore infielder Tyler Figueroa changed this with an RBI single to center field which was closely followed by another RBI single by freshman utility player Riley Luft to extend the Mountaineer lead to 6-0.
Cross had been utterly unhittable to this point, holding the Monarchs hitless and only walking 3, but he had thrown 112 pitches and redshirt junior pitcher Jordan Fisher replaced him to start the eighth.
Old Dominion took advantage of this and scored their first 2 runs of the game.
The Black and Gold responded with 2 homers in the bottom of the inning, a solo shot by Miller and a 2-run blast by freshman infielder Tyler Lichtenberger, the first of his college career, to make the lead 9-2.
Old Dominion scored 2 in the ninth in a last gasp attempt at a rally, but the Fisher shut them down and the Mountaineers took the win.
Saturday featured a doubleheader due to poor weather forecast for Sunday. The Mountaineers took the opening game 6-1.
The Monarchs fired the opening salvo with a solo shot in the second off junior pitcher Jake Beaty. App State responded at the bottom of the inning to tie the game with an RBI single by Lichtenberger.
Beaty was replaced by Wilson, who has excelled in a long relief role this season, to start the third.
Miller then broke the tie in the bottom of the third, sending a 1-2 pitch over the center field wall to drive home 2 runs.
Miller drove home another with an RBI single in the fifth to give App State a 4-1 lead.
Senior first baseman Juan Correa rounded out the scoring on the day, blasting a towering 2-run bomb into trees to reach the day’s final score.
After this, Wilson took center stage as he retired batters at an efficient pace. By the time the last batter grounded out, he had only allowed 3 baserunners in 7 innings and didn’t walk a single one.
The second game of the double header was a closely contested affair, with the Monarchs ultimately taking the victory 7-6.
Old Dominion took an early lead with a solo shot in the first.
Luft hit a 2-run bomb to give the Black and Gold the lead, his first career homer in the collegiate ranks.
Redshirt sophomore pitcher Carter Boyd allowed the Monarchs to tie the game in the third on a wild pitch, but redshirt sophomore catcher Graham Smiley hit a 2-RBI single in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead for the Mountaineers 4-2.
The Monarchs didn’t waste any time retaking the lead, driving in three runs in the fourth.
The next three innings were devoid of any scoring, but the offense eventually got started back up in the eighth with an RBI single by redshirt freshman Dillon Moquin to tie the game at 5.
ODU managed to drive home 2 runs in the ninth to give themselves a cushion going into the bottom of the inning.
Luft singled to center field to cut the lead to 1 but junior outfielder Xavier Lopez grounded out on the next at bat and the Mountaineers lost the game.
This could have easily gone the other way as the Mountaineers went 3-11 with runners in scoring position and left 12 on base.
Correa’s homer in the second game gives him 10 on the season, tying him for first in the conference.
Lichtenberger leads the conference in batting average with .421 and is ninth in on-base plus slugging with 1.076.
The Mountaineers will travel to Cullowhee Tuesday to take on the Western Carolina Catamounts. The game will start at 5 p.m. and will be streamed at ESPN+.
