BOONE, N.C. (5/13/23) – A four-run eighth inning by Appalachian State erased the Arkansas State baseball team's three-run lead, as the Red Wolves fell 11-10 to the Mountaineers Saturday at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
A-State (17-30, 6-18 SBC) pounded out 13 hits – seven for extra bases – and led by as much as four runs, but the Mountaineers (25-21, 14-11) got a go-ahead three-run home run by Alex Reed to overcome a 10-7 deficit.
Five Red Wolves recorded two-hit outings, while Daedrick Cail led the way with three RBIs – all on a first-inning homer. Brandon Hager went 2-for-4 with two runs and a double, while Brayden Caskey homered and scored twice, going 2-for-5. Dylan DeButy also homered, driving in two runs. Kody Darcy plated a pair of runs on two hits, including his team-leading 17th double.
Six pitchers saw the mound for the Scarlet and Black, with Bryce Schares (1-1) taking the loss in the eighth.
Andrew Terrell led the hosts with three hits, while Reed pushed across four runs in a 2-for-4 afternoon.
Dante Chirico (2-1) earned the win in relief for App State, pitching two innings before Jeriah Henry pitched the ninth for the save.
The Red Wolves struck first with four runs in the opening frame on Cail's three run blast before Darcy drove in Caskey with a groundout. App State answered with a three-run bottom half, as CJ Boyd scored on a wild pitch followed by sacrifice flies by Golston Gillespie and Dylan Rogers to pull the Mountaineers within a run. Boyd grounded out in the second inning, scoring Alex Aguila to tie up the contest.
DeButy tattooed his first career homer to right center in the top of the third, driving in Darcy to make it a 6-4 margin, but the hosts got a run back on a leadoff blast by Terrell.
Caskey led off the fifth with his second round tripper of the year before Jacob Conover stranded the bases full of Mountaineers in the bottom of the inning to preserve the lead.
In the seventh, a two-out single by Darcy scored Hager to make it 8-5, but App State once again scratched back with two runs in its next at-bat.
The Red Wolves added two more in the top of the eighth on back-to-back two-out RBI doubles by Burris and Hager, giving them a 10-7 edge.
App State's first three batters reached to start the bottom of the eighth, with Gillespie driving in a run on a sac fly. After a popout for the second out, Reed homered in three more runs to push the Mountaineers ahead by a run.
Henry entered in the top of the ninth, retiring the Scarlet and Black in order.
NEXT UP
The Red Wolves look to take the final game of the series against the Mountaineers on Sunday, with first pitch slated for noon CT on ESPN+. The radio broadcast can be heard on The Ticket Radio Network stations 95.3, 96.9 and 970 AM in Jonesboro, as well as online at 953theticket.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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