By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Once in a week is one thing, but twice? It may be a High Country epidemic.
Just two days after Watauga High School’s 15-run explosion in the top of the first inning at Freedom, App State counters with 15 runs in the the first two innings against Marshall on March 30 at Smith Stadium in front of an announced crowd of 1,027 mostly Mountaineer fans — on their way to a dynamic, 19-2 win on a bright, sunny day for baseball, jackets optional in the sometimes breezy conditions. It felt like the day before Easter and had the Mountaineers been carrying baskets, there was plenty of good stuff to put in them.
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And it started in the top of the first inning with The Thundering Herd at bat and App State’s righthanded sophomore pitcher, Jackson Steensma, on the mound. The Byron Center, Mich., product was “feeling it” on the day, delivering a three up-three down performance in the top of the first, all strikeouts.
App State scored five runs in bottom half of the first, manufactured initially by two RBI doubles from 3B Austin St. Laurent and C Braxton Church. They were followed by run-scoring singles off the bats of Adam Quintero and Kameron Miller.
Steensma did another masterful job in retiring the side again in the top half of the second inning, 3-up and 3-down once again. Meanwhile, the Mountaineer offense was just getting started.
Early in the inning, after St. Laurent had singled through the left side of the diamond, what should have been a routine double play was muffed by the Marshall second baseman and Banks Tolley reached first on the error with St. Laurent advancing to second. Church followed with a walk, loading the bases. Drew Holderbach singled to center, scoring both St. Laurent and Tolley, but it was just the first two of what would become a 10-run inning.
Intermixed among at bats where Quintero walked and Hunter Wilder was hit by a pitch, Miller doubled down the left field line and Joseph Zamora doubled down the right field line, with three more runs scoring.
After The Herd got a second out and it looked like the visitors from West Virginia might avoid any more damage, it turned ugly — or beautiful if you were App State. St. Laurent ripped his second single of the inning, scoring Zamora and Wilder, then stole second. Tolley walked and both he and St. Laurent advanced on a wild pitch. Church walked to load the bases again, then everyone advanced on another wild pitch, St. Laurent scoring.
With obvious control problems, the Marshall righthander Cole Agemy coffed up the last run of the inning on yet another wild pitch, but mercifully the inning ended on a fly ball third out to left. But it didn’t come before App State plated 10 runs in the inning to jump out to a 15-0 lead.
With Steensma rolling on the mound for App State, he kept Marshall scoreless through the fifth inning. Meanwhile, the visitors seemed to find a solution on the mound in senior Peyton Schofield, who managed to pitch three scoreless innings with four strikeouts and just two walks. Even if the Indiana native hit a couple of Mountaineer batters in his three innings of work, he managed to wriggle out of any scoring threats from the 13 batters he faced.
Marshall finally got on the scoreboard with a 2-run blast off the bat of left fielder Elijah Vogelsong, but App State countered with four more runs in the bottom half of the inning, thanks to home runs from Tolley and Miller. For Tolley, his 2-run blast was the third of the weekend series. For Miller, his 2-run dinger was the second HR of the series, the second in as many days, and the second of his young App State career.
Next up for Mountaineers is an April 2 non-conference rematch with High Point, played at Smith Stadium. They resume Sun Belt Conference play at James Madison on April 5, 6 and 7.
TOP PERFORMERS
- APP – Jackson Steensma: winning pitcher, allowed 2 runs on 3 hits over 6 innings, w/ 7 strikeouts
- APP – Kameron Miller: 3-5, 2 runs scored, 6 RBIs, 2B, HR
- APP – Austin St. Laurent: 4-5, 4 runs scored, 3 RBIs, 2 doubles
- APP – Banks Tolley: 1-3, 3 runs scored, 2 RBIs, HR, 2 walks
- APP – Braxton Church: 1-2, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, 2B, 2 walks
- APP – Joseph Zamora: 1-3, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, 2B
- APP – Drew Holderbach: 1-2, 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs, 3 walks
- APP – Adam Quintero: 1-3, 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs, 1 walk
- MAR – Elijah Vogelsong: 1-3, 1 run scored, 2 RBIs, HR
BONUS PHOTOS
