By Matt Present. HICKORY, N.C. — App State Baseball rode strong arms on the mound and timely opportunities on the basepaths to a 9-4 win against Siena on Saturday afternoon at L.P. Frans Stadium.
The Mountaineers (5-1) clinched their second straight weekend series victory to open the 2024 campaign and will look to sweep Siena (0-5) in Sunday’s finale in Hickory. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Jackson Steensma, last year’s closer who has moved into the weekend starting rotation this season, earned his first win as a Mountaineer starter. He allowed just one first-inning run before shutting down the Saints over the next four innings and racking up five strikeouts.
sEVEN OF NINE aPP sTATE STARTERS REACHED BASE, OFFENSIVELY.
Head coach Kermit Smith turned to the bullpen for the final four frames and got solid work from Grey LaSpaluto, Everette Harris and Zach Lewis, who combined to allow three runs on three hits with three strikeouts.
Seven of nine starters reached base for App State’s offense, led by shortstop Adam Quintero’s 1-for-4 day that included his second home run of the year. He scored twice, drove in two runs and flashed the leather with a pair of unassisted double plays and a nice sliding grab to cut down a runner at second.
Banks Tolley went 1-for-3, reached base twice on a hit by pitch and scored three times. Drew Holderbach went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, and Tommy Walker drove in two and stole two bases.
App State took advantage of four Saints errors in the contest, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third and four more in the seventh and eighth innings with help from Siena fielding miscues.
After Siena jumped ahead on a first-inning solo home run, the App State bats picked up where they left off from Friday’s 15-run performance by plating two in the second inning on a Walker single that drove in Holderbach and Quintero for Walker’s first hit and RBIs of the young season.
The 2-1 advantage was all Steensma and Co. needed.
In the top of the fifth, Siena threatened to cut into App State’s lead when a runner tried to score from first on a double to left, but a perfectly executed Boyd-to-Quintero-to-Walker relay cut down the Siena runner in front of home plate to keep the Saints off the board.
After Siena tacked on a run in the top of the sixth, Quintero led off the bottom of the frame with a blast over the right-field wall to extend the Mountaineers’ lead to 5-2.
BOX SCORE: https://appstatesports.com/boxscore.aspx?path=baseball&id=8855
