By Matt Present. BOONE, N.C. — Juan Correa belted his 13th home run of the season and Liam Best fanned six in his third start of the year, but App State came up short against No. 22 Southern Miss, falling 7-3 at Smith Stadium on Saturday.
The Golden Eagles (30-13, 14-6) have now won six of their seven Sun Belt series this season.
Best was clutch in his outing for the Mountaineers (21-21, 11-9). The right-hander struck out the side in the first inning, after allowing the first two batters of the inning to get into scoring position. Best struck out one in the second to strand the bases loaded and two more in the third, before giving way to Bradey Wilson, who recorded the final out of the inning and retired the first four batters he faced in relief.
The Mountaineers made clutch pitches throughout the ballgame, stranding 16 Southern Miss runners, including with the bases loaded on three separate occasions.
App State struck first in the ballgame with a run in the bottom of the third. Dillon Moquin was hit by a pitch to begin the inning and came around to score on a two-out, RBI single by Kameron Miller.
Miller tallied two hits and reached base three times in the ballgame.
The Golden Eagles grabbed the lead in the sixth inning, when they batted around and scored three runs. The visitors added on with a run in the seventh, two in the eighth, and one in the ninth — courtesy of junior infielder Nick Monistere’s 16th home run of the season — to keep the Mountaineers at arm’s length in the scoring column.
Correa hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth, scoring Miller, who got on base after being hit by a pitch, to cut the deficit to 6-3. Unfortunately for the vocal home crowd, the Black and Gold were unable to get any closer.
App State will look to salvage the series finale on Sunday, with first pitch set for 12 p.m. in the finale.
