By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — For what started out as a pitcher’s duel, the App State vs. Georgia State “winner-take-all” baseball game on May 17 at Smith Stadium experienced a power surge in the later innings. The Mountaineers jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth and sixth frames, then held on to edge the Panthers, 5-4, at the end of nine innings.
It was a bright, beautiful day for baseball with a lot at stake for the outcome. App State entered the day with a tenuous hold on the No. 10 spot in the Sun Belt Conference standings, with Georgia State nipping at their heels at No. 11. Only 10 teams qualify for next week’s Sun Belt Conference tournament. App State needed the win to secure 10th place. Should Georgia State have won, they would be going to Montgomery, Ala. for the conference tournament and App State’s season would have ended. It doesn’t get much more dramatic than that for a last game of the regular season.
Well, it was Senior Day at Smith Stadium — and in more ways than one. Of course there were the pre-game ceremonies honoring the seniors but three of them figured prominently in the afternoon’s outcome.
App State’s Caleb Cross commanded the mound for five scoreless innings before running into some trouble in the sixth, but thanks to some timely offense by his teammates the redshirt senior was credited for the win.
Graduate student Bradley Wilson gave up a 3-run home run in the sixth inning, in relief of Cross, but earned his first career save by wigging out of trouble the rest of the way.
And catcher Braxton Church, a native of North Wilkesboro, narrowly missed hitting a grand slam home run, his sixth inning blast off the right field wall clearing the bases of Kameron Miller, Tyler Lichtenberger and Juan Correa, who had all reached base ahead of him.
As it was, Church’s 3-RBI double turned out to be the difference in the game, at least offensively, as the Panthers rallied in the top of the 7th inning to narrow the deficit to just one run. After GSU shortstop Carter Bailey singled to lead off the 7th, centerfielder Cooper Milford doubled to the right centerfield gap, scoring Bailey. With App State’s Wilson coming on in relief of Cross, Milford was forced to wait patiently at second base until a fly ball to center allowed him to tag up and advance to third. But he didn’t have to wait long, since first baseman Jess Donohoe brought him home with a 2-RBI home run, raising the hopes of the Panthers for a trip Montgomery next week and a bite at the SBC tournament apple.
Wilson wiggled out of trouble in the top of the 8th inning, thanks largely to a sparkling double play orchestrated by App State shortstop Tyler Lichtenberger. The freshman from Boca Raton, Fla. fielded a sharply hit ground ball to his left, let his momentum carry him to step on second to force out William Maginnis, then whipped the ball to a stretching first baseman Juan Correa at first to double up the Georgia State batter-turned-runner, Michael Maginnis.
The Panthers actually outhit the Mountaineers, 9-6, but stranded eight runners on base.
With the win, App State advances to the Sun Belt Conference tournament as the No. 10 seed where they will face No. 7 Texas State in the single elimination format of the opening round on Tuesday, May 22 (4 p.m. Eastern time), which amounts to a “play-in” game for the double elimination main event. A second single elimination game pits No. 8 Arkansas State against No. 9 seeded Georgia Southern. The respective winners will advance to the double elimination tourney, first facing No. 1 seeded Coastal Carolina or the No. 2 seed, Southern Miss.
Key Performers
- APP – Braxton Church: 1-1, 1 run scored, 3 RBIs, 2B, 2 walks
- APP – Tanner McCammon: 1-3, 1 run scored, 2 RBIs, HR
- APP – Caleb Cross: winning pitcher (7-4), 6 IP, allowed 3 runs on 5 hits. 4 walks, 8 strikeouts, allowed 2 extra base hits (2B, HR)
- APP – Joseph Zamora: 2-3, walk
- GSU – Kaleb Freeman: 2-4, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, 2B, HR, walk
- GSU – Jesse Donahoe: 1-3, 1 run scored, 2 RBIs, HR, 2 walks
- GSU – Carter Milford: 2-4, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, 2B
