By Matt Present. BOONE, N.C. — App State Baseball’s late-inning rally came up short on April 19, as the team dropped the series finale to James Madison, 10-6, at Smith Stadium.
Down by six runs in the ninth inning, App State (21-18, 11-7) pushed across two runs on four hits in the final frame, but was unable to sustain the rally and overcome the deficit.
Juan Correa led the Mountaineers, going 3-5 with a pair of RBI singles, while Tyler Lichtenberger recorded his 22nd multi-hit effort of the season and Kameron Miller also tallied a pair of hits.
James Madison (13-27, 6-12) plated four runs in the third inning to take the lead and added critical insurance runs late, recording two in the seventh and two more in the ninth. Overall, the Dukes sprinkled in some power with five doubles and a home run among their 11 total hits on the day.
JMU overcomes shaky start
App State got the scoring started in the bottom half of the first inning. Braxton Church led off with a walk and, two batters later, Kameron Miller also walked to put two men aboard. After a flyout from Juan Correa advanced both runners into scoring position, a wild pitch allowed Church to come in to score from third.
The Mountaineers plated another run in the third inning on a Correa RBI single through the left side. He drove in Joseph Zamora, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the frame.
Trailing 8-2 in the seventh, Church belted his second home run of the season into the visitor’s bullpen in right field to lead off the inning. Later in the inning, Miller ripped a double to the wall in left-center field and Correa brought him home with an RBI single through the left side to make it 8-4.
App State conceded a pair of James Madison insurance runs in the top of the ninth but stormed back in the home half of the inning. Zamora doubled down the left field line to start the frame and came around to score on a two-out, RBI single from Lichtenberger to keep the game alive. Tyler Figueroa and Riley Luft followed with back-to-back singles to score a run, with the Mountaineers down to their final strike three times in the ballgame, before the Dukes tagged out Figueroa trying to reach third base on Luft’s rap to center, salvaging the finale.
KEY PERFORMERS
- JMU – Jack Anderson: 3-3, 1 run, 2 RBIs, double, walk, hit by pitch
- JMU – Coleman Calabrese: 2-5, 2 runs, 1 RBI, HR
- JMU – Wyatt Peifer: 2-3, 4 runs, 1 RBI, 2 doubles, 2 walks
- JMU – Kyle Langley: 2-4, 1 RBI, double, sacrifice
- APP – Juan Correa: 3-5, 2 RBIs
- APP – Braxton Church: 1-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI, HR, walk
- APP – Tyler Lichtenberger: 2-4, 1 run, 1 RBI, walk
- APP – Kameron Miller: 2-4, 1 run, double, walk
