BOONE, N.C. – The Mountaineers’ bats came alive at the plate on Sunday, plating a season-high 18 runs in the ballgame, and posting their second walk-off of the series, scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to run-rule Old Dominion, 18-8, at Smith Stadium.
The Mountaineers (19-18, 9-8) scored a run in each of their final six at-bats of the ballgame, tallying 17 hits on the day, and batted .515 as a team. Seven Mountaineers enjoyed multi-hit efforts, led by CJ Boyd and Andrew Terrell who tallied three hits apiece.
App State opened the scoring in the second inning, batting around in the frame. Hayden Cross led off with a walk, and Golston Gillespie followed with an RBI double into the left field corner. A second run scored on an error, and later in the frame, Terrell beat out an infield single to plate a third runner. Xavier Moronta capped the scoring with an RBI double to right, finishing the series with five doubles in three games.
Hayden Cross led off the third inning with his fourth home run of the season, while Hunter Wilder and Terrell added RBI singles later in the frame, to increase the lead to 7-1.
Caleb Cross (win, 4-2) enjoyed his best start of the season. He struck out the first four batters he faced, on his way to a career-high seven strikeouts in the ballgame, in 4.2 innings of work. Grey LaSpaluto added two more strikeouts, covering the final 2.1 innings of the contest.
The Mountaineers continued to pile on at the plate. They scored two more runs in the fourth inning, with Dylan Rogers and Jonathan Xuereb drawing back-to-back bases loaded walks. App State drew 11 walks in the ballgame, while issuing just one.
App State added four more in the fifth inning, with Luke Drumheller and Rogers each belting two-run doubles in the fame. Drumheller extended his hitting streak to ten consecutive games.
The Black and Gold batted around again in the sixth inning, with Boyd singling home a pair of runs.
Then in the seventh with two outs, Terrell laced a two-out double, and after advancing to third on a wild pitch, came into score on a walk-off single by Boyd, in between third and shortstop.
App State has now won four Sun Belt series, and at 9-8 in Sun Belt play, is just one win back of third place in the conference standings.
The Mountaineers will be back in action on Wednesday, when they conclude their home-and-home series with No. 2 Wake Forest. The contest will be played at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C. and admission is free.
