By Matt Present. CARBONDALE, Ill. – App State sent ten men to the plate in the seventh inning, scoring six times, helping the Mountaineers pull away for a 9-1 win over Southern Illinois on March 2, evening the weekend series at a game apiece with another to play on March 3.
Leading 2-1 after six completed innings, App State (8-2) had six consecutive batters reach base in that seventh frame. Banks Tolley began the rally with a one-out single and after Drew Holderbach walked, Adam Quintero came through with an RBI single just inside the third base bag. From there the floodgates opened. Dillon Moquin followed with a double to the wall in right to push the lead to 4-1. Moquin finished with two hits in his Mountaineer debut.
jACKSON sTEENSMA PROVIDED THE mOUNTAINEERS A STRONG START, WORKING FIVE INNNGS.
The App State bats kept the pressure on. After an intentional walk to Tommy Walker to load the bases, Alex Aguila made the Salukis pay with a two-run single up the middle to push the advantage to 6-1. Joseph Zamora followed with an RBI groundout to score Walker, and then the lineup turned over for CJ Boyd, who reached on an error that allowed Aguila to come in to score and make it 8-1. The Mountaineers added an insurance run in the 8th inning when Holderbach singled to score St. Laurent.
On the mound, Jackson Steensma (win, 2-0) provided the Mountaineers a strong start. Steensma worked five innings, allowing just an unearned run while matching a season-high with five strikeouts. Steensma allowed just two hits and walked three in the ballgame, lowering his ERA to 3.00 on the season. Steensma worked out of a bases loaded jam in the second, and went on to face just one batter over the minimum in his final three innings of work.
Collin Welch (save, 1) was impressive in back of Steensma. The righty took over in the sixth and tossed the final four innings, striking out four without allowing a run or a hit. Welch danced around a pair of walks and faced just two over the minimum in the outing. Welch and Steensma combined to two-hit the Salukis in the ballgame.
After falling behind 1-0 on an unearned run in the second inning, App State tied the score and took the lead in the fifth. Aguila walked to lead off the inning and Zamora reached on an error one batter later that allowed Aguila to come all the way around from first to score. Later in the inning, St. Laurent lifted a sac fly to center field to put the Black and Gold ahead.
Holderbach tacked on a run in the eighth inning with an RBI single to plate St. Laurent, who led off the frame with an infield hit.
The teams will reconvene for the rubber game of the series on Sunday, with first pitch from Carbondale set for 1 p.m. ET.
