By Matt Present for App State Sports. BOONE, N.C. — App State baseball went toe-to-toe with second ranked Wake Forest on Tuesday night, taking the lead into the fifth inning, before the Demon Deacons pulled away for a 10-4 win in front of a record-setting crowd of 1,376 at Smith Stadium.
With the Demon Deacons leading 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning, fifth-year senior Luke Drumheller led off the frame with an opposite field single to right field. Freshman Jonathan Xuereb then followed, blasting an 0-1 pitch 457 feet, over the wall in left-center, to give App State a 3-2 lead. The home run was the first of Xuereb’s college career, and the second-longest App State home run hit at Smith Stadium in the Trackman era.
Caleb Cross started the ballgame on the mound for the Mountaineers (16-14, 6-5). After the righty yielded a pair of RBI singles in the first inning, he settled down, striking out two in the second and two more in the third, and exiting with App State ahead, 3-2.
Wake Forest (29-4, 12-2) reclaimed the lead in the fifth inning, batting around and scoring five runs in the frame, highlighted by a two-run home run from Danny Corona.
The Deacons added a home run from Brock Wilken in the sixth inning. He also added a pair of doubles and scored four runs in the ballgame.
The Mountaineers finished strong on the mound. Collin Welch allowed just a run in 2.2 innings of relief, while Jackson Steensma, Zach Lewis, and Eli Ellington combined to strike out four across the final three innings in the ballgame, without giving up an earned run.
App State struck for the first time in the bottom of the first inning. Braxton Church was hit by a pitch to begin the ballgame, and after going first-to-third on a Xavier Morotna RBI single, he came into score on a single to center field from Hayden Cross. Cross extended his on-base streak to 19 consecutive games, while also throwing out his 13th baserunner of the season from behind the plate. Cross also added the Mountaineers’ final run of the ballgame, lifting a sacrifice fly to center in the ninth inning to plate Dylan Rogers, who reached on an error to begin the frame.
App State will travel to Statesboro next for an April 14-16, three game series at Georgia Southern. First pitch Friday is set for 6:30 p.m., with Saturday’s game scheduled for 2 p.m. The series will wrap up Sunday, with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
