By Matt Present. STATESBORO, Ga. — With the Mountaineers down by a run and down to their final out in the top of the ninth inning, Graham Smiley blasted a go-ahead grand slam, but Georgia Southern answered with a walk-off single in the bottom half of the inning as App State fell to the Eagles 14-13 on March 22, at J.I. Clements Stadium.
In a contest that featured seven lead changes, App State (11-11, 3-2) and Georgia Southern (13-9, 2-3) combined for 27 runs on 31 hits, including nine home runs on the afternoon. Smiley finished the game with two home runs and five RBIs, while Kameron Miller belted a grand-slam of his own, finishing with a career-high four hits, two home runs and six RBIs.
App State trailed 12-9 when the ninth inning began. Miller led off the inning with a single and Braxton Church reached on a fielder’s choice. With two outs and App State down to its final strike, Tanner McCammon beat out an infield single, extending the contest for Smiley, who deposited a 1-0 pitch over the wall in dead center field to put App State in the lead, 13-12.
The Eagles worked a walk and a hit by pitch to begin the home half of the inning, and sacrificed the pair into scoring position, where Nico Senese lined a game-winning single to right-center field, just over the leaping Joseph Zamora at second base.
App State led the contest 3-1 early, scoring a pair of runs in the second inning, followed by a solo homer from Miller in the fourth. The Eagles answered with a three-run bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4-3 advantage.
The Mountaineers delivered a massive counterpunch in the fifth. Smiley led off the inning with his first homer of the ballgame to center field. Charlie Evans, Dillon Moquin and Zamora followed with three straight singles, setting the table for Miller, who drilled a 1-1 fastball over the left field wall to give App State an 8-4 lead.
The Eagles continued the back-and-forth action, homering twice in a four-run bottom half of the frame to square the contest at 8-8.
The Eagles put together another multi-run frame in the sixth, hitting another home run as part of a three-run frame.
Tyler Lichtenberger, Zamora and McCammon all finished with two hits in the contest and all nine starters registered at least one hit for the Mountaineers, after the team was held to just four hits on Friday night.
App State will try to salvage the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.
