By Matt Present for App State Sports. HIGH POINT, N.C. – Highlighted by a nine-run sixth inning, App State Baseball improves to 4-0 for the first time since 2011, defeating High Point, 16-7, Tuesday at Dillard Stadium.
After leading 3-0 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, the Panthers tied the score with a pair of home runs off of App State reliever Caleb Cross (win, 1-0).
The Mountaineer offense responded in a big way in the top of the sixth inning. Dylan Rogers reached on an error to begin the frame, and Luke Drumheller followed with a walk. That set the stage for Golston Gillespie, who crushed a go-ahead three-run home run to right field, to put App State back in front, 6-3. Gillespie finished the night with a career-high six RBIs in the ballgame, the most by a Mountaineer in recorded history (since 2013).
The Mountaineers were just getting started in the inning. Jonathan Xuereb reached on a walk, stole second, and then came in to score on a Xavier Moronta single to center. After Hayden Cross continued the rally with a single, C.J. Boyd sliced a two-run double down the right field line to make it a 9-3 App State advantage.
After a High Point (3-1) pitching change, Rogers, batting for the second time in the inning, drove in Boyd with an RBI single through the right side. Drumheller then walked and moved to second on a passed ball, and Gillespie followed with a two-run single to right to give him five RBIs in the inning and put App State ahead, 12-3.
Collin Welch started the ballgame for the Mountaineers and struck out three in four scoreless innings of work. Welch yielded just two hits and did not walk a batter. After giving up a pair of home runs in the fifth, Cross bounced back with a scoreless sixth inning of work.
Boyd belted his first home run of the season in the top of the ninth inning to make it 16-7. The Mountaineer left fielder also notched a pair of doubles, and finished the night with three RBIs and three runs scored.
App State opened the scoring with a three-run fourth inning. All three runs score on a two-out rally, beginning with a two-run single from Drumheller. Gillespie followed with an RBI single to push Drumheller across to score.
The Mountaineers finished the game with 18 hits, led by a career-high four-hit game from Hayden Cross. Moronta also tallied four hits, and now reached base 16 times in his first four games as a Mountaineer. The 16 runs and 18 hits are both the most for the Mountaineers since a 17-9 win over High Point at Smith Stadium last April.
Blake Sutton led the way for High Point in the loss, hitting two home runs to give him five long balls in the first four games of the season for the Panthers.
App State will face off with North Carolina A&T in a three-game weekend series. The teams will begin the set at Truist Point stadium in High Point on Friday at 5 p.m. The Mountaineers will then host the Aggies in their home opener at Smith Stadium at 1 p.m. on Saturday in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN+. Sunday the two teams will face off at 1 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro. The Aggies are 3-0 on the season following a three-game sweep of Maryland-Eastern Shore. They face Davidson for a pair of mid-week contests, Tuesday and Thursday.
