Wednesday, March 9
Mountaineers Record Second Shutout in Six Days
FOREST CITY, N.C. — True freshman Breydan Gorham threw seven shutout innings and fellow freshman Colin Schmid hit a homer and drove in three runs to lead Appalachian State University baseball to an 8-0 victory over UNC Asheville on Wednesday afternoon at McNair Field.
The shutout win was Appalachian State’s second in six days. The Mountaineers also blanked Stony Brook, 4-0, last Friday in Elon, N.C
Gorham (1-2) was the story of the day for the Mountaineers. He retired 21 of the 26 hitters he faced, including 15-of-16 during a stretch in which the only UNCA batter to get on base reached on an error.
The right-handed rookie needed only 95 pitches to cruise through his seven shutout innings and earn the first win of his young career. He struck out five, surrendered only three hits and a walk and lowered his ERA to a team-low 2.00.
The Mountaineers gave Gorham all the run support he would need when they took a 1-0 lead on Schmid’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the first.
App State went on to plate its first three runs on bases-loaded walks, as Chandler Seagle and Jason Curtis drove in runs without swinging the bat to make it 3-0 in the sixth.
Appalachian State (3-10) blew the game wide open with five runs in the seventh. Schmid kickstarted the five-run frame with a mammoth two-run home run over the right-field wall to make it 5-0. After Matt Vernon came home on a passed ball, Curtis closed out the scoring with a two-out RBI single up the middle.
Appalachian relievers Reed Howell and Dallas DeVrieze each tossed a scoreless inning to preserve the shutout.
Schmid (2-for-4, three RBI) and Curtis (1-for-3, three RBI) combined for three of App State’s five hits and drove in six of the Mountaineers’ eight runs. Designated hitter Caleb McCann drew three of Appalachian’s 14 walks.
UNC Asheville (4-8) used six pitchers in its third-straight loss. All six issued multiple walks.
With the triumph, Appalachian State moved to 11-0 all-time at McNair Field and won for the 15th time in its last 16 meetings against UNCA. The Mountaineers hold a commanding 41-20 lead in the all-time series with the Bulldogs.
Appalachian opens Sun Belt Conference play this weekend with a three-game series versus longtime rival Georgia Southern (8-5). Game times are set for 6 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Appalachian State’s Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
Troy Baseball Blanks Jacksonville State Behind Solid Pitching and Hitting
Jacksonville, ALABAMA – In his first start as a Trojan, Houston Mabray helped lead the Troy baseball team to a 10-0 shutout victory over Jacksonville State on Wednesday night at Rudy Abbot Field.
Mabray (1-0) pitched six shutout innings, allowed four hits, no walks and struck out four earning his first win as a Trojan. He closed out the game retiring the last seven batters he faced, before he gave way to Trey Johns. Johns pitched two innings and only allowed two hits and Marc Skinner came in to close out the game in the ninth.
Troy (9-6) scored three runs early with two-outs in the top of the first inning. Joey Denison scored the first run of the game on an error by the first baseman. Back-to-back base hits scored the next two runs and gave the Trojans a 3-0 lead.
The Trojans added another run in the sixth on a double down the left field line from Peyton Fuller. Fuller finished the game 3-for-5 with one double and three RBIs.
With runners at second and third with no outs in the eighth, TJ Binder hit a ball the gap in left center, but was ran down by the Gamecock center fielder for a fly out, but a run scored on the play and gave Binder a sacrifice fly that pushed the lead to 5-0. The next batter, Fuller drove in his third run of the game on a single up the middle.
Trevor Davis got into the RBI mix with a double to left center that scored a run in the top of the ninth. Following a single from Denison, Reid Long took a 2-1 pitch to deep left field for a three-run home run to seal the 10-0 victory.
Troy piled on 10 hits in the game; Long and Fuller had a combined six hits – three singles, two doubles and one home run – and seven RBIs. The top four hitters in the lineup had a hit each and scored at least one run. Denison, the clean up hitter, led the way and scored a season-high three runs.
Colton Campbell (1-1) suffered the loss for the Gamecocks, he pitched two innings allowed the three runs that came in the first inning on two hits and struck out two.
The Trojans snapped a four-game losing streak with Jacksonville State, dating back to 2014 and brought a three-game losing streak for this season to a halt.
Troy will return to Riddle-Pace to open up Sun Belt Conference play hosting No. 17 UL Lafayette for a weekend series. Game times are set for 6 p.m. on Friday, 3 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.