App State Baseball built an early lead to back up a strong start from Everette Harris on Sunday, bounced off a rally in the Texas game and scored a 10-8 victory that won a sweep of the Sun Belt Conference series.
After the Bobcats (8-11, 0-3) scored five times in the top of the sixth, pulling 7-7 against the climbers who helped establish a 7-0 lead in the four innings, APP State regained their lead in the bottom half of the sixth three runs. That frame included a tiebreak from Joseph Zamora, a two-run single and a base road walk.
The climber (11-8, 3-0) won four consecutive games and five of the last six.
Conner Barozzino (Win, 1-2), Zach Lewis and Jordan Fisher (Save, 4)’s stingy bullpen efforts kept him on a late lead as Barozzino retired his final batsman in sixth and then left behind on a loaded base with his perfect seventh day. Lewis allowed one run in the eighth, and Fisher finished the scoreless, dramatic ninth by getting a strideout loaded with bases.
The bottom of the first six runs contributed to App state, taking a 7-0 lead in five innings.
Harris faced a lowest stage in four innings, retiring 11 straight batters, having a leadoff single, and was erased by a failed attempt at Steele. Texas loaded an empty bass in five innings, but managed only two runs as Tyler Figueroa dumped trail runners at home following a two-out RBI single that cut the lead 7-2.
Harris set off one time apart with the runner at the corner in the sixth time as the Bobcats pulled within 7-5 using a back-to-back double. A selection of fielders back to the mound and a two-out RBI single tied the game, but Barosino was able to maintain his score even in short, staged supervision of bases loaded on the groundout.
App State first sent 11 batters to the plate, with two before Kameron Miller missed a three-run homer with a deep foul ball to the left. He took a 3-2 walk and loaded the base of Braxton Church.
Two more runs were scored on Figueroa’s sack fly and Tanner McCammon’s RBI groundout after the climber reloaded the base.
App State added two more runs in a pair of RBI singles. Tyler Lichtenberger’s run-scoring hit was stuck in the webbing of Fielder’s glove, and speedy Charlie Evans got a green light with the second chopper in the hole between the third and shorts.
The climbers increased their lead to 7-0 on their third SAC fly from Lichtenberger.
App State worked nine walks throughout the ball game, hitting five pitches. Dillon Mokin hit three times and reached base four times from the leadoff spot, while Miller also reached four times, including three walks. Zamora and McCammon have registered their multi-hit efforts.
App State will return to action Tuesday as the team moves to Charlotte on the first pitch at 6pm on the 49ers. The 2025 App State Baseball season will be announced by Chickfil A.
{Information provided by Appalachian Athletics}
