Wake Forest University
3-5
Appalachian State
2-5
No. 24 Deacs Drop Back-and-Forth Game to App State
2/26/2020 9:14:00 PM | Baseball
The Mountaineers took the lead with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to win, 11-9.
The Demon Deacons (3-5) and Mountaineers (2-5) traded lead multiple times, but App State struck the final blow with an Andrew Greckel home run in the top of the ninth.
"We obviously just didn't get it done on the mound," head coach Tom Walter said. "It hurt a little bit that we didn't have our closer available today, certainly, but with a 6-2 lead in the fifth inning with Tony on the mound, it looked like he was going to settle down and start to cruise, and we just didn't throw enough strikes...In college baseball, you've got to throw strikes and pitch ahead and we didn't do that today. Our at-bats are getting better. We've got a couple guys who are scuffling a little bit but our swings are getting better and I feel like we'll start clicking offensively soon."
It was a pinch-hit, two-out, two-strike grand slam by Adam Cecere in the fourth inning which put the Deacs ahead, 6-2.
A sloppy fifth inning put App State right back in front. The inning featured an error, two walks, a hit-by-pitch and passed ball, plus a pair of doubles from Luke Drumheller and Luke Allison, to give the Mountaineers an 8-6 advantage.
Wake Forest fought back to tie it in the seventh and take the lead in the eighth. In the seventh, Michael Ludowig roped an RBI double and Brendan Tinsman hit a sac fly to knot the score at 8-8.
In the eighth, Parker Pilat led off the inning with his first collegiate hit, a double down the line. He came around to score on a Bobby Seymour RBI single to put the Deacs ahead, 9-8, before App took the lead for good in the ninth.
Seymour, Tinsman and Michael Turconi had two hits apiece for the Deacs, while Shane Muntz drew three of the team's eight walks.
Wake Forest was unable to push any runs across against App State closer Jack Hartman, who threw 1.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts to earn the win.
The Deacs are back in action with four games this weekend, beginning with La Salle on Friday at 4 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hartman, Jack (1-0)
L: McNamee, Cole (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Drumheller, Luke 1 ; Allison, Luke 1
HR: Greckel, Andrew 1
RBI: Drumheller, Luke 3 ; Young, Robbie 1 ; Cole, Phillip 1 ; Greckel, Andrew 3 ; Allison, Luke 1
SH: Young, Robbie 1 ; Greckel, Andrew 1 ; Allison, Luke 1
SF: Drumheller, Luke 1 ; Greckel, Andrew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Idol, Peyton 3 ; Welch, Bailey 1 ; Drumheller, Luke 1 ; Leek, Tyler 2 ; Cole, Phillip 2 ; Greckel, Andrew 1 ; Allison, Luke 1
SB: Leek, Tyler 1
CS: Allison, Luke 1
HBP: Leek, Tyler 1 ; Lipson, Jack 1
Batting:
2B: Ludowig, Michael 1 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Pilat, Parker 1
HR: Cecere, Adam 1
RBI: Seymour, Bobby 2 ; Ludowig, Michael 1 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Cecere, Adam 4
SF: Seymour, Bobby 1 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Poteet, DJ 1 ; Seymour, Bobby 1 ; Muntz, Shane 1 ; Ludowig, Michael 1 ; Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Simoneit, William 1 ; Cecere, Adam 1 ; Pilat, Parker 1
SB: Turconi, Michael 1 ; Poteet, DJ 1
HBP: Tinsman, Brendan 1 ; Simoneit, William 1
