Mountaineers bounce back
App faces showdown

at The Citadel
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Appalachian State just put 10 runs on High Point Tuesday and 10 more on North Carolina A&T Wednesday at Smith Stadium. Neither non-Southern Conference opponents is likely to have the pitching The Citadel has.

Appalachian State (12-11, 0-3 (SoCon) will find out first hand just how good The Citadel’s pitching staff is this weekend when the Mountaineers travel to Charleston, S.C. to face the Bulldogs (14-9, 3-3) in a three-game series, beginning with the first game Friday at 6 p.m.

The Mountaineers also play the Bulldogs Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. All games are at Reily Park.

The Citadel is dead last in the SoCon in batting, hitting just .279 in 22 games. However, the Bulldogs’ pitching staff leads the SoCon with a 3.13 ERA, giving up just 70 earned runs, 13 less than Wofford.

Appalachian State’s offense is tied with Western Carolina for sixth in the conference with a .313 team batting average. Leadoff hitter Jason Altenhof is 12th overall in batting with a .387 average and Isaac Harrow is tied for the league lead in doubles with 11.

“We’ve been swinging the bats pretty well,” ASU outfielder David Rubinstein said. “We want to get back this weekend to how we usually play, hitting the ball around the park and playing good defense and the pitchers throwing ground balls.”

But The Citadel has three pitchers with an ERA under 4.00 this year. Leading the way is Asher Wojciechowski, whose ERA of 1.87 leads the conference. Wojciechowski has allowed just seven earned runs and 16 hits in 33 2/3 innings this year. He also is tied for the conference lead in strikeouts with 41.

Wojciechowski has help. Matt Crim’s ERA of 3.41 is eighth in the SoCon, while teammate Wes Wrenn’s ERA of 3.74 is 10th.

“They’re pitching very well,” Mountaineers coach Chris Pollard said. “The thing that has been positive about these past two days is that we’ve done a good job of manufacturing runs. That’s the type of thing we’re going to have to do down there, because they’re not going to give you a lot of big innings.”

Appalachian State’s pitching has been good at times, and not so good in others. The Mountaineers struggled on the mound against UNC Greensboro during a series the Spartans swept 3-0 from ASU last weekend. The Mountaineers lost 9-3, 12-8 and 17-11 to UNC Greensboro, and look to rebound against The Citadel.
“I think there’s an expectation of us that this weekend we really need to answer after last weekend,” Rubinstein said. “It’s important that we get these three ballgames and get into good position to compete with the rest of the conference.”

Pollard was happy with how the staff pitched against North Carolina A&T, particularly starter Nick Terry and middle reliever Calvin Teague.

“I thought Calvin Teague pitched outstanding,” Pollard said of the Alexander Central grad. “That’s certainly something positive going into the weekend. I can see his role expanding as we get further into this thing.”

Josh Dowdy will start Friday on the mound for the Mountaineers, while Matt Andress gets the call in the second game. The starting pitcher for the third game is still undecided.

“We’re going to kind of evaluate and look at some video and talk about it in the morning and figure out Sunday,” Pollard said. “I haven’t ruled out Sunday by committee right now, just seeing what happens. We could try to piece it together from the fifth and extend (closer) Garrett (Sherrill), but I’m not sure right now.”
Pollard added that although all conference games are important, it’s also key that the Mountaineers pick up some victories and get out of the SoCon cellar.

“We have to get off the schnide a little bit in the conference,” Pollard said. “That’s a tough place to play. They draw well down there and obviously a very pro-Citadel crowd. We have to be ready to play our best baseball of the year.”