Charleston sweeps ASU
Dense fog, late-game

rallies can’t stop Cougars
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

At times, Appalachian State showed it could play with one of the best programs in the Southern Conference. At other times, the Mountaineers looked lost.

After falling 16-13 in the first game of their three-game series on Friday, the Mountaineers lost two more to Charleston Sunday afternoon. The first was an 8-2 setback that was a continuation of Saturday’s game, which was postponed because of heavy fog that descended on Smith Stadium.

Charleston followed with a 7-6 win in 10 innings that saw pinch-hitter Joey Bergman hit a solo home run in the 10th off Appalachian State ace Garrett Sherrill, who had silenced the heavy-hitting Cougars (22-9, 8-1 SoCon) by throwing four straight scoreless innings.

The good news for the Mountaineers was that outfielder David Rubinstein set the Appalachian State career record for doubles with 54. He hit three in the third game, including his first one that drove in two runs in the first inning.

Otherwise, it was not an easy weekend for the Mountaineers, who stayed in the Southern Conference cellar with a 1-8 league mark, 15-16 overall. Appalachian State stumbled into a four-game losing streak, which includes a 7-0 loss to No. 5 North Carolina last week.

But that game didn’t count in the SoCon standings. The Mountaineers, after playing at USC Upstate Tuesday and at home Wednesday against Gardner-Webb, plays at Georgia Southern for a three-game series starting Friday this weekend.

“We’re not going to consume ourselves with where we’re sitting right now in the standings,” Pioneers coach Chris Pollard said. “We’re going to focus on trying to get better and trying to focus on the things we need to work on.”

The Mountaineers seemed destined to lost the third game 6-3 after the Cougars had scored three runs in the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth. Sherrill kept the Cougars, which had all nine starters hitting at least .301 in their lineup, cold at the plate. Sherrill entered the game at the top of the sixth and struck out seven out of 10 batters he faced.

He retired 12 out of 14 Cougars before Bergman, pinch-hitting for designated hitter Michael Kohn, belted a solo home run to right-center field. Bergman was the only Cougar to get past first base while Sherrill was on the mound.

“I thought I made a good pitch,” Sherrill said. “I was down with a 2-1 count, so I had to get some plate in case he didn’t swing so I kind of wanted a strike. I got the ball down and he’s just a good hitter and he hit it out of the ballpark. You’ve got to tip your hat to him.”

Pollard liked the way Sherrill came into the game and dominated the Charleston hitters, with the exception of one mistake.

“He threw the ball really well and did everything he could to keep us in the ballgame,” Pollard said of Sherrill. “It’s unfortunate. He made a good pitch on that ball that was hit out.”

Appalachian State’s David Towarnicky walked with out out in the bottom of the 10th, but Charleston turned a double play to end the game.

The Mountaineers needed a three-run rally just to send the game into extra innings. Towarnicky scored on a wild pitch and Jason Altenhof drove in two runs with a single to tie the game.

Fog rolled into Smith during the top of the seventh inning of the second game of the series, which began Saturday, with Charleston holding a 3-2 lead.

The first delay, which lasted one hour, 38 minutes, eventually was lifted when the fog disappeared.

Charleston immediately scored five runs in two innings to take an 8-3 lead before fog rolled in for a second time. After a 20-minute delay, the game was postponed until Sunday.

“We shouldn’t have come back the third time around,” Pollard said. “The conditions were no different that they were when we left the field that time.”

The conditions made it extremely difficult for the outfielders to see the ball. Rubinstein, playing left field, could not see a foul ball that was hit to the left side of the field.

“I couldn’t see anything that came our way,” Rubinstein said. “It was really thick. I had no idea where it went.”

Before the fog, a pitchers duel had emerged in the first six innings between Appalachian State’s Matt Andress and Charleston’s Casey Lucchese, who had an ERA of 7.36 going into the weekend. The Mountaineers struck first with three singles in the first inning, one being an RBI base hit by Isaac Harrow.

Charleston struck back with an RBI single from Stuart Haywood in the second inning and a solo home run by Gabe Merchant in the third. It was his 12th of the season.

The Mountaineers got another RBI single from Harrow in the third inning to tie the game 2-2. Charleston scored again in the sixth on an RBI single In the first game of the series, the Cougars scored 10 runs in the fifth inning of their 16-13 win over the Mountaineers in a game moved up three hours to avoid rain that fell in the area Friday night.