Edens, Mountaineers

win pitcher's duel
By Steve Behr

GREENVILLE, S.C. — It’s been a long time since Appalachian State won a first game in the Southern Conference Tournament. It’s never happened in the five-year Chris Pollard era, though the Mountaineers once won a play-in game.

Wednesday might be a sign of a new era in Appalachian State baseball.

Appalachian State survived a classic pitching duel between the Mountaineers’ Aubrey Edens and The Citadel’s Wes Wrenn and took a 4-1 victory in the first round of the SoCon Tournament Wednesday in Fluor Field. It was the first time the Mountaineers (33-19), seeded sixth, have won a first-round game since 2001.

“This win is a credit to our seniors,” Mountaineers coach Chris Pollard said. “It’s awesome for them. Obviously in a tournament situation like this, the most important win is the first one.”

The Mountaineers were tied 1-1 with third-seeded Citadel (34-21) for eight innings, before ASU’s Jerod Faggart drove in a run in the top of the ninth with a fielder’s choice, and Rand Smith drove in another with a single.

That gave the Mountaineers a 3-1 lead that Wes Hobson added to with an RBI double that scored Smith from first base. Appalachian State closer Zach Quate needed just 10 pitches to strike out the final three Citadel batters and put the Mountaineers into the second round of the tournament, where they will play Georgia Southern Thursday at 5 p.m.

The best coaching move by Pollard was probably the one he didn’t make at all. Pollard talked it over with his staff about using a pinch-hitter for Jeremy Dowdy, who was 0-for-3 going into the ninth inning.

However, Pollard’s decision to let the freshman catcher hit paid off. Dowdy’s double hugged the third baseline all the way to the left-field corner of the ballpark, and he scored on Faggart’s fielder’s choice.

“We talked about it as a staff and I said no, I think he’s seeing the ball good,” Pollard said. “I thought he was taking good swings. We decided to go with him and he came up with a huge hit.”

In the first seven innings, Edens and Wrenn, the SoCon’s Pitcher of the Year, were interlocked in a duel that ended in the seventh inning for Edens. He did not get the win, but the senior from Greenville, N.C. allowed only a run in the first inning, scored on a Richard Jones triple that bounced off the Fenway Park-style left-field wall, and little else.

Edens scattered six hits, struck out five and walked just one. He threw 108 pitches before yielding to Chris Patterson, who finished off the seventh inning and pitched into the eighth, when Quate took over with two outs.

It was a pitching pattern that the Mountaineers have used all season, except Quate (3-1) picked up the win instead of a save.

“Today was exactly how we wanted to draw it up,” Pollard said of the pitching plan. “It’s how we’ve been trying to win ballgames all year. I thought Chris came in and did an outstanding job. …All three of those guys came in and pitched great.”

Wrenn was equally effective, though he got off to a slow start. Appalachian State loaded the bases with its first three batters before he hit David Towarnicky with a pitch to drive in a run. Wrenn proceeded to strike out the next two Mountaineers he faced and got Ryan Arrowood to pop out to first base to end the threat.

Appalachian State also left Isaac Harrow and Towarnicky, who both singled with no outs at the top of the third dinning, on base without scoring a run. Wrenn settled in and sent the next 16 Mountaineers in order back to the bench before hitting Towarnicky with another pitch with two outs in the eighth. Wrenn got Chris Alessandria to pop out to second base to end that inning.

“Coming into the game, we knew Wrenn was good,” Smith said. “When we played them at our place during the regular season, we jumped on him in the first inning and then he settled down and got us out.”

The ninth inning proved to be a different story. With one out, Arrowood reached on an error and went to third on a Jeremy Dowdy double, which knocked Wrenn out of the box.

Faggart’s fielder’s choice to second base off Citadel reliever Drew Mahaffey gave the Mountaineers their first lead since the top of the first inning. Smith’s and Hobson’s back-to-back RBI hits gave Quate more than enough insurance to win the game.

“If we want to stay in this thing until Sunday, we’ve got to come up with those hits with runners in scoring position,” Pollard said. “We can’t strike out with runners in scoring position.”

The Citadel, which plays Davidson at 9 a.m. Thursday, had its chances, especially in the fourth inning. But Smith robbed All-SoCon left fielder Chris McGuiness of a hit with a diving catch in centerfield, and DeRose robbed Sid Fallow with a diving stab of a ground ball to end the inning with Bulldogs being left on second and third base.

Edens allowed a runner to reach base in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but none of them got past second base.

“I felt that (Edens) pitched extremely well,” Citadel coach Fred Jordan said. “I thought the two defensive plays they made in the fourth were a big difference in the game because we could’ve have scratched a couple of runs there.”

ASU 4, The Citadel 1
App. State 100 000 003 — 4 8 1
The Citadel 100 000 000 — 1 7 1
Edens, Patterson (7), Quate (8) and Dowdy. Wrenn, Mahaffey (9), Coppenhaver (9) and Jones. W—Quate (3-1), L—Wrenn (9-3). LOB—ASU 8, Citadel 9. 2B—ASU, Hobson, Dowdy; Citadel, Altman, Greene. 3B—Citadel, Jones. SH—Citadel, Orvin, Jordan. SB—Citadel, Altman. HBP—ASU, Towarnicky 2 (both by Wrenn); Citadel, Altman (by Edens).

SoCon Tournament
Wednesday’s games:
Game 1: (2) Georgia Southern 4, (7) Davidson 3 (11 innings)
Game 2: (6) Appalachian State 4, (3) Citadel 1.
Game 3: (1) Elon 10 (8) Furman 8
Game 4: (4) Western Carolina 12, (5) College of Charleston 4
Thursday’s games:
Game 5: Davidson vs. The Citadel, 9 a.m.
Game 6: Furman vs. College of Charleston, 1 p.m.
Game 7: Georgia Southern vs. Appalachian State, 5 p.m.
Game 8: Elon vs. Western Carolina, 9 p.m.
Friday’s games:
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 7, 3 p.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 8, 7 p.m.
Saturday’s games:
Game 11: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9, 9 a.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 10, 1 p.m.
Game 13: Winner Game 11 vs. Loser Game 11 (if necessary), 5 p.m.
Game 14: Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 12 (if necessary), 9 p.m.
Sunday’s game:
Championship game, 2 p.m.