Citadel dumps App State
From staff reports

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Appalachian State did not struggle with putting runners on base in the Southern Confefence Tournament. Driving them in was another matter.

The Mountaineers left 20 runners on base in their 6-5 loss to Georgia Southern Thursday and their 5-3 loss to The Citadel Friday. Both games were at Fluor Field.

The Mountaineers, seeded sixth in the tournament, won 30 games for the third straight season, but once again saw their appearance in the SoCon Tournament end in frustration. Appalachian State (33-21) began the tournament with a 4-1 win over The Citadel last Wednesday, which was the first time they won a first-round game since 2001.

However, as they did last year, they lasted just three games. In both losses, the Mountaineers fell behind and could not rally with enough runs to catch up.

Appalachian State left 11 runners on base against Georgia Southern, including the tying run in the eighth inning. On Friday, the Mountaineers left nine runners on base against The Citadel.

Appalachian State got off to a quick start against The Citadel when Wes Hobson, who tripled to deep center field in the first inning, scored on a David Towarnicky single. Towarnicky would be named to the all-tournament team.

But the Bulldogs tied the game 1-1 in the second inning, and then got a three-run home run from Sonny Meade in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead. The Citadel nearly added more runs in the fifth when its first two batters singled, but Appalachian State relief pitcher Nick Daniels struck out the next two batters.

Mountaineers shortstop Nick DeRose grabbed a hard-hit Richard Jones ground ball deep in the hole and threw to second base from his knees to get the force out and get the Mountaineers out of the inning.

DeRose’s play seemed to spark the Mountaineers as they loaded the bases in the sixth inning, but Citadel starter Matt Crim pitched his way out of the jam and the Bulldogs still led 4-1. The Bulldogs increased their lead to 5-1 on a Sid Fallaw RBI single, but Appalachian State countered with a run in the top of the seventh on a Towarnicky sacrifice fly to pull to 5-2.

The Mountainers had one final chance in the top of the ninth when Rand Smith singled in a run with one out. The Mountaineers had the tying run on base, but Crim pitched out of another jam to end the game.

Crim ended up with a complete game, his second in as many weeks, by tossing 145 pitches. He allowed just two earned runs and struck out eight.

Hobson, Isaac Harrow and Jeremy Dowdy accounted for six of the Mountaineers’ eight hits with two apiece.
Towarnicky drove in two of the Mountaineers’ three runs.

while Smith’s ninth-inning single stretched his season-ending hitting streak to 15 games and gave him hits in 52-of-54 contests this season.

Appalachian’s four pitchers — Matt Andress, Daniels, Chris Patterson and Zach Quate — combined to record 15 of The Citadel’s 24 outs via strikeouts. Andress (3-6) fanned a season-high eight in four innings of work but allowed four runs to suffer the loss.

Despite the heart-breaking tournament setbacks, the Mountaineers tied ASU’s 2007 club for the most wins by a Mountaineer team since the 1986 squad won 40 contests. The senior class of Daniels, DeRose, Josh Dowdy, Aubrey Edens, Harrow, Quate and Smith compiled 122 victories during their four seasons, the most by an Appalachian group of seniors since the Class of 1989 left with 124 wins.