Relief pitcher Zach Quate and third baseman Isaac Harrow became just the second and third Appalachian State baseball players in the past two decades to receive all-America recognition when Ping! Baseball named Quate to its third team and picked Harrow as an honorable-mention selection.

Quate and Harrow join current Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand David Rubinstein, who earned the third-team recognition in 2007, as Appalachian’s only all-Americans since 1988. This year’s duo ups the all-time total of Mountaineer all-Americans to 14.

Quate turned in the best season by a closer in Appalachian history in 2009, going 3-1 with 11 saves and a 1.09 earned run average in 31 appearances. In 411/3 innings of work, the right-handed senior allowed only five earned runs on 24 hits (.171 opponent batting average) while striking out 55 and walking only 14.

His 11 saves ranked 21st nationally and surpassed the ASU single-season record of eight. He was a perfect 11-for-11 in save opportunities and surrendered earned runs in only three of his 31 appearances.

Aside from an uncharacteristic outing at UNC Greensboro on May 10 when he allowed three runs in a 9-8 extra-inning victory, Quate sported a 0.47 ERA in his 30 other outings on the mound.

Quate was especially dominant in April, going 1-0 with eight saves in 13 appearances. He struck out 24 and allowed only eight hits in 16 innings of work, en route to being named the SoCon’s Pitcher of the Month. He turned in perhaps his best performance of the season when he struck out the side on 10 pitches in the bottom of the ninth inning to nail down a 4-1 win over The Citadel in the opening game of the Southern Conference Tournament.

Appalachian State coach Chris Pollard feels Quate could pitch on the professional level, possibly in the major leagues.

“I see him as a set-up guy,” Pollard said. “Until you draft a player, you don’t know how he’s going to fit in the big leagues, but when I look at Zack I see somebody who could come in the eighth inning and be a set-up guy.”

Harrow put together one of the best offensive campaigns in Appalachian history in 2009 by setting school records with 75 RBI, 163 total bases and six triples. He ranked among the nation’s top 35 in nine different statistical categories, including batting average (.422—19th), hits (92—23rd), doubles (23— 18th), triples (6—21st), RBI (75 —18th), slugging percentage (.748—26th), total bases (163—21st), on-base percentage (.500 —34th) and sacrifice flies (7—28th).

Harrow was the driving force behind the Mountaineers’ rebound from a 6-14 start, hitting .488 (61-for-125) with 54 RBI, 39 runs scored, 15 doubles, five triples, seven home runs, a .557 on-base percentage and .856 slugging percentage over the final 31 games of the regular season.

He was particularly impressive during the Mountaineers’ 18-2 April, batting .442 (34-for-77) with 35 RBI and 27 runs scored in 20 games, en route to being named the SoCon Player of the Month.

Half of his 34 hits in April went for extra bases (eight doubles, three triples, six home runs), good for a .857 slugging percentage. Harrow also hit safely in 19-of-20 games, including 14-straight to close out the month.

In addition to his three single-season records, Harrow became ASU’s all-time leader in at-bats (750), runs (165), hits (260), doubles (65), RBI (201) and total bases (421) during the course of the season.