By Matt Present. BOONE, N.C. — App State Baseball rallied from down 3-0 to tie the game facing its final out in the ninth inning, but Louisiana regained the lead with a run in the tenth to take the opening tilt of the series, 5-4, May 8 at Smith Stadium.
Nick DiRito kept App State (28-19, 15-10) in the ballgame with a quality start. The right-hander fired seven strong innings, allowing just three runs on five hits. He was matched by Louisiana (31-19, 13-12) righty Cody Brasch who went 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and retired 14 straight at one point.
App State climbed out of its 3-0 hole in the seventh. Drew DuPont singled to center and pinch hitter Nico Soul drew a walk. Soul then stole second and the throw got away allowing DuPont to score and Soul to move to third. Charlie Evansthen came through with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-2.
The Mountaineers faced a 4-2 deficit in the ninth after Louisiana added an insurance run in the top half of the inning. Pinch hitter Tank Yaghoubi walked to lead off the frame and Jake Mummau was hit by a pitch. Evans sacrificed a pair into scoring position and then Jalen Seward was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Steven Smith plated a run with a fielder’s choice groundout and later in the inning, with the bases re-loaded, Ethan Puigwas hit by a pitch to tie the score.
With two outs in the top of the tenth, Colt Brown delivered the eventual game-winning single for Louisiana, plating Blaze Rodriguez, who reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second.
The Cajuns scored a single run in five different innings of the ballgame.
Ethan Wilson suffered the tough-luck loss, allowing just one earned run across three innings in relief.
App State missed out on some key opportunities at the plate, going 0-for-10 with two outs and just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, stranding the bases loaded twice in the ballgame.
The teams will reconvene for the middle game of the series on Saturday, May 9, at 3 p.m. with Senior Day ceremonies beginning at 2:30.
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