Walk-Off Hit Pushes Mountaineers Past Trojans

BOONE, N.C. – After leading for the majority of the game, Little Rock baseball (13-13, 6-5 Sun Belt) suffered a setback in the bullpen as Appalachian State (7-20, 2-9) evened the series at a game each with an 8-7 walk-off win on Saturday afternoon.
 
Nik Gifford was an offensive powerhouse for the Trojans as he went 3 for 5 with two runs, an RBI, one home run and a double.
 
Little Rock struck first in the top of the second inning. Zach Baker got on with a leadoff single to left and proceeded to steal second. Kyle Kirk laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Baker over to third. Jonathan Davis hit a would-be ground out to second, but a fielding error allowed him to reach base safely as Baker scored to put the Trojans up 1-0.
 
The third inning began on a great note as Nik Gifford hit his second home run of the season with a solo shot to right center, giving Little Rock a 2-0 lead.
 
Appalachian State cut into Little Rock's lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, Beau Myers singled to short and advanced to second on a ground out by Brian Bauk. Connor Leonard hit an RBI single up the middle as Bauk scored from second to reduce the Trojans' lead to 2-1.
 
To lead off the fifth inning, Ryan Scott hit his eighth home run of the season to center field and put the Trojans up 3-1.
 
App State got the bottom of the fifth started with a single up the middle by Will Herman. A sacrifice bunt by Chandler Seagle moved Herman into scoring position. Tanner Mann-Fix scored Herman with a double down the left field line. Matt Vernon singled through the left side to put runners on the corners with one out. A Tyler Stroup sacrifice fly to deep center scored Mann-Fix and knotted the game at 3-3.
 
The Trojans came storming back in the top of the sixth inning. Baker walked on four pitches before moving over on another sac bunt by Kirk. After Davis walked on four pitches, Hayden Martin put down a sac bunt to move both runners into scoring position. That ended the day for Appalachian State starter Breydan Gorham as Stephen Schoch came out of the Mountaineer bullpen. Hunter welcomed Schoch with an RBI single to center as Baker scored the go-ahead run. Scott reached on a throwing error to first, allowing both runners to score on the play to give Little Rock a 6-3 lead.
 
Cory Malcom had his day come to an end as Keenan Wingfield came out of the bullpen to begin the bottom of the sixth. Malcom finished the day with 5.0 innings and three strikeouts while giving up six hits, three runs (all earned) and one walk on 79 pitches. Wingfield was efficient as he got out of the inning on just five pitches.
 
Gifford earned his third hit of the day with a leadoff double down the left field line. With Gifford on second and two outs, Kirk hit an RBI single to right center to score Gifford and give Little Rock a 7-3 lead.
 
The Trojans had a rough seventh inning defensively as the Mountaineers cut Little Rock's lead to 7-6. After allowing a walk and an infield single, Wingfield exited the game in lieu of Dylan Slayton. Slayton got the first batter he faced swinging, but things quickly took a turn for the worse as Vernon singled to right center and advanced to second on a fielding error as Herman scored. Stroup came up big for the Mountaineers with a two-run single up the middle. Fortunately for Little Rock, the inning came to an end with two fly outs.
 
Little Rock's Preston Oberling came on for Dylan Slayton to begin the bottom of the eighth inning. App State's Leonard welcomed Oberling with a leadoff single to right center. With one out, Herman reached on fielder's choice as Leonard was forced out at second. Seagle singled and Mann-Fix was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Vernon was then hit by a pitch as the tying-run came home to tie the game at 7-7.
 
Cody McGill (0-2) came on for Oberling to begin the bottom of the ninth inning and quickly earned two outs with a strikeout and line out. Leonard then doubled to left center to put a runner in scoring position with two outs. Jason Curtis pinch ran for Leonard before advancing to third on a wild pitch. Drake Zupcic came up with the game-winning hit as he singled to short to end the game.
 
"I'm very disappointed, and it's very inexcusable for our team to give up seven runs from the fifth inning on," head coach Chris Curry said. "I'm proud of our offense for battling back with some good at-bats, but on the bullpen side, it's really the first time they've let us down all year. We didn't come out of the bullpen with the intent of throwing quality pitches down in the zone."
 
Little Rock will try to snag its third straight Sun Belt Conference series in tomorrow's rubber game at noon (CT).