Box score

BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State left-hander Colin Schmid struck out a career-high nine batters in seven innings pitched to lead the Mountaineers to a 4-3 series-clinching win over the 21st-ranked University of South Alabama baseball team Sunday at Smith Stadium.

Schmid (1-6) allowed one run on six hits, and issued one walk along with his nine strikeouts to earn his first win of the season. Right-hander Brian Bauk struck out four in one inning pitched to earn his third save of the year. Jaguar right-hander Austin Bembnowski (4-1) allowed three runs on four hits with three strikeouts and one walk in two innings to suffer his first loss of the season.

App State loaded the bases in the bottom of the first on a leadoff walk by Tyler Stroup, and consecutive one-out singles by Bauk and Conner Leonard. Tanner Mann-Fix followed with an RBI groundout to second to score Stroup for a 1-0 Mountaineer lead.

Appalachian State (10-26, 5-13 SBC) extended its lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the second on a two-out, two-run home run to right field by Stroup.

South Alabama (27-10, 16-2 SBC) answered with its first run of the game in the top of the third. Travis Swaggerty led off the inning with a single back up the middle, and advanced to second on a walk by Jared Barnes. Drew LaBounty followed with a single to load the bases with no outs for Adam Wolfe, who reached on an RBI fielder's choice that allowed Swaggerty to score the first Jaguar run of the contest. Ben Gann then lifted a fly ball to center field, but Mann-Fix settled under it then fired home to cut down Barnes attempting to tag and score on the play for an 8-2 double play. App State southpaw Colin Schmid then struck out Carter Perkins to escape the inning without any further damage.

The Mountaineers loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fifth on consecutive two-out singles by Bauk and Leonard, and a walk by Mann-Fix. But USA right-hander Ryne Long ended the threat with an inning-ending flyout to left-center field off the bat of Grayson Atwood.

App State pushed its lead to three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Chandler Seagle led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to right-center field, and scored one batter later on an RBI double to left field by Caleb McCann.

USA threatened with two outs in the top of the seventh. Matt Bolger singled up the middle with one out in the inning, and advanced to second on a fielding error by McCann at second off the bat of Danny Martinez. A groundout back to the pitcher by Swaggerty allowed both runners to move into scoring position with two outs. But Schmid recorded an inning-ending strikeout of Barnes to escape the inning without allowing a run.

South Alabama cut its deficit to one run in the top of the eighth. Wolfe drew a one-out walk in the top of the eighth before Brendan Donovan delivered a pinch-hit two-run home run to right field – the first of his career – on a 1-2 pitch from App State right-hander Reed Howell over the right field wall to cut the Mountaineer lead to 4-3.

USA put the tying run in scoring position in the top of the ninth. Martinez reached on a passed ball on a strikeout, and was lifted for pinch-runner Dylan Hardy who advanced to second on a two-out fielding error by App State shortstop Matt Vernon on a grounder off the bat of Jared Barnes. But Bauk struck out LaBounty to seal the victory and series for the Mountaineers.

Matt Bolger tied a season high with two hits, finishing 2-for-4, and LaBounty also added two hits. Donovan went 1-for-1 with a home run, two RBI and one run scored. Stroup finished 1-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and one run scored to lead App State at the plate.

"Their guy (Schmid) didn't walk many," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "He was around the plate, made pitches when he had to and we let him off the hook. We left several men on base in the first three innings, and we punched out nine times through his outing and 13 times overall. You're not going to win many games when you're not getting help from the other team and you strike out 13 times. We didn't compete well enough in the batter's box and we didn't hit well enough; that's the bottom line. We need to find some guys who can hit some lefties and give us a better chance. 

"We haven't done a good job with lefties this year. We have in spurts, but not enough. I give their two lefties (Bobby) Hampton and (Colin) Schmid credit, but we need to be better than that. We got beat by two freshman lefties, and they did a nice job, but we shouldn't have allowed them to be that comfortable in their starts. We didn't make them uncomfortable, and you look at the end of the weekend and we lost two out of three. We have Alabama on Wednesday, and we need to go up there and play much better than we played this weekend to beat a good Alabama team."

USA will return to action Wed., April 20, when it travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face Alabama at Sewell-Thomas Stadium with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).