Box Score (PDF)

BOONE, N.C. – Jaguar right-hander Avery Geyer set career highs in strikeouts and innings pitched to lead the University of South Alabama baseball team to an 11-6 win and secure a three-game series sweep of Appalachian State Sunday at Smith Stadium.

Geyer (2-1) allowed two runs on two hits and struck out a career-high nine batters with no walks in a career-best six innings pitched to earn the win. App State left-hander Dallas DeVrieze (2-1) allowed seven runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and one walk in 3 2/3 innings in the loss.

"Avery was phenomenal," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "He's been working hard, and worked on dropping his arm slot a little bit this week and he was fantastic. Aside from the two-run home run, he was phenomenal. Maybe he's one of the extra guys that we've been looking for to step up down the stretch the last month. That works against anyone we face. His fastball had some run and his slider was shorter; his slider looked like his fastball and then broke away. He had a lot of swing-and-misses on his slider and he threw it for strikes. Before, he was throwing sliders and guys would take them because they saw it early or they'd get a good look at it and they would hit it. He had to be perfect with his slider. Today, his slider was better; it was later and tighter and his fastball had really good movement. Moving his arm slot out a little bit – this was the first time he's pitched in a game since he's done it – give Avery credit for being an athlete and making an adjustment on the fly because that was outstanding. I'm really proud of Avery today."

Appalachian State put its first two batters on base via consecutive singles in the bottom of the first inning before a wild pitch from Jaguar left-hander Thomas Huston allowed both runners to move into scoring position with no outs. Tyler Stroup drew a walk to load the bases for Drake Zupcic, who lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score Jason Curtis with the game's first run.

But South Alabama answered with a pair of runs in the top of the second when Wells Davis lifted a 2-2 pitch from App State left-hander Dallas DeVrieze over the right field wall for a two-run home run, his 10th of the year and fourth of the series, for a 2-1 Jaguar lead.

The Mountaineers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the third on a single by Matt Vernon, a walk by Tyler Stroup and a hit by pitch to Zupcic. Brian Bauk followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Vernon and tie the game at 2-2.

USA took a three-run lead in the top of the fourth inning when Jared Barnes lifted a 2-2 pitch from DeVrieze on the ninth pitch of the at-bat over the left field wall for a three-run home run, his 13th of the year and third of the series, for a 5-2 Jaguar advantage. Will Luft singled to center field with two outs later in the inning, and Dylan Hardy reached on a fielding error by App State third baseman Calev Grubbs before Drew LaBounty delivered a two-run double to the left-center field gap to score Luft and Hardy for a 7-2 lead.

App State answered in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run home run from Connor Leonard to cut the USA lead to 7-4.

The Jags added a run to their lead in the top of the seventh. Brendan Donovan doubled to right field to lead off the top of the seventh, and Davis reached on a one-out walk before Hunter Stokes delivered an RBI single through the right side of the infield to score Donovan and double the Jaguar advantage at 8-4. A wild pitch from App State right-hander Matt Brill moved both Davis and Stokes into scoring position with one out. Following a Mountaineer pitching change later in the inning, Barnes delivered a two-out, two-run single to left field to score Davis and Stokes for a 10-4 lead.

The Mountaineers responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh on a one-out, two-run home run to left-center field by Vernon to cut the Jaguar lead to 10-6.

USA added the game's final run in the top of the eighth on a two-out solo home run to right-center field by Donovan on a 2-1 pitch from Mountaineer right-hander Sean Mason.

Barnes went 2-for-5 with a home run, a career-high five RBI and one run scored, and Davis finished 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and three runs scored to lead the Jaguars at the plate. Vernon went 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored to lead the Mountaineers offensively.

"I thought they (App State) were some of the best arms, collectively, that we have seen on a weekend all year long, especially out of the bullpen. Their starter was solid; they're very solid on the mound. They had very good pitching numbers. They were in the top third (in the Sun Belt Conference) in terms of pitching, and that was my concern coming up here on the weekend. But I thought this was as good or better than any other weekend that our guys have been locked in for three games. It was the most they made an opposing pitching staff work. We put some crooked numbers up there and hit some home runs, but it was the guys who drew walks to get on and got two-strike, two-out hits that was the difference this weekend. We had very good pitching and very good offense."

USA will return to action Thu., May 18, when it opens a three-game SBC series with Troy at Stanky Field at 6:30 p.m.

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

Join the Dugout Club, the baseball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. Members enjoy all games from inside the Stadium Club with climate control, private restrooms, private concessions and access to listen to the radio broadcast. All donations to the Dugout Club go directly to support the South Alabama baseball program. For more information on how you can join visit: jaguarathleticfund.com/dugoutclub