The Appalachian State Mountaineers (3-4) had an early 10 run lead in the first 3 innings that left the Catamounts (1-7) in the dust as they claim a 13-3 win over the Cats in Tuesday’s game, at Childress Field in Cullowhee.
Catamouts struggled early behind Sophomore pitcher, Blake Therrian, who allowed five earned runs in the first two innings walking two App State batters and striking three out. App State took advantage of two errors in the second inning, making the score 6-1 going into the bottom of the second inning.
Photo taken by Becca Ross of pitcher Blake Therrian at the mound.
“App State capitalized on all of our mistakes,” said senior catcher, Spencer Holcomb.
In the top of the third inning, in order to slow down the Mountaineers, the Cats switched to junior pitcher, Tristan Baker. Their efforts failed as Baker allowed four more runs, giving the Mountaineers an astounding lead of 10-1 at the end of the third inning.
The Mountaineers slowed down after their dominant offensive performance in the first three innings only getting three more runs, twice in the seventh inning and once in the eighth. Despite the score, the Catamounts racked up the same amount of hits as the Mountaineers but failed to capitalize.
Junior pitcher, Taylor Purus, who pitched a scoreless inning with one strikeout in the bottom of the fourth said they need to start playing their brand of baseball. Holcomb added, all they can do is work and get better at every practice.
Photo by Becca Ross of junior Matthew Koehler coming in after his home run.
In the loss one Catamount batter stood out. Junior outfielder, Matthew Koehler had a solid night going 3-5 at bat hitting one home run in the bottom of the fifth. App State had two batters hit for four RBI’s, junior catcher, Riley Smith and freshman DH, Jason Avers.
App State’s starting pitcher, senior Travis Holden now is now 2-0 this season with yesterday’s win only allowing two earned runs, eight hits, and striking six Catamount batters out. The Cats’ starting pitcher Therrian in his first start of the season gets the loss.
Since the game against UNCA was postponed they will be heading to Louisville, Kentucky to take on the 8-0 Cardinals in a three game series. First game is at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 2, at Jim Patterson Stadium where the Catamounts hope to end 4 game losing streak.
Junior pitcher, Purus believes that the Catamounts, despite a slow start to the season, will have a great chance of giving the Cardinals their first loss of the season and went on to say:
“Our mindset this weekend is to just play our brand of baseball, if we do that we truly believe we compete with anyone in the country.”
