After putting together an impressive 12-game win streak that included 2 wins over LSU, 2 wins over Duke, a 4-game sweep of Rider and a 3-game sweep of SoCon foe Davidson, the Mountaineers fell in a heartbreaker Wednesday night in Columbia to the South Carolina Gamecocks. While a competitive loss to the two-time defending National Champion is nothing for the Apps to hang their heads about, the opportunity to win was there from the beginning until costly mistakes proved to be the difference.
Appalachian stormed out of the gates as Hector Crespo and Tyler Zupcic strung together seeing-eye singles to begin the game, followed immediately by a Will Calloway 3-run home run that barely cleared the fence in left center. Before an out was even recorded, ASU became only the second team all season to score more than 2 runs against South Carolina pitching. Tyler Tewell added a moonshot solo home run to right field that staked freshman Jeffrey Springs to a 4-0 lead before throwing his first pitch. However, the Mountaineers' bats went silent from there, as Gamecock freshman Jordan Montgomery and the USC bullpen combined to retire 23 straight ASU batters.
While the Carolina arms held ASU at bay, they chipped away at the lead with 1 run in the 2nd and 2 more in the 4th. The real damage, however, came in the bottom of the 7th as Appalachian clung to a 4-3 lead. After loading the bases with a single, 2 Appalachian errors and an intentional walk, Evan Marzilli clubbed a bases clearing double to right center that proved to be the difference. While the Apps escaped the inning without further damage, the 6-4 difference held up despite some 9th inning drama.
After being held hitless since the 1st inning, Tyler Zupcic led off the ASU 9th with a single to center field and advanced to 2nd base on a Will Calloway ground out. That brought clean-up man Daniel Kassouf to the plate with one man out, representing the tying run. Daniel belted the first pitch from USC closer Evan Beal to left center for what looked to be a game-tying home run. However, Evan Marzilli burned the Mountaineers again as he made an amazing diving catch at the wall and proceeded to double off an over aggressive Zupcic to end the game, as he was halfway between 3rd and home when the ball was caught.
There are few sports that can rip a fan's heart out like baseball and the final play of Wednesday's game is a prime example. Despite making many uncharacteristic mistakes in the field and on the base paths, ASU had a chance to hand South Carolina their first home loss of 2012 and eventually fell just short. However, the Mountaineers stood toe to toe with the elite program in college baseball and should still be full of confidence as the Southern Conference slate gets into full swing.
Appalachian (14-3, 3-0) heads home for a key 3-game set against The Citadel (8-8, 1-2) at Smith Stadium this weekend. First pitch is 3:00 Friday, followed by a 2:00 start on Saturday and the 1:00 finale on Sunday. Appalachian will send Arrowood, Marcello and Grant to the hill as they face the traditional SoCon power and look to solidify themselves as one of the top contenders for the conference crown. While the Bulldogs are off to a slow start this season, they are a talented team that has historically had great success against ASU. It will be very important for the team to have a short memory, shake off the disappointing setback to USC and focus on staying atop the SoCon standings.
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