ASU Baseball Falls To Garner Webb


Appalachian State University baseball committed a season-high five errors and managed just seven hits in a 6-3 defeat at Gardner-Webb on Tuesday evening. The setback gave Appalachian back-to-back losses for the first time this season. Gardner-Webb added to its impressive ledger of victories with the triumph over the 27th-ranked Mountaineers. Despite struggling throughout the evening both in the field and at the plate, Appalachian managed to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning on a two-run double by Trey Holmes. The lead stood until the bottom of the eighth when Gardner-Webb strung together six-straight hits and the Mountaineers committed their fourth and fifth errors of the evening to allow the Bulldogs to score four runs and take a 6-3 lead. ASU loaded the bases with one out in the top of the ninth but GWU closer Adam Izokovic induced a pair of fly balls to end the Apps' hopes of a comeback. The loss was Appalachian's first of the year to a team ranked outside the top 50 in this week's official NCAA Ratings Percentage Index rankings. Despite being just two games above .500, Gardner-Webb now boasts impressive wins over ASU, North Carolina, Liberty, USC Upstate and Coastal Carolina. First-place Appalachian returns to action this weekend with a challenging three-game SoCon series at Georgia Southern. The three-game set begins on Friday at 6 p.m. at J.I. Clements Stadium in Statesboro, Ga.