CONWAY, S.C. – Despite a career effort from
Conner Barozzino in relief, App State Baseball was unable to overcome an early deficit, falling 11-1 in eight innings to No. 19 Coastal Carolina Friday at Spring Brooks Stadium.
The Chanticleers (35-11, 18-4) jumped out to a 6-0 advantage after three innings of play, highlighted by a third inning grand slam from Blagen Pado to put the home team in the driver's seat early.
Barozzino came on for App State (21-24, 11-11) in the fourth and quieted the Coastal bats through the middle innings. The freshman struck out the first two batters he faced in the fourth inning and followed it up by fanning the side in the fifth. The right-hander worked a career-high 3.0 innings without giving up a run or a walk, while the five strikeouts were also a career-best.
App State broke up the shutout in the top of the eighth inning. Trailing 7-0,
Riley Luft opened the inning with an opposite field single into the right field corner. After advancing to third on a groundout, Luft came into score on an infield single from
Graham Smiley later in the frame.
The Chanticleers responded with four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, capped by Ty Barrango's run-rule-inducing walk-off single.
Coastal scored a run in each of the first two innings of play to grab the early lead. They out-hit the Mountaineers 17-5 in the contest. Luft and
Braxton Church each doubled in the ballgame, increasing the Mountaineers' league-leading total to 92 doubles on the season.
App State will look to draw even in game two of the series which is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday. The 2025 App State baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
