Appalachian State Baseball vs #23 Oklahoma NCAA Regional Championship

Appalachian had two chances to defeat Oklahoma to advance to its first ever regional championship. In the first game, Oklahoma finally cracked their regional hitting slump by tagging Appalachian pitching for 14 runs on 13 hits. Every Mountaineer pitcher who appeared was tagged for multiple runs. Rob Marcello (6-5) got the start for the Mountaineers and went five innings and gave up four runs. Jamie Nunn followed giving up hits to each batter he faced and eventually be tagged with two of his own earned runs. David Port also gave up four earned runs in 1.2 innings, but at that point, the Mountaineers were playing for the second game. Chad Farmer finished the game with two innings of work ang giving up three runs.

In game two, Oklahoma started a former first baseman who was getting his first start of the season. Drew Harrison had only pitched nine innings before the game, but lasted six innings, allowing the only two Mountaineers runs of the game. Appalachian could only muster five hits against Harrison in the loss, all from different batters.

It was a long and slow end to a season that was built on much promise. Despite the sour end to the season, this Appalachian team set numerous team and individual records that will be remembered for a long time. Ryan Arrowood set an Appalachian career wins and strikeouts record. Arrowood also set the single season strikeout record and at one point, set the innings record. Seth Grant broke the innings record the following day. Daniel Kassouf set a single season school record for home runs. As a team, they advanced to postseason play for the first time since 1986, won their first conference title since 1987, and won their first game in a regional since 1973.

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