Monthly Archives: April 2013

Ardrey Kell Spring Scrimmage

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The Appalachian State football team took its talents to south Charlotte on sunsplashed Saturday afternoon at Ardrey Kell High School. It was the first such event for football using this as a way to market the program off the mountain in the backyard of its most populous alumni base within the state. Although tailgating was permitted for the event, consumption of adult beverages was not permitted and made for a somewhat late arriving crowd. Anyone who knows anything about a football practice, knows that arriving when the event starts is not that exciting. The first half hour was used for warmups, drills and stretching. Actual eleven on eleven drills began right around 2:30 pm.

What we saw was plenty of the pistol formation, using the tight end or H-back in the backfield along with a running back. The same base formation and play, with several options was used for the majority of the scrimmage. It was pretty obvious that the players were being force-fed the concept of the offense. There was plenty of zone blocking. That concept still remains a very effective way to run the football and a major part of what Appalachian does. The tight end or H-back, which we will refer to as the “trigger” was used just like any other back in the backfield. The offense remains one based on reading the defense. The triggger either picked up a blitzer, helped the line, or read the defense and went out for a short pass, by reading the coverage.

Another base play used was almost like a quarterback sweep option, where the option was a nearly lateral pass to a running back or wide receiver to the sideline if a running lane did not exist for the sweep. This was a play that was fairly successful for the offense. When the quarterback runs down the line, it brings all the attention on him running, and sucks in the safety or outside linebacker to middle of the field. When that closed up, a quick sidearm pass to a receiver made it very difficult for the defense to recover. The play puts the defensive back on an island, where he is forced to make a one-on-one tackle in open space to keep the offense behind the chains. Defensive backs make fewer tackles than any other defender on the field, which gives all the advantage to the offense. Just like how quick ball movement creates open shots in basketball, quick ball movement creates open running lanes in football.

Baseball adds series win over Ga Southern, midweek win at UNC-A

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Jamie Nunn continued his consistent pitching with another strong 7 innings as the Mountaineers took game one from Georgia Southern on Friday evening 9-5. Nunn was once again over 100 pitches, and did walk four batters. He found trouble in the third inning, an inning that has become a weak spot for every Appalachian pitcher this season. Nunn allowed all four of his earned runs in the third inning. Despite the free passes, Nunn was able to improve to 6-2 on the season.

Appalachian worked the Georgia Southern pitching staff for fifteen hits. Jaylin Davis led the way with four hits and three RBI while Will Callaway added two hits and five RBI. Noah Holnes drove in the other Mountaineer run, giving the 3-4-5 hitters all of Appalachian’s RBI on the day. Josh Wilson and Taylor Thurber finished off the game allowing only two hits.

After twenty-two combined hits on Friday, App and Southern combined for only seven on Saturday afternoon in front of a record crowd at Beaver Field. Sam Agnew-Wieland gave the record crowd a show, allowing only two hits, while throwing a second complete game shutout in a week. Sam has been given several nicknames, from “Hyphen” to “Hacksaw”. The nickname of the week is Hacksaw, or Hack for short. Hack only needed 102 pitches, throwing 69 for strikes to complete the shutout.

Fortunately, for Appalachian, Hack was on fire when the Appalachian offense took a day off. The Mountaineers only had five hits, but made the most of them, scoring two runs. Will Callaway continued his hot streak with three hits. If there is one negative about Hack going nine innings, is that the Mountaineers young pitching staff is kept off the field to experience game situations.

Speaking of the young and inexperienced pitching staff, they showed their true colors in a back and forth game in which Appalachian was going for the sweep. Jeffrey Springs continues to have trouble making it deep in games, as he was able to get through 4.1  innings with his 86 pitches. Taylor Thurber came on for his usual long Sunday relief spot, but also struggled, giving up four hits in his two innings. Josh Wilson held the lead, striking out four of the five batters he faced before handing the ball over to Rob Marcello for the save with a two run lead. Marcello faced four batters. He hit one of them with a pitch and gave up three hits. Marcello was not able to retire a batter, which led to his second blown save of the season. The previous blown save came against Cornell, when Marcello gave up five runs in the top of the ninth.

From this point on, Appalachian would hit the road for a nine game stretch, including two SoCon series at UNCG and The Citadel. Greensboro is 4-8 in conference play while The Citadel is 6-6. A couple of series wins would be good for the Mountaineers, but however they came, four conference wins are needed in this stretch.

Against UNC-Asheville on Tuesday night, the Mountaineers pounded out fourteen hits, but left thirteen runners on base before eventually rallying for a 6-3 win over the Bulldogs. Chad Farmer got the start, and he has been sharing a very similar look to his outings as Springs has this season. Getting four or five innings this season from either one has been a blessing, but it comes with its adventures. Farmer was rolling along into the third inning before giving up a three run home run. The home run was all the runs Farmer allowed in his 4.1 innings while he struck out five batters. Tyler Moore would allow the tying run to come to the plate for Asheville in the ninth inning before giving way to Josh Wilson, who got the final out and his first save of the season.

The Mountaineers are now 18-10 on the season, and 8-6 in SoCon play. The remaining conference schedule is a combined 39-33 in league play, but the heavy hitters have to come to Boone while the weaker opponents are on the road. Prior to the season, we thought an 18-12 conference record was where this team would finish, and that seems to be on target for now. Considering three road conference series were played in the first half of the conference season, that number could inflate. Keep in mind, the cancelled game at College of Charleston will have huge implications on the conference tournament seeding. Currently, the top seven teams in the conference standings are separated by only three games.

Baseball wins series over Wofford

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First off, a little housekeeping. I have been away for a couple weeks for a variety of reasons. The basketball season can get long, and I just needed a break after starting a new job in December. The slower start than some expected by the baseball season, coupled with the typically late Boone winter, provided some low moments. Winter seems to be over, and a more consistent baseball season appears to be on the horizon. Without any hesitation, I am back.

In game one of the series, the Mountaineers ran into a veteran pitcher from Wofford in Brandon Yarusi who won his first game of the season pitching the full nine innings. Yarusi used 120 pitches to strike out nine Mountaineers, while only walking one batter and giving up only four hits.

Jamie Nunn was moving along nicely until the fifth inning on Friday night. Nunn walked three batters in the inning. Wofford would record four hits, three singles and a double en route to scoring five runs in the frame. The five run inning has hurt the Mountaineers all season long, and this one would eventually do the Mountaineers in. Nunn fell to 5-2 while his ERA jumped up to 3.45 on the season.

In game two, Sam Agnew-Wieland countered Yarusi with a complete game of his own. The Hyphen struck out ten batters, yielding only five hits and walking only two. Along with sending ten Wofford batters straight from the batters box to the dugout, Wieland also forced twelve groundouts and only three fly balls. The infield did a great job behind him, completing the game without an error while also converting two double plays.

Game three was the typical rubber match as both teams combined for eleven of the games thirteen runs during the second, third and fourth innings. Appalachian edged Wofford in the bottom of the ninth with a walkoff win to take game 7-6, and the series two games to one.

Appalachian recorded ten hits on Sunday afternoon and eleven on Saturday, which led to both of their wins. When the bats are creating opportunities and giving their pitchers leads, this team can be successful. When this team struggles is when they fall behind on the scoreboard and start pressing. It is obvious that Appalachian is missing Alex Leach right now, he continues to work back into the lineup from his concussion he suffered in Georgia. Even though Leach has been out of the lineup, Appalachian has managed to stay in the SoCon race.

Six teams are separated by only 2.5 games with Georgia Southern leading the conference at 9-3. Elon comes in second at 10-5, having played one more series than the rest of the conference. Charleston sits at 7-4, while Western Carolina comes in at 7-5, followed by Appalachian at 6-5. The Mountaineers and Charleston have played one less game as their rubber match was cancelled due to rain last weekend. Georgia Southern visits Boone this weekend after losing a series to Greensboro last weekend. The Eagles also face a midweek test on the road at Jacksonville before making their way back to the mountain this weekend. The Eagles could be road weary, and this a big spot for Appalachian. In the meantime, Appalachian will hit the road to Richmond for a game against Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday. The Colonels have lost seven in a row and are 5-18 on the season.