FIRST PITCH
Score: Appalachian State 15 | Queens 5
Records: Appalachian State (13-6 overall, 2-1 Sun Belt) | Queens (4-17 overall, 0-3 ASUN)
Location: Boone, N.C. (Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium)
 
The Short Story: Despite building an early lead, the Queens University of Charlotte baseball team dropped their eighth straight game falling 15-5 to App State on Tuesday.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Royals got the scoring started in the first inning. Dillon Lewis led the game off with a blast over the center field fence for his sixth home run of the year. JJ Sousa followed it up with a double down the right field line before being brought home on a Nick Alderfer sacrifice fly to center field.
-In the second inning, catcher Braxton Church belted a leadoff homer to dead center to cut the Royals lead in half.
-The Royals would take advantage of the Mountaineers miscues in the third inning as a hit batter, a walk, and then a balk put two runners in scoring position for the Royals. Zach Weston would hit a fly ball to left center which was muffed by the center fielder to bring home Dillon Lewis. On the miscue, JJ Sousa advanced up to third and a throwing error into the Mountaineers dugout would bring Sousa in to score.
-After putting down the Royals in order in the fourth, the Mountaineers bats would come alive in the bottom half of the fourth. The hosts would blast two solo home runs over the left field fence trimming the Royals lead to 5-3 heading into the fifth inning.
-In the following inning, the Mountaineers threatened once again as they loaded the bases with nobody out. App State would then plate a run on a wild pitch before reloading the bases with a walk. A flyout to right field temporarily stopped the bleeding. However, on the next at-bat Graham Smiley blasted a no-doubt grand slam into the left field trees to give App State an 8-5 lead.
-In the sixth inning, App State would take a commanding 15-5 lead scoring seven runs on five hit by pitches, three walks, and two hits in the sixth inning.
-The App State pitching staff was lights out in the final four innings of the game sitting down 12 consecutive Royals.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-The Royals leading hitter Dillon Lewis was a perfect 2-for-2 on the afternoon, with a walk. He led off the game with a solo home run, and recorded a double in the fifth inning for his 11^th multi-hit performance.
-JJ Sousa also recorded a hit for the Royals on the afternoon with a double in the first inning. The extra-base hit was the senior's 10^th on the season.
-Right handed pitcher Isaac Kopalchick was efficient in his fifth appearance out of the bullpen. In 1.0 inning of action, the righty allowed no runs on zero hits with a strikeout.
-The Royals offense will look to bounce back this weekend as they only managed to record three hits on the afternoon with one walk. The three hits marked a season-low.
-The Queens pitching staff struggled to prevent free base runners allowing nine walks and six hit batters across six innings of action.
-The Royals turned in their third clean sheet defensively this season committing no errors.
 
NEXT UP
Queens will travel to Clarksville, Tennessee to take on Austin Peay for their second weekend of conference play this weekend. The first pitch on Friday is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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