By Christopher Jones – [email protected] – Staff Writer | March 25, 2015 |
The UNC Asheville Bulldogs baseball team picked up an 11-5 home win at Greenwood Field over the Appalachian State University Mountaineers, Tuesday evening. The game was the sole matchup this season against one another.
 
Jordan Fullbright, UNCA Freshman southpaw, picked up the win for the Bulldogs, improving his record to 3-0 on the season for the Bulldogs’ baseball team. Fullbright pitched seven and 2/3 innings, had four strikeouts and only allowed five runs in the contest Tuesday evening.
 
Parker Swindell, senior relief pitcher, closed out the final four outs of the contest for the Bulldogs.
 
“Jordan pitched a great game tonight and picked up the win for us tonight. Also, we did
some good things out there and hope to keep putting on good performances and getting
better,” said Scott Friedholm, UNCA head baseball coach.
 
ASU saw eight different Mountaineers come in to pitch against the
Bulldogs. Junior right-hand pitcher Blake Burkett started the game for the Mountaineers,
and only pitched 2/3 of the first inning before ASU called upon the bullpen.
Burkett picked up the loss for the Mountaineers, giving up three runs and walking three Bulldog
players from the mound on Tuesday evening.
 
“It wasn’t our best performance out there tonight – it started off not so great and we were never really able to recover from that and get a groove in the game today,” said Billy Jones, ASU head coach.
 
The Mountaineers started the game with a two-run lead in the first inning when ASU freshman Conner Leonard hit a two-run double into the outfield. The lead was short-lived as the Bulldogs scored three runs in the bottom of the first. ASU had a less than perfect bottom of the first as they walked three batters and had an error on a routine ground ball at second base, allowing a run.
Then a wild pitch by Burkett scored another Bulldog runner to tie the game and UNCA sophomore Justin Woods hit a one run single to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead in the first.
 
UNCA continued to add to the lead in the bottom of the third inning as the Bulldogs scored three more runs. Hunter Bryant, senior first baseman,  collected his third homerun of the year for the Bulldogs when he launched a three-run homerun over the left-field fence.
 
ASU tried to stay competitive when Zach Hummel, sophomore, cut the lead to three runs with two outs, with his RBI single in the fourth inning.
 
UNCA started the bottom of the fifth by getting all the bases loaded with Bulldogs. UNCA scored on a sac fly by  Woods, Kyle Carruthers hit an RBI single into the outfield and Derek Smith, sophomore,  drove in a two run single.
 
ASU cut the lead to 10-5 in the top of the sixth with a two run homerun by ASU junior Grayson Atwood. That would be the last time the Mountaineers scored in the game, as the Bulldogs went on to score five more runs in the final three innings to finish the game 11-5.
 
“Tonight was a learning experience for our team. We have to learn to forget about one inning and move on to the next one with a clean slate. We got down early and it affected us mentally, I think, and we have to do better next time and make improvements and come up with solutions to problems in-game,” said Michael Rogers, ASU assistant coach.