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App State Baseball Drops Three To No. 25 Arkansas, Storm Leaves 1/3 of Team Behind for Season Opener

Dillon Dobson had an RBI double and RBI triple in Saturday's 7-6 loss at No. 25 Arkansas. Photo courtesy Appalachian State Sports/Dave Mayo
Dillon Dobson had an RBI double and RBI triple in Saturday’s 7-6 loss at No. 25 Arkansas. Photo courtesy Appalachian State Sports/Dave Mayo

By Jesse Wood

Feb. 17, 2014. Forget about the three losses in the three game series against No. 25 Arkansas to start the 2014 season.

Hopefully the way things transpired to just field a baseball team in the season opener against the Razorbacks isn’t an omen for the year ahead for Appalachian State University’s baseball team.

Check out a portion of this release from the athletics department prior on the traveling fiasco:

“Appalachian State was originally scheduled to depart from Charlotte for Fayetteville on Thursday evening, but its flight was cancelled due to the winter storm that slammed much of the eastern half of the United States this week. With the cancellation, the only option to try to get Appalachian to Baum Stadium in time for Friday’s opener was to split the travel party among two flights scheduled to depart from Charlotte on Friday morning.

However, shortly before the Mountaineers arrived at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport early Friday morning, they learned that one of the two new flights was also cancelled. 

Therefore, Appalachian State will play Friday’s game against the 25th-ranked Razorbacks with just two-thirds of its travel roster and only two coaches (head coach Billy Jones and pitching coach Michael Rogers) in uniform. The rest of the roster, coaches and support staff are now scheduled to depart Charlotte on Friday evening and arrive in Arkansas in plenty of time for the final two games of the three-game weekend series.”

After dealing with jet lag and playing without a full staff against a nationally ranked opponent, the Mountaineers were smoked 12-2 in the season opener. The second game was more of a contest with the Razorbacks just squeaking by with a 7-6 win after the Mountaineers twice rallied from behind larger deficits. 

For the third game, No. 25 Arkansas won handily after pitchers for App State issued eight walks and hit six batters – both totals more than the three hits that Arkansas managed to eke out.

For recaps of the three games, click the links below.

Short-Handed, Weary Mountaineers Fall In Opener

Baseball Drops Nailbiter at No. 25 Arkansas

Walks, Hit Batters Doom App State in Series Finale