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ASU Baseball Opens SoCon Play with Ninth-Straight Win

From Staff Reports

March 9, 2012. BOONE — Daniel Kassouf (Lexington, N.C./North Davidson) went 4-for-5 with two RBI’s and Tyler Moore (Banner Elk, N.C./Watauga) turned in 2.2 perfect innings out of the bullpen to lead the Appalachian State University baseball team to its ninth-straight win, a 10-4 thumping of Davidson in the Southern Conference opener for both teams last Friday afternoon at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

Kassouf’s career-high four hits included an RBI single that capped a three-run first inning and an RBI double in the third that helped stake Appalachian (11-2, 1-0 SoCon) to a commanding 5-0 lead.

ASU stretched its lead to 8-1 with a three-run fourth inning but Davidson (4-7, 0-1 SoCon) cut the Mountaineers’ advantage to 8-4 with a run in the fifth and two in the sixth. The Wildcats appeared to be on the verge of drawing even closer when they chased Appalachian starter Ryan Arrowood (Rutherfordton, N.C./R-S Central) from the game with runners on the corners and just one out in the sixth. However, Moore came on to strike out Davidson slugger Drew Gaidaire and get cleanup hitter Andrew Barna to pop up to third to squelch the threat.

Despite Moore’s heroics out of the ‘pen, the story of the day was Kassouf, who recorded multiple hits for the fifth time in seven games and raised his average to a lofty .426. The 6-1, 230-pound senior has hit .577 (15-for-26) during his current six-game hitting streak.

Kassouf’s performance highlighted a terrific day by the first four hitters in Appalachian’s lineup. Hector Crespo (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian), Tyler Zupcic (Charlotte, N.C./Providence), Will Callaway (Greenville, S.C./Eastside) and Kassouf all had multiple hits and combined to go 11-for-18 with seven RBI and eight runs scored. In all, 8-of-9 starters contributed to the Mountaineers’ 16-hit effort.

Despite not having terrific command on a cool, blustery afternoon, Arrowood battled through 5.1 innings to earn the 20th win of his career and move to 3-0 on the campaign. The right-handed senior allowed nine hits and walked four but struck out seven before leaving the game after throwing 103 pitches.