Stroup’s big day leads to comeback win

The Appalachian Online In a comeback effort, the Mountaineers baseball team overcame a four-run deficit in the top of the fourth inning to win the game 13-9 against the Radford Highlanders (8-12). The game was highlighted by junior left fielder Tyler Stroup becoming just the second Mountaineer in the last 14 years to hit for the cycle.
The Apps (10-11, 1-2 Sun Belt) struck first after a scoreless first inning, and put up the game’s first two runs in the bottom half of the second inning.
After a quiet first inning, junior designated hitter Chandler Seagle had the team’s first hit with a single through the infield. Senior right fielder Brian Bauk would then ground into a fielder’s choice and advance to second off a stolen base. Stroup got his career day started with a single to left field, bringing home Bauk and getting the first run on the board.
Stroup would earn a single, double, triple and an inside-the-park homerun, and he would do it in that order. His single in the second, an RBI double in the fifth, stand up triple in the seventh and to top that all off, an inside-the-park homerun in the eighth, helped seal the game.
“I didn’t really think about it at first,” Stroup said. “Until I got my triple, I was in the on deck circle, and I thought, if I hit a homerun here I could hit for the cycle, but once I got in the box I didn’t think about it at all, let me hit the ball hard, get on base and hopefully score again.”
The Mountaineers would find themselves down 7-3 going into the home half of the fifth, and that is when the bats would catch fire. Senior second baseman Matt Vernon doubled to the right field fence, putting a man ...


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