Appalachian State’s baseball team didn’t have a game scheduled Wednesday, having missed a chance to play North Carolina A&T on Tuesday, because of the snow that had fallen at the Greensboro college. High Point was supposed to play at North Carolina A&T on Wednesday, but that game was called off for the same reason.

So some phone calls were made and High Point visited Appalachian State, which used snow plows to clear the snow off of the Smith Stadium turf. And though the game was delayed two hours to get some snow off the warning track, and with temperatures falling to the mid 30s, the Mountaineers overcame two early High Point runs and claimed a chilly 7-2 victory.

The temperature at the first pitch, which was at 7:08 p.m., was 34 degrees. It only got colder as the game went on, bottoming out at 31 degrees by 10 p.m.

Yet Appalachian State coach Chris Pollard remembered a game the Mountaineers played last season at Wake Forest that still is the game that set the standard for cold weather.

“Last year at Wake Forest was the worst,” Pollard said. “We always joke about it. Any time it’s cold, we always compare it to Wake. That’s kind of the barometer. It was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life.”

The cold didn’t stop Appalachian State (5-3) from getting a two-run home run from freshman Ryan Arrowood, who blasted a Jamie Serber fastball over the left field fence in the second inning.

It was Arrowood’s second home run in as many collegiate at-bats. Arrowood, who also pitched a scoreless fourth inning, was the Mountaineers’ designated hitter. It ended up being his lone hit of the game in four at-bats.

“This last one, I just went up there swinging and got lucky,” Arrowood said. “It was a little up and it had a little backspin on it. It felt good.”

Arrowood injured his elbow in January, and Pollard said the staff was taking their time with their prized freshman to make sure he made a healthy recovery.

“It’s nice to see him healthy,” Pollard said. “I guess you could say we’ve handled him cautiously coming back when he had that elbow strain in January. We were hesitant to do anything with him positionally or swinging the bat, because we didn’t want anything to be a setback to what he was doing with his arm work. Now that he’s finally cleared and ready to go arm-wise, and his arm has bounced back and is feeling good, we’re going to have him swinging the bat more at the plate.”

Arrowood’s home run tied the game 2-2. Appalachian State also got a sacrifice fly from Rand Smith and an RBI single from Isaac Harrow in the fifth inning, and an RBI double by Jason Wallace and an RBI fielder’s choice by Jeremy Dowdy in the sixth to take a 6-2 lead.

Chris Alessandria added an RBI double in the seventh inning.

Defensively, Appalachian State used eight pitchers, starting with Aubrey Edens. The senior missed a start over last weekend against Elon because of the storm that rolled through the High Country.

Edens lasted two innings before Josh Dowdy took over. Arrowood relieved Dowdy in the fourth and was followed by Andrew Webster, Nick Daniels, Chris Patterson, Taylor Miller and closer Zach Quate.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Arrowood said of the cold. “It felt good warming up and I felt good on the mound. I kept the ball down and it worked out pretty good.”

Webster, who was pitching when the Mountaineers took the lead, picked up the win. It is his third win of the season, having closed out the Mountaineers’ 14-inning victory over Jacksonville State and by going five innings as the starter in the Mountaineers’ victory over Gardner-Webb.

“We had scripted it out and to be honest with you, we were going with that script whether guys pitched well or if they didn’t,” Pollard said. “The most important thing for us playing today was getting guys some work and in a routine. As it happened, it worked out exactly how we intended it to, with everybody getting work to get ready for the weekend.”

Appalachian State’s bullpen did not give up a run, but High Point (3-3) loaded the bases with one out on Patterson in the seventh inning. However, Patterson struck out Alfie Wheeler and got Jeff Cowan to pop out to end the threat.

Miller pitched out of a threat in the eighth after High Point put its first two runners on base. Miller got a double play when Kyle Mahoney’s line drive was caught by second baseman Wes Hobson, who flipped the ball to shortstop Nick DeRose at second base to double off Bill Manion.

Pollard was happy just to get a game in this week, especially since a foot of snow had dropped on the Smith Stadium turf. He was appreciative of the maintenance crews that worked to get the turf cleared so the Mountaineers could play Tuesday.

“Our maintenance folks did an unbelievable job,” Pollard said. “They went way above the call of duty. They stayed out here way past their time to go home. They brought out extra equipment and were just a really classy group of guys.”

Appalachian State begins a three-game series at Western Carolina Friday. The Mountaineers also host High Point on April 1, and play at the school April 22.

ASU 7, High Point 2
High Point 200 000 000 — 2 8 0
ASU 020 022 10X — 7 9 0
Serber, Jones (3), Swickle (6), Muroya (7) and Alvino. Edens, Jo. Dowdy (3), Arrowood (4), Webster (5), Daniels (6), Patterson (7), Miller (8), Quate (9) and Je. Dowdy, Faggart (9). W—Webster (3-0), L—Jones (0-2). LOB—High Point 7, ASU 5. 2B—High Point, Mahoney; ASU—Hobson, Alessandria. 3B—ASU, Harrow, Wallace. HR—ASU, Arrowood (2). SH—High Point, Cowan. SF—ASU, Smith. SB—High Point, Rosario; ASU, Smith, Harrow. HBP—High Point, Roasrio (by Edens). DP—ASU 2.