Georgia Southern pitcher Chris Beck struggled on the mound, and his teammates sputtered at the plate Friday night, as Appalachian State cruised to a 5-1 victory to snap the Eagles’ seven-game winning streak.
    A J.I. Clements Stadium crowd of 1,368 watched as Appalachian State out-hit GSU, 12-6, in the first game of a Southern Conference three-game series. The teams will play at 6 p.m. today and at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
    First-place Appalachian State (25-7 overall, 10-3 SoCon) was led by starter Ryan Arrowood (6-0). The 6-foot-3, 195-pound senior right-hander threw 105 pitches. He struck out seven, walked five and allowed one earned run on six hits in seven innings to earn the win.
    GSU fell to 20-16, 8-8. Beck (4-3) registered the loss. The 6-foot-3, 235-pound junior right-hander threw 96 pitches. He struck out six, walked five and allowed four runs (all earned) on seven hits in six innings.
    In the first inning, Beck walked Jeremy Dowdy with the bases loaded to give Appalachian State a 1-0 lead. David Port hit a two-run single to make it 3-0.
    GSU catcher Chase Griffin led off the bottom of the second with a double. T.D. Davis singled to move Griffin to third. Casey Kicklighter walked to load the bases. Tyler Avera hit into a double-play to end the inning.
    “I don’t think he had his best stuff tonight,” GSU head coach Rodney Hennon said of Beck. “But you’ve got to give App. State credit. They took advantage of that in the first inning and had some good at-bats against him and got that three-run lead.
    “Arrowood, we threatened him a couple of times early, and he was able to get a big double-play ball and make some pitches when he had to. I don’t think we did a very good job, offensively, making adjustments against him.”
    In the third inning, Beck threw a fastball and Appalachian State’s Daniel Kassouf homered off of the foul pole in left field to make it 4-0.
    In the third, a bunt single by GSU’s Eric Phillips drove in Brent Pugh to cut it to 4-1.
    Appalachian State scored in the ninth to make it 5-1. GSU’s Hennon was ejected by home plate umpire Brian Kennedy for arguing that Hector Crespo should have been called out at home plate after GSU right-fielder Stryker Brown’s throw and Griffin’s tag.
   
    Noell Barnidge can be reached at (912) 489-9408.