BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball will head to Mount Pleasant, S.C., for the team’s lone true road series of non-conference play, in a matchup with the College of Charleston. First pitch of Friday’s opener is set for 4 p.m. with the middle game on Saturday slated for 2 p.m. The series wraps up on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on FloSports.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the contest 6-6 on the season after dropping a midweek contest to No. 15 Wake Forest on Tuesday. The Mountaineers led for much of the ballgame but were unable to overcome a big inning from the Demon Deacons in the top of the seventh. Juan Correa leads the Mountaineers at the plate this season, the Charlotte transfer is batting .340 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs. Friday night starter Caleb Cross leads the Mountaineers on the mound with a 1-0 record and a 2.51 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 14.1 innings through three starts. App State is 6-3 in weekend games this season, but 0-3 so far in midweek affairs.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
College of Charleston is 7-4 on the season and did not play a midweek contest after their scheduled game against No. 4 North Carolina was postponed on Tuesday. The Cougars have already beaten a pair of Sun Belt schools this season, posting a 15-5 victory at Coastal Carolina on Feb. 18 and 6-3 over Georgia Southern on Feb. 25. Dariyan Pendergrass leads the Cougars at the plate with a .455 average and is a perfect 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts. Five different Cougars have driven in double digit runs this season. Saturday starter Aidan Hunter has led the Cougars on the mound so far this season, going 3-0 with a 3.50 ERA through three starts. Charleston was picked to finish second in the CAA this season, one spot behind two-time defending champion UNCW. Outfielder Avery Neaves and pitchers Jake Brink and Davis Aiken were all selected preseason All-CAA.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and College of Charleston have met 47 times in the all-time series, which dates back to 1993. The two teams most recently squared off in 2023 in a midweek contest in Boone, which App State won, 4-3. Caleb Cross earned the win in that contest in relief. Golston Gillespie broke a 2-2 tie with a go-ahead two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning.
BOMBS AWAY
Highlighted by a four-homer game against High Point on Feb. 18 and three home runs against Wake Forest on Tuesday, App State has continued its power surge over the past three seasons. App State set a program record by hitting 96 home runs in 2024, eclipsing the previous record of 90 set by the 1986 team. App State finished the season second in the Sun Belt and 32nd nationally in home runs-per-game with 1.75. App State has seen a major uptick in the power department the last two seasons, slugging 67 home runs in 2023 after just 29 the year prior. Banks Tolley set the single-season program record with 26 home runs, while CJ Boyd added 18 (eclipsing his previous single-season record of 17 in 2023), while Austin St. Laurent added 14 dingers.
YEAR HOME RUNS GAMES HR/GM
2025 17 12 1.42
2024 96 55 1.75
2023 67 55 1.23
2022 29 53 0.55
JUAN GONE
App State first baseman Juan Correa has slugged seven home runs through his first 12 games, including a trio of two-homer games – against Queens, UMass Lowell and Wake Forest. Correa leads the Sun Belt in home runs this season and is tied for sixth nationally. Correa also ranks among conference leaders in RBIs (2nd – 18), slugging (4th – .792), hits (5th – 18), runs scored (7th – 15), and OPS (10th – 1.192). Last season with the Charlotte 49ers, Correa finished the campaign with 12 home runs in 55 games played but never homered twice in the same contest. His 12 home runs were second on the 49ers and tied for 10th in the conference. Correa has hit safely in 11 of 12 games and enters the weekend on an eight-games hitting streak, batting .382 with five home runs and 14 RBIs over that span.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
App State catcher Braxton Church has stormed out of the gate this season, tallying seven doubles in his first 12 games. The seven doubles for Church match his career high from 2024 when he doubled seven times in 46 games. The seven doubles are third-most in the Sun Belt this season and tied for 14th nationally.
CROSS ‘EM UP
Caleb Cross enjoyed the best outing of his career on Feb. 21, delivering 5.1 scoreless innings and striking out a career-high 10 batters against UMass Lowell to earn the victory in a 1-0 shutout for the Mountaineers. After missing the 2024 season due to injury, Cross has excelled in his first three outings in 2025, combining to go 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA (4 ER/14.1 IP) and 17 strikeouts. The redshirt senior right-hander joined the Mountaineers in 2022 as a transfer from UNC Asheville, reuniting with his brother Hayden who was a five-year catcher for App State. In Caleb’s career on the mound, he has made 38 appearances and nine starts, earning a total of nine victories and posting a 5.60 career ERA. In 2022 he combined with Eli Ellington on a one-hitter against UT Arlington.
SOME ZA DELIVERY
Senior second baseman Joseph Zamora jumpstarted the Mountaineers’ comeback effort on Feb. 23, belting a grand slam as part of a seven-run home fifth to take the lead. Through ten games this season Zamora is batting .389 with 10 RBIs and 12 runs scored. Zamora ranked 12th in the Sun Belt last season, batting .371 in conference play. He currently ranks tied for sixth in walks with 11.
RETURN OF THE ZACH
Redshirt junior Zach Lewis made his season debut with a scoreless inning against Wake Forest (his former team) on Tuesday. Lewis served as the Mountaineers’ closer last season, leading the team with four saves. App State has a stable of late-inning relievers this season with Jordan Fisher having already recorded three saves and Liam Best recording two more.
BULLPEN BRAD
After serving as the Mountaineers’ Friday night starter last season, Bradley Wilson has found success coming out of the App State bullpen in 2025. The graduate student has recorded four consecutive outings without conceding an earned run and on the year boasts a 1-0 record and a 2.45 ERA. He has struck out 14 batters in 11.0 innings of work.
STRIKE THROWERS
App State’s pitching staff has opened the 2025 season by consistently throwing strikes and getting ahead in counts. After issuing over six walks-per-nine innings in 2023, the Mountaineers trimmed that number to 5.4 walks-per-nine in 2024. So far in 2025, App State’s walks-per-nine has dropped to 5.3. App State has walked four batters or fewer seven times this season.
FRESHMEN SUCCESS
App State freshmen Tyler Lichtenberger and Riley Luft have impressed at the plate in early-season action to begin their collegiate careers. Lichtenberger is batting .366 (15-for-41) with 10 RBIs and 10 runs scored, while Luft also boasts a .313 average (10-for-32), with a pair of doubles and a triple in his first ten games. Luft enters the weekend on a seven-game hitting streak, batting .345 with six RBIs and eight runs scored over that stretch. Luft was named the second-best freshman prospect in the Sun Belt by Perfect Game, and the No. 255 freshman in the nation.
1-0 SHUTOUT
App State’s 1-0 shutout win over UMass Lowell on Friday marked the first 1-0 shutout for the Mountaineers since May 25, 2021, when App State earned the program’s first Sun Belt Tournament victory with a 1-0 shutout over Texas State. The only other shutouts since then were a 10-0 win at ULM on April 23, 2022, and App State’s 11-0 take down of No. 7/8 Coastal Carolina on May 5, 2023. The 1-0 shutout marked just the seventh of its kind since the Mountaineers joined the Division I ranks. Most notably, App State defeated No. 7 LSU 1-0 in 2012 as part of a series win in Baton Rouge, La.
SUPERB SUN BELT
The Sun Belt continues to be one of the top conferences in college baseball, ranking fifth in the nation in RPI in each of the past two seasons. Last year nine Sun Belt programs finished in the top-100 nationally in RPI with four teams making the NCAA tournament. In the first RPI rankings of the 2025 season, five Sun Belt teams are ranked in the top-100.
PROGRAM TRAJECTORY
- App State has recorded back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since 2012-13
- The Mountaineers have finished in the top-100 nationally in RPI three of the past five seasons
- App State has finished among the top-six in the Sun Belt conference standings three of the past four seasons
- App State is the only Sun Belt team to have won at least one game at each of the last four conference tournaments
UP NEXT
App State will return to Boone for a four-game homestand beginning on Tuesday, March 11 when the Mountaineers host Charlotte in a non-conference tilt. App State then begins Sun Belt play with a three-game series against Texas State March 14-16. All four contests will be streamed on ESPN+.
发表回复