BOONE, N.C. – Just one game back of first place in the Sun Belt Standings, App State baseball travels to Huntington, W.Va. this weekend to take on Marshall in a three-game series. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m., with the middle game of the series schedule for 5 p.m. on Saturday. The weekend wraps up on Sunday, with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the weekend 17-15 on the season and 7-5 in Sun Belt play. The Mountaineers are coming off a 7-6 win over Western Carolina on Wednesday and have won six of their last nine contests dating back to an extra-inning victory over High Point on March 25. App State leads the Sun Belt in batting average, hits, doubles and runs-per-game. Tyler Lichtenberger leads App State at the plate, batting a league-leading .435 on the season and .512 in Sun Belt play, while Juan Correa paces App State in the power department with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs. All seven App State batting qualifiers boast an OPS of at least .830. Caleb Cross fired a complete game (eight innings) on the mound last Friday at ULM, lowering his ERA to a team best 3.53 on the season, while Bradley Wilson boasts a 3.63 mark in a team-high 16 relief appearances.
SCOUTING THE THUNDERING HERD
Marshall enters the series 17-16 on the season and 5-7 in Sun Belt play but have won five of its last six games. Last weekend the Herd took two of three games from No. 13 Southern Miss, highlighted by a complete game shutout from freshman Clint Moak in the finale, on his way to earning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week honors. The Herd also took one of three against No. 17 Troy on the road the weekend prior. Ethan Murdoch leads Marshall at the plate, batting .277 with eight home runs and 25 RBIs. The Herd like to run and have swiped 44 bases in 57 tries this season. Marshall pitching boasts a 4.45 ERA on the season, fourth best in the Sun Belt, led by Saturday starter Griffin Miller who sports a 2.51 ERA, the third best in the conference.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Marshall have faced off 76 times in program history in a series that dates back to 1977, with App State leading the series 46-30. Since the Herd joined the Sun Belt two years ago, App State has taken two of three games in each of the last two seasons.
LICHTENBERGER LEADS THE WAY
Freshman shortstop Tyler Lichtenberger was inserted into the starting lineup the second game of the season and hasn’t looked back, reaching base safely in all 31 games played on the campaign, including hits in 28 of those contests. Lichtenberger is currently riding an 11-game hitting streak, batting .500 over that span. Lichtenberger is batting .435 on the season with leads the Sun Belt, while he also ranks among league leaders in hits (1st – 50), OBP (T-3rd – .504), OPS (6th – 1.121), doubles (T-5th – 11), runs scored (10th – 31) and sac flies (T-10th – 3). On March 28 against Old Dominion, Lichtenberger tallied a career-high four hits, including his first collegiate home run. His .435 average ranks 11th nationally and first among freshmen. Lichtenberger is batting .512 in Sun Belt play.
UNTOUCHABLE
Following a hitless seven innings against Old Dominion on March 28, Caleb Cross turned in another fantastic start against ULM on April 4. The redshirt senior threw his first career-complete game, allowing just two earned runs over eight innings while striking out eight. Across his last two outings Cross has combined to give up just two runs on eight hits and four walks, while striking out 10 in 15.0 Innings. He also recorded streaks of 10 consecutive hitless innings and 13 consecutive scoreless innings. The 7.0 hitless innings against ODU were the most by an App State pitcher in the Sun Belt era.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Through 32 games this season, the App State offense has registered 74 doubles which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 18th nationally. Braxton Church leads the way with a career-high 12 doubles this season, while Tyler Lichtenberger and Tyler Figueroa have added 11 and 10 doubles respectively. The record for doubles in a season is 168, set in 2007. Individually, David Rubinstein owns the program record with 30 doubles in 2007.
RACKIN’ UP RUNS
App State’s offense has put up some gaudy numbers this season, highlighted by a season-high 17 runs in a run-rule win over ULM on Sunday. This season the Mountaineers are averaging 8.5 runs-per-game, which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 37th nationally. The Mountaineers have scored double-digit runs 14 times in 32 games.
BULLPEN BRAD
After serving as the Mountaineers’ Friday night starter last season, Bradley Wilson has found lots of success coming out of the App State bullpen in 2025. On March 29 against Old Dominion, Wilson threw a career-high 7.0 scoreless innings to earn the win in relief. He allowed just three base runners – all singles – and retired the final 17 batters of the ballgame. The graduate student has allowed one earned run or fewer in 13 of his 16 outings this season. He boasts a 3.63 ERA and has struck out 28 strikeouts in 34.2 innings of work this season, with opponents hitting just .229 against him.
JUAN GONE
App State first baseman Juan Correa hit his 11th home run of the season in a victory ULM on Friday. The senior has now slugged 11 home runs through his first 27 games, including a trio of two-homer games – against Queens, UMass Lowell and Wake Forest – to rank 34th nationally in home runs, despite missing five games due to injury. Correa also ranks among conference leaders in home runs (T-1st – 11), slugging (3rd – .705), RBIs (T-2nd – 38), and OPS (8th – 1.099). 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 23 of 26 games this season (in which he has recorded an official at-bat) including a ten-game hitting streak.
PATIENCE PAYS
After not working a single walk in 48 at-bats last season, Kameron Miller has transformed himself into a very patient hitter in 2025. Miller has walked a team-leading 27 times this season and 23 times in his last 15 games played, including a career-high four walks against Gardner-Webb on Feb. 28. Even with his more patient approach, Miller has improved his power numbers too, slugging .624 on the season, with four doubles and eight home runs, including a 471-foot tank against Western Carolina on Tuesday, the longest measured for an App State player in the TrackMan Era (since 2019). Miller ranks among Sun Belt leaders in OPS (3rd – 1.156), on-base (T-3rd – .504), slugging (6th – .652), walks (T-5th – 27), home runs (T-8th – 8) and RBIs (T-8th – 32).
FANTASTIC FIG
Sophomore Tyler Figueroa has been a valuable addition, joining the Mountaineers this season as a transfer from Siena. Was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week on Tuesday after hitting three home runs and driving in 10 runs in four games last week for App State. Figueroa is the only Mountaineer to start all 31 games this season, appearing in games at second base, third base, left field and center field. Figueroa recorded a 19-game on-base streak from March 7 to April 6. He ranks second on the team with 22 walks, contributing to a .919 OPS on the season. He also paces the Mountaineers’ running game, swiping six bags in seven tries.
FOR THE GREATER GOOD
App State has hit 20 sacrifice flies this season which ranks second in the Sun Belt and ranks 25th in the country. Ten different players have hit at least one sac fly, with Braxton Church’s five sac flies leading the team. For comparison, App State finished 2024 with 25 sacrifice flies.
GONE FISHING
Redshirt junior Jordan Fisher has acceded from a walk-on in 2022 to a high-leverage reliever this season. Fisher struck out the side with the bases loaded in the 11th inning on March 15 to earn the win against Texas State and followed with two more strikeouts in the ninth inning the following day to secure the save. Fisher’s five saves this season rank fourth in the Sun Belt and one away from the top-10 in App State single-season history. He has struck out 25 batters in 17.1 innings good for a 13.0 K/9 rate. Fisher’s 16 appearances this season are second on the team and second in the conference.
SOME ZA DELIVERY
Senior second baseman Joseph Zamora helped the Mountaineers secure their first series win against Texas State with a walk-off single in the 11th inning on March 15 and hit a game-tying double in the ninth inning on March 25 to force extra-innings against High Point. Through 27 games played this season Zamora is batting .350 with 25 RBIs and 29 runs scored. Zamora has struck out just 11 times in 143 plate appearances this season, making him the fourth-toughest player to strike out in the Sun Belt.
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 4.7. App State has walked four batters or fewer 17 times through 32 games, including two walk-free games.
SUPERB SUN BELT
The Sun Belt continues to be one of the top conferences in college baseball. Troy, Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss are all ranked in this week’s D1Baseball top-25, while six Sun Belt schools rank in the top-100 nationally in RPI. Last year the league finished with nine teams in the top-100, with four making the NCAA Tournament.
UP NEXT
App State will take on Duke in Durham next Tuesday at 6 p.m. Kermit Smith will once again face off against his former college coach in Chris Pollard, who also coached the Mountaineers from 2005-2012. Pollard became Duke’s all-time winningest coach earlier this season. The game will be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra.
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