BOONE, N.C. — After beginning the season with seven straight road games, Appalachian State (3-4) opens its home schedule Saturday with the start of a three-game series vs. Marshall (4-2). The opener at 1 p.m. will be followed by a Sunday doubleheader that begins at noon.
Earlier this week, App State set a program record for season-ticket sales, beating the mark set in 2013.
Overall, the Mountaineers are scheduled to play 40 of their 56 regular-season games in the state of North Carolina. After the Marshall series, they will play South Carolina in Charlotte's BB&T Ballpark on Tuesday.
Season tickets can be purchased by clicking
HERE for the App State Ticket Central site, by calling the Appalachian State athletics ticket office at
(828) 262-2079 or by going to the ticket office, located at the Holmes Center, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.
Single-game tickets can be purchased by clicking
HERE as well as by calling or visiting the ticket office. One ticket will be good for both Sunday games against Marshall.
STARTING STRONG ON THE MOUND
With only 11 earned runs allowed in 38.1 innings this season, Appalachian State's starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.58.
Series-opening starter
Andrew Vaccacio has a 2.92 ERA with four earned runs allowed over 12.1 innings, and normal Game 2 starter
Colin Schmid (1-0) has a 3.27 ERA with four earned runs allowed over 11.0 innings.
Brandon Boone made his first career start at UNCW and gave up one earned run over four innings.
Travis Holden (2-0) gave up one unearned run in five innings of a Game 3 win to end the UNCG series, and he allowed two earned runs in six innings of a 13-3 win at Western Carolina on Tuesday.
HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING
When App State held a 10-1 lead after three innings at Western, it was the first time the Mountaineers reached double figures in the first three innings of a game since the 2012 team that won a conference title and reached an NCAA Regional scored 10 runs in the first three innings of a 15-4 win against Rider.
PUTTING THE SEASON IN PERSPECTIVE
In its 64 innings this season, with two series against teams picked to win their leagues, App State has held the lead after its at-bat 31 times, been tied after 20 of its at-bats and trailed after only 13 of its at-bats.
ASSESSING APP STATE
Led by second-year head coach
Kermit Smith, the Mountaineers have 13 returning players and 18 newcomers following a 19-36 season in which they stood at 18-24 overall and 7-12 in Sun Belt play before closing against South Alabama, Wake Forest and Coastal Carolina.
There are six seniors among the 13 returnees, and the 18 newcomers are split evenly between nine freshmen and nine transfers, including eight from the junior college level. Three of the team's four home runs have come from newcomers: freshman
Kendall McGowan, freshman
CJ Brown, transfer
Drew Beck.
RECAPPING THE MARSHALL SERIES
Entering this weekend, App State holds a 41-26 lead in its series with Marshall. The Mountaineers took two of three road games when they last met in 1997.
STRIKING IMPRESSION
App State junior
Colin Schmid's 11 strikeouts last weekend at UNCW are tied for the most by a Sun Belt pitcher this season. ULM's Trey Jeans had 11 against Northern Kentucky one day earlier.
Schmid has moved forward from a sophomore season in which his 79 strikeouts tied for sixth place on App State's single-season list.
Schmid's ERA of 3.61 in 2017 ranked fourth among returning full-time starters in the Sun Belt Conference. After posting four of his six wins in Sun Belt play last year, there were only five returning pitches with more wins in league play.
RANKING HIGHLY IN THE SUN BELT
Junior catcher
Riley Smith is fourth in the Sun Belt with four doubles this year.
Senior pitcher
Travis Holden is 10th in the league with a 1.64 ERA. He has eight strikeouts and only one walk in his two starts.
The pitching staff from App State is second in the league with only 18 walks.
MATCHING UP ON THE MOUND
Game 1
• App State — LHP
Andrew Vaccacio (Jr.)
2018 stats: 0-2, 2.92 ERA, 12 Ks, 4 BBs and 8 hits in 12.1 IP
2017 stats: 4-4, 4.34 ERA, 25 relief app., 5 saves, 52 Ks in 37.1 IP (junior college)
• Marshall — RHP Wade Martin (Jr.)
2018 stats: 0-0, 6.23 ERA in 2 starts, 4 Ks in 8.2 IP
2017 stats: 3-4, 4.24 ERA in 14 starts, 77 Ks in 87.0 IP
Game 2
• App State — LHP
Colin Schmid (Jr.)
2018 stats: 1-0, 3.27 ERA, 12 K, 3 BBs and 8 hits in 11.0 IP
2017 stats: 6-7, 3.61 ERA, 79 Ks in 87.1 IP
• Marshall — RHP Brad O'Connor (Sr.)
2018 stats: 0-2, 7.88 ERA in 2 starts, 9 Ks in 8.0 IP
2017 stats: 2-3, 6.44 ERA in 13 games (7 starts), 34 Ks in 50.1 IP
Game 3
• App State — RHP
Brandon Boone (Jr.)
2018 stats: 0-1, 10.38 ERA, 5 ER and 10 hits in 4.1 IP
2017 stats: 7-0, 2.48 ERA, 75 Ks, 27 BBs and 45 hits in 65.1 IP (Brunswick C.C.)
• Marshall — RHP Will Ray (Sr.)
2018 stats: 0-0, 0.84 ERA in 2 starts, 9 Ks in 10.2 IP
2017 stats: 3-3, 5.08 ERA in 14 games (6 starts), 28 Ks in 44.1 IP
SCOUTING THE THUNDERING HERD
After going 25-29 overall with a 12-18 record in Conference USA last season, the Thundering Herd brought back four positional starters and four starting pitchers.
Marshall is playing its third straight road series to open the season, as it took two of three games from both Florida A&M and Elon. The Thundering Herd won a pair of extra-inning games at Elon, prevailing 8-6 in 10 innings in Game 1 and 11-7 in 11 innings in Game 3. Elon won 3-2 in Game 2.
Peter Hutzal (.438 average), Tucker Linder (.400 average) and Reynaldo Pastrana (.370 average with two homers and nine RBIs) are among Marshall's offensive leaders. Five players for the Thundering Herd have homered this season.
