BOONE, N.C. — For the third straight year, Appalachian State's baseball team is traveling to Charlotte to play in BB&T Ballpark, the Uptown home of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.
App State will face Gardner-Webb on Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. as part of the 2018 Sunbelt Rentals Collegiate Baseball Series. Gates are scheduled to open at 5 p.m.
At 4 p.m., the Charlotte and Lake Norman Alumni Chapters will co-sponsor a pregame social at the Mellow Mushroom restaurant that's one block from BB&T Ballpark. The event will feature half-priced appetizers and drink specials for Appalachian alumni and fans. For more information, contact Charlotte Metro Alumni Chapter President Stephen Machanic
at
Stephen.h.machanic@nm.com or
Lake Norman Chapter President Chris Daniels at lknappstate@gmail.com.
There are available parking lots and parking decks near the ballpark area with evening parking rates (usually after 5 p.m.).
Before the game, in the concourse area of BB&T Ballpark, fans will have an opportunity to take pictures with both the Sun Belt Conference Championship and Dollar General Bowl trophies from the 2017 football season. Additionally, gold rally towels and 2017 football bowl posters will be available while supplies last.
Fans with tickets for the App State-South Carolina game that was scheduled for March 6 in Charlotte but was rained out can exchange those tickets for a ticket of equal value to Wednesday's game between the Mountaineers and Runnin' Bulldogs.
To purchase game tickets, click HERE or contact the BB&T Ballpark Ticket Office at 704-274-8282.
SETTING THE STAGE
App State has won three of its last four games overall. It prevailed 4-2 vs. Western Carolina last Wednesday and took two of three Sun Belt games on the road at ULM, winning Games 1 and 3 by identical 4-1 scores.
As the home team, the Mountaineers will bat last in BB&T Ballpark. App State won 9-5 vs. North Carolina Central in Charlotte last season, as the Mountaineers led 6-1 after two innings, and App State lost 10-7 to Wake Forest in BB&T Ballpark two years ago.
Appalachian (11-28) has won 26 of its 42 games against Gardner-Webb (24-18) in a series that dates back to 1977. They played in Boiling Springs on March 27, and Brandon Boone (2-3) started on the mound in App State's 8-4 win.
PUTTING BOONE ON THE MAP
Boone, a junior right-hander, is set to make his ninth start of the season and seventh start outside of Boone. He has a 3.55 ERA in a starting role, as he's allowed 15 earned runs through 38.0 innings.
Boone allowed five hits, recorded seven strikeouts and issued no walks in six scoreless innings as the Mountaineers shut out N.C. Central in mid-March. He enjoyed the longest outing of his brief career on April 3 at Radford, where he struck out six batters and allowed one run on four hits in seven innings.
He went 7-0 with a 2.48 ERA and 75 strikeouts (10.33 per game) at Brunswick Community College in 2017.
Gardner-Webb's probable starter is 6-foot-7, 173-pound freshman Jordan Hampton, who is 0-1 with a 12.27 ERA in 3.2 innings spread over five relief appearances.
HITTING SOME HIGH NOTES
* Kermit Smith picked up his 500th win as a college head coach when App State beat Troy 5-2 on April 6.
* Senior closer Luke Watts (six saves) hasn't allowed an earned run in 18 of his 21 appearances this year. He's lowered his ERA to 2.67 with no earned runs allowed in 12.2 innings over his last 11 appearances.
* Relief pitcher Kaleb Bowman allowed 11 hits and struck out 18 batters in during a stretch of 16 straight scoreless innings earlier this season, and he has eight Ks during his current scoreless streak of 5.0 innings.
* Last week, CJ Brown batted in four games and hit .364 with two home runs, including a grand slam.
* Conner Leonard has hit safely in 12 of the last 15 games, batting .314 with seven 2Bs, one HR and 12 RBIs.
* Junior lefty and normal Friday pitcher Colin Schmid has allowed two earned runs or less in seven of his 10 starts.
CONNECTING THE COACHES
Kermit Smith's 500th victory as a college head coach doubled as App State's first Sun Belt Conference win of the year. It's his second season in Boone.
Smith, 41, became a college head coach at Belmont Abbey in 2001 and posted a 229-225-1 record in eight seasons. He was hired at Lander in the summer of 2009 and had a 244-134 record in seven seasons, also becoming the winningest coach in that program's history. He made a combined three Division II World Series appearances at Belmont Abbey and Lander before arriving at App State in advance of the 2017 season.
Rusty Stroupe, who is in his 16th season as Gardner-Webb's coach, played at App State from 1983-86 and helped the Mountaineers make NCAA appearances in 1984 and 1986. He worked as an Appalachian State assistant in 1990 and was Lander's head coach from 1997-2002.
Smith and Stroupe are first and second, respectively, on Lander's all-time wins list.
RECAPPING THE RECENT MEETINGS
Appalachian State won 8-4 last month after jumping out to a 4-0 lead and using a three-run sixth to increase the lead to 7-3. Conner Leonard hit a two-run homer as part of a three-RBI night, Alex Leshock posted three hits and Kaleb Bowman picked up his first career win in relief of starter Brandon Boone, who allowed two earned runs and had four strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
App State swept a road series against Gardner-Webb last year, winning by scores of 5-4, 4-2 and 5-1.
FANNING THE FLAMES
App State's pitching staff ranks close to the top quarter of Division I (83rd among 297 teams, second in the Sun Belt) with 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
Appalachian has four starters averaging better than or right at a strikeout per inning: Saturday starter Andrew Vaccacio (58 Ks in 54.0 IP), Friday starter Colin Schmid (63 Ks in 61.0 IP), midweek starter Brandon Boone (37 Ks in 38.1 IP) and recent starter Cameron Kepley (21 Ks in 20.0 IP).
Kaleb Bowman (35 Ks in 29.1 IP), Luke Watts (29 Ks in 27.0 IP) and Reed Howell (21 Ks in 17.0 IP) are all averaging more than a strikeout per inning.
CLOSING THE CASE
App State senior closer Luke Watts leads the Sun Belt Conference with 19 games finished, and he hasn't allowed an earned run in 18 of his 21 appearances this season. He has lowered his ERA to 2.67 with no earned runs allowed in 12.2 innings over his last 11 appearances.
Watts has a save in three of Appalachian's last four games, increasing his season total to six saves. That's tied for seventh place in App State's single-season history.
Before making 14 starts, issuing only 20 walks in 75.1 innings and posting the best groundball ratio on the team in 2017, Watts came out of the bullpen in all 30 of his appearances as a freshman and sophomore. He led App State relievers with a 2.48 ERA in 2016.
