BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State welcomes 16th-ranked Coastal Carolina, the 2018 Sun Belt regular-season champion and 2016 national champion, to Boone for the first time.
Coastal (36-16, 21-6) made its Sun Belt baseball debut in 2017, giving the league two programs from the Carolinas, and the matchup to close the 2018 regular season coincides with five in-state rivalries elsewhere in the league.
The games in Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, 6 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Appalachian State was swept in Conway, S.C., last year, and Conway has a 5-0 overall record in the series.
PROJECTING THE MOUND STARTERS
Game 1
App State — LHP
Colin Schmid (Jr.)
Stats: 4-6, 4.11 ERA, 78 Ks in 81.0 IP
CCU — RHP Jason Bilous (Jr.)
Stats: 7-2, 3.00 ERA, 90 Ks in 72.0 IP
Game 2
App State — LHP
Andrew Vaccacio (Jr.)
Stats: 2-9, 5.14 ERA, 77 Ks in 70.0 IP
CCU — RHP Zack Hopeck (Sr.)
Stats: 5-4, 4.44 ERA, 65 Ks in 73.0 IP
Game 3
App State — RHP
Will Sprinkle (Fr.)
Stats: 2-1, 2.45 ERA, 26 Ks in 44.0 IP
CCU — TBD
RECOGNIZING THE VETERANS
The Senior Day and Graduation Ceremonies before Saturday's game (the Mountaineers were in Georgia last weekend when Appalachian State held its campus-wide graduation) will recognize seven App State players: pitcher
Tristan Helms, pitcher
Travis Holden, pitcher
Reed Howell, utility player
Robert Langdon, first baseman
Conner Leonard, pitcher
Luke Watts and outfielder
Drake Zupcic.
It will be Little League Weekend, there will be free admission for military personnel in recognition of Military Appreciation Month, and Saturday's game will be part of the Sun Belt's Cover Your Bases initiative. It's a collaboration with the American Cancer Society to educate fans about sun safety and healthy living.
HITTING SOME KEY NOTES
* Game 1 starter
Colin Schmid, a junior left-hander, has allowed two earned runs or less in eight of his 13 starts. Adding in the Louisiana start in which he gave up three earned runs after taking a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning, Schmid has a 1.99 ERA over 58.2 innings in those nine outings.
* Game 2 starter
Andrew Vaccacio has allowed three or less earned runs in eight of his 11 healthy starts. He has given up one earned run in each of his last three starts, which have lasted 6.0, 5.0 and 5.0 innings.
* Schmid (78 Ks) and Vaccacio (77 Ks) rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Sun Belt in strikeouts. Schmid is up to fourth place on App State's career list with 219 strikeouts in less than three full seasons.
* Game 3 starter
Will Sprinkle, who has a 2.45 ERA, is 2-1 in four starts following seven relief appearances to begin his freshman year. In addition to wins vs. ULM (1 ER in 5.2 IP) and UTA (7.0 IP), he retired 20 of the 22 batters he faced Sunday at Georgia State and had a 2-1 lead when he was relieved in the eighth inning.
*
Luke Watts' nine saves as a senior are good for second in the league and fifth in App State's single-season records. He leads the Sun Belt with 26 games finished and hasn't allowed an earned run in 23 of 28 outings.
* Appalachian State has 14 homers in its last 17 games after totaling 12 homers through 34 games.
* As the DH in the last nine games, freshman
Kendall McGowan is 13-for-37 (.351) with five multi-hit games.
*
Conner Leonard, who has made 172 career starts and hit 17 career homers, is batting .313 (15-for-48) with runners in scoring position this year and .667 (6-for-9) with a runner on third and less than two outs.
TAKING A BOW OUT OF THE BULLPEN
Junior college transfer and right-handed reliever
Kaleb Bowman is sixth in the Sun Belt with 24 appearances. In his best 19 outings, he has an ERA of 0.88 with 36 strikeouts and just three earned runs allowed over a combined 30.2 innings.
Before the streak ended April 8, Bowman had given up no runs, allowed 11 hits and struck out 18 batters in 16.0 consecutive innings spread over 10 appearances. In his last four games, he has allowed one run on four hits and struck out seven batters over a combined 7.1 innings.
Bowman has at least three strikeouts in seven different appearances this season.
TIPPING A CAP TO PAPP
Coming off a strong stretch from late March to late April, Clemson transfer and right-handed reliever
Andrew Papp has a 2.92 ERA this season. He has allowed no runs and struck out seven batters over 6.1 innings in his last three outings.
With four strikeouts in two perfect innings against Gardner-Webb on April 25, Papp had given up one run, allowed four hits and struck out 12 batters over a combined 12.2 innings spanning seven games.
ENDING ON A STRONG NOTE
In the last month, App State is 9-8 overall with a 7-5 record in Sun Belt play.
During those 17 games, five of the Mountaineers' starters are hitting at least .250, led by a .310 mark from
CJ Brown and a .273 average from
Kendall McGowan.
Joel McDaniel has a team-high four home runs during that stretch, and eight players have at least four doubles, led by the five from
Bailey Welch.
CATCHING ON ALONG THE BASEPATHS
Appalachian State has stolen 42 bases in 51 attempts, with freshman
Alex Leshock converting 11 of his 14 chances.
Meanwhile, with catcher
Riley Smith leading the way defensively, App State's opponents have stolen 54 bases but been caught stealing 30 times. Smith threw out two baserunners attempting to steal second Tuesday.
BREAKING DOWN SOME SUN BELT SCENARIOS
The teams currently sitting in 9th (ULM at 10-17), 10th (Georgia State at 9-17), 11th (Arkansas State at 9-18) and 12th (App State at 8-19) in the Sun Belt standings have between 8 and 10 league wins apiece. App State plays at home against Coastal Carolina, which has clinched the league's No. 1 seed, while ULM, Georgia State and Arkansas State are all on the road against an in-state rival with a superior record.
The top 10 teams in the Sun Belt will play in next week's league tournament in Lafayette, La., with the No. 10 seed facing the No. 7 seed at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday and the No. 9 seed facing the No. 8 seed at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday. In each of those Tuesday games, the winner advances and the loser is eliminated.
Forecasts for rain and the fact Georgia State (which won its recent series vs. App State) has played one fewer league game (its March 25 finale vs. South Alabama was canceled) complicates the projection of potential tiebreakers (
Sun Belt tiebreaker rules here).
As a baseline, if all the remaining Sun Belt games are contested, App State needs to win at least two games against Coastal Carolina to have a chance at jumping from No. 12 to No. 10 and making the tournament. The Mountaineers would then come out on top of any head-to-head tiebreakers with ULM or Arkansas State.
If Georgia State and Arkansas State are swept and App State wins once, it would match those two teams with nine league victories, and Georgia State would get the No. 10 seed because 9-20 has a better winning percentage than 9-21. App State would finish as the No. 11 team with a tiebreaker edge on Arkansas State (which didn't play App State) because one Mountaineer win vs. No. 1 seed Coastal would top the 0-3 record the Red Wolves had vs. Coastal.
If App State wins twice to reach 10 league victories, there are scenarios in which it could jump to the No. 10 or even No. 9 seed. If Georgia State is swept to finish 9-20, Arkansas State is swept to finish 9-21 and ULM is swept to finish 10-20, App State with a 10-20 league record would tie ULM for 9th and get the No. 9 seed due to the Mountaineers' series win in Monroe, La.
If App State, Georgia State, Arkansas State and ULM all play three more games and finish with 10 league victories, Georgia State at 10-19 would be the No. 9 seed because it'd have one fewer loss based on the March 25 cancellation. With a three-team tiebreaker needed for App State, ULM and Arkansas State at 10-20, then App State would receive the No. 10 seed thanks to its 2-1 record in the three-team grouping (ULM would be 3-3 and Arkansas State would be 1-2 based on ULM's 2-1 series win against the Red Wolves).
If ULM wins once to reach 11 league victories, App State wins twice to reach 10 league victories, Arkansas State wins once to reach 10 league victories and Georgia State stays at nine league victories, App would claim the head-to-head tiebreaker with Arkansas State for the No. 10 seed based on the Mountaineers having better results against top-seeded Coastal (2-1) than Arkansas State (0-3).
