Coming off its first Sun Belt Conference series victory of the season, Appalachian State University baseball resumes league play this weekend with a three-game series at Troy. Game times are set for 7 p.m. ET Friday, 2 p.m. ET Saturday and 2 p.m. ET Sunday at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy, Ala.

After dropping its first seven Sun Belt games of the season, Appalachian State (8-21, 3-9 Sun Belt) has won three of its last five conference matchups, including taking 2-of-3 games from visiting Little Rock last weekend. Prior to back-to-back walkoff losses at App State last Saturday and Sunday, Little Rock had won six-straight Sun Belt games, including a three-game sweep over Troy.

Troy (17-13, 3-6 Sun Belt) returns to Sun Belt action this weekend for the first time since suffering the three-game sweep at Little Rock two weekends ago (March 24-26). Since the sweep at the hands of Little Rock, Troy has won 4-of-5 games (all at home). Last weekend, the Trojans stepped out of conference play to win 2-of-3 games in a non-conference home series versus New Orleans. This weekend's series is part of a nine-game homestand for Troy.

Although App State is on a roll in conference play, the Mountaineers' most recent outing was a 9-4 loss to Campbell on Tuesday night in Holly Springs, N.C. Appalachian State committed two errors, threw five wild pitches and left 12 men on base in the defeat.

Despite Tuesday's loss, the Mountaineers continue to swing red-hot bats as of late. After hitting just .201 as a team over the first 24 games of the season, App State is hitting .318 as a club over the last five contests. Matt Vernon (hitting .400 with eight RBI during a team-best six-game hitting streak) and Conner Leonard (hitting .367 with five walks and three HBP while reaching base safely in each of the last nine games) have headlined the Mountaineers' recent resurgence at the plate.

Troy's hottest hitters are T.J. Binder and Joey Denison, who have combined to hit .556 with four doubles, a triple, five home runs and 11 RBI over the previous four games.

The Mountaineers and Trojans met for the first time on the baseball diamond last season at App State's Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. After the clubs split the first two games of last season's Sun Belt series, Troy won the finale, 12-5, to hand the Mountaineers a three-game series defeat.