Appalachian State University baseball concludes the month of April and its seven-game homestand by hosting Arkansas State at Smith Stadium in a key Sun Belt series.

Game One will take place on Friday, April 28 at 6 p.m. while Game Two and Three will get underway at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Games One and Two will be streamed on appstatesports.com with Sunday's matchup airing on ESPN3.

NOTING THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES

• Appalachian State baseball (17-24, 6-12 Sun Belt) finishes up its long April homestand before the last stretch of the season by hosting Arkansas State (20-20, 8-10 Sun Belt).

 

• The all-time series between the two teams that began after App State joined the Sun Belt, is all knotted up at three games apiece after six total games. 

 

• Appalachian State is looking to continue its recent streak, being 5-2 over their last seven games as it looks to make its first Sun Belt Tournament berth since joining the league in 2014.

 

• Since the Mountaineers' 7-3 win over Georgia Southern, eight Diamond Apps have hit above .300 during the 5-2 stretch.

 

• Most notably have the emergence of freshman catcher Bradley Davis and utility infielder/designated hitter Avery Jackson. Davis is batting .444 in three games played during the recent stretch, getting four hits and two RBI, only striking out once.

 

• Jackson has played the power hitter role for App State, launching a home run every other game since April 14. His total was brought to four during the last seven games when he walked off ETSU, 8-7, with a jack over the left field wall to get the midweek win on April 25.

 

• Brian Bauk and Matt Vernon led the way in the last seven games with extra-base hits, both having three doubles and Vernon having a triple against ETSU. 

 

• Conner Leonard has continued his strong attack at the plate over the second half of the season, hitting three home runs in the last seven games as well as nine hits for a 11 RBI.

 

• In Leonard's last seven games, he's hit 9-for-29 (.310), three HR, two doubles and 11 RBI. Four of his last seven have been multi-hit performances with three of being three-hit efforts.

 

• During the 5-2 stretch, the Mountaineers have also done the work on the mound, pitching a team average 3.45 ERA to an opponents 7.14 ERA. 

 

• Matt Vernon and Drake Zupcic have continued to lead the way offensively for App State overall on the year when hot bats have been hard to come by at times. The team is following their lead in recent games, however, as five starters now hit above .248.

 

•  Vernon currently leads the team with a season-high .312 batting average, having a .494 slugging percentage. Zupcic has bat .299 with a .387 slugging percentage and has jumped to third on the team in RBI with 22.

 

• Stroup still leads the way with home runs and RBI with seven and 25, respectively, continuing the good play from when he became the second Appalachian player to hit for the cycle in 14 years on March 21 (See “Stroup Emerges as Power Hitter” below).

 

• Appalachian's Saturday starting pitcher Colin Schmid recently had a record-setting performance against Georgia Southern. The sophomore lefty struck out a career-high 13 batters on the night – the most by any App pitcher since at least 2003. 

 

• Schmid's 13 Ks is the third highest by any pitcher in the Sun Belt this season (Alex Cunningham, Coastal Carolina - 14 vs. San Francisco), and second highest in league play (Austin Crook, Troy - 14 vs. ULL).

 

• The Mountaineers struck out 18 in all that night (Reed Howell punched out five in relief) for the highest total this season. It's the most the team has cumulatively struck out since April 21, 2011 (19 at Davidson in 12 innings).

 

• Appalachian has been in almost every game this season no matter the opponent with 11 of its 24 losses this season have come by two runs or less.

 

• Pitching has continued to be a staple this season for the Black and Gold, currently fifth overall as a team in the Sun Belt with a 4.32 ERA. After being third earlier in the season with a 4.03 ERA, Appalachian dove to the bottom-half off a wild, bad-weather weekend against UTA. Appalachian is also tied fifth in the league in pickoffs with eight.

 

• LHP/DH Schmid has continued to be the Mountaineers' two-way player this season again and with a team-best season ERA of 3.08 (good for seventh in SBC), he continues to be one of the best two-way players in the Sun Belt Conference despite a slow start at the plate (see “Schmid Continues To Be One of Sun Belt's Two-Way Studs” below).

 

• After a hitting slump, Schmid emerged on April 18 at Radford, going 2-for-4 for a double on the night. He also crossed the plate once.

 

• Another two-way player for Appalachian has been Matt Brill. The Apps' ace closer, Brill hit .421 (7-17) during a five-game stretch with two doubles, a home run and two RBI to finish with a .765 slugging percentage. He also crossed the plate twice himself.

 

• Tyler Stroup is currently riding the longest active hit and reached-base streak for the Mountaineers at two and eight, respectively. 

 

• At 17 wins, Appalachian State is four wins away having it's most victories since 2014 (21).

 

• The weekend's matchup on the mound this weekend will have usual weekend starters go: RHP Travis Holden, LHP Colin Schmid and RHP Luke Watts. 

 

• Holden enters Friday with a 5.46 ERA and a 2-6 record in 57.2 innings of work. He's allowed 35 earned runs, 78 hits and struck out 38 batters this season and is one of 52 pitchers nationally to throw a complete game this season (March 17 at Louisiana). 

 

• Holden's last outings were funky as he got two starts  last weekend due to rain delays.

 

• Schmid enters Saturday with a team-best and seventh-league leading ERA of 3.08. With a 5-5 record and 64.1 innings of work, he's allowed just 65 hits, 22 earned runs, striking out a team-high 63 batters (tied-sixth in SBC). His .266 opponents batting average is first among starters.

 

• Watts enters Sunday with the second-best ERA among starters (4.58) and a 2-4 record in 10 appearances. Through 57.0 innings, he's allowed just 58 hits, 29 earned runs and struck out 47 batters. He has a .301 opponents batting average, which is third-best among starters.

 

• Working off of groundouts and flyouts, during the Little Rock series, Appalachian won a game despite allowing 17 runs. Nationally, only 12 teams have won a game allowing more.

 

• Entering the weekend, starting catcher Chandler Seagle and is third in the Sun Belt Conference by catching 13 would-be base stealers. DH/LHP Schmid is also fourth in SBC at a career-high 10 (from the mound) while Seagle's have come from behind the dish. Hampton, Watts and Bradley Davis are next highest on the team with two.

 

• Since 2003, Schmid has the lowest stolen-base-against percentage for Appalachian baseball, allowing just 48 percent through two years (12-31).

 

• Seagle has caught 40.6 percent of would-be base thieves this season (13-32), leading the conference (see “Sharp-Shooters Behind the Dish” below).

APPALACHIAN STATE BASEBALL vs Arkansas State
Date	Opponent	Time (ET)	App State Probable Starting Pitcher	Opponent's Probable Starting Pitcher
Friday, April 28	Arkansas State	6 p.m.	Jr. RHP Travis Holden	R-Jr. RHP Bryan Ayers
Saturday, April 29	Arkansas State	2 p.m.	So. LHP Colin Schmid	So. RHP Bradey Welsh
Saturday, April 30	Arkansas State	1 p.m.	Jr. RHP Luke Watts	So. Peyton Culbertson