With just two conference series left and postseason implication on the line, Appalachian State University baseball will host its final games of the 2017 regular season at Smith Stadium against South Alabama.

Game One will take place on Friday, May 12 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.

NOTING THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES

• Appalachian State baseball (19-29, 8-16 Sun Belt) hosts its final home series of the season as it begins the final two weeks with a home contest against South Alabama (31-18, 17-7 Sun Belt).

• After an up-and-down start to the month, Appalachian is hoping to end the year right with a postseason berth on the line. 

• This also begins perhaps the toughest stretch in the Mountaineer schedule, facing off against first-ranked South Alabama, then playing nationally-ranked Wake Forest before ending the season at the defending World Series Champions, Coastal Carolina.

• Continuing the end streak of last year, Appalachian typically is at its best toward the end of April and through May to finish seasons (see "Continuing the End Streak" below).

• Currently tied in ninth place with a tiebreaker over Little Rock and Georgia State, the Mountaineers are looking to make their first berth into the Sun Belt Conference tournament since joining the league in 2014.

• While Appalachian still controls its own destiny, what happens in the Georgia State-Little Rock series this weekend will be of note to the Mountaineers' playoff chances as well.

• Despite dropping the series 2-1 to Troy last weekend, App State showed that when the bats are hot, they are really hot. Through the first three innings, App was 8-for-9 when putting the ball in play and 5-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

• The 17-hit onslaught began with seven runs through the first two innings and finished with a 12-2 victory. 

• The 17-hits is the most in a game by App State since Feb. 27, 2016 when they had 17 against Quinnipiac.

• Leading in the game was Matt Brill, who went 4-for-5 (a double, home run, one RBI). Avery Jackson went 2-for-4 with three RBI while Tyler Stroup and Conner Leonard both had RBI off two hits.

• Despite the red-hot hitting, Colin Schmid also tossed a gem, holding Troy to seven scoreless innings and allowing just six hits all game. He also struck out six without walking a single batter.

• Schmid becomes the first Appalachian pitcher to throw at least seven innings and not give up a run or a walk since Taylor Thurber accomplished the feat against ULM on March 20, 2015.

• After searching for much of the first half of the season, Appalachian has found a rythm at the plate, including have 10-plus hits in five of its last nine games.

• Most notably have the emergence of freshman catcher Bradley Davis and utility infielder/designated hitter Avery Jackson. Davis is batting .286 with his recent starts, getting eight hits and four RBI. Jackson continues to be up and down, currently at .238 hitting and four home runs for 12 RBI, including the walkoff home run over ETSU on April 25.

• Brian Bauk and Matt Vernon led the way in the last 11 games with extra-base hits, with Bauk having three doubles (eight total) and Vernon having five (14 total).

• Conner Leonard has continued his strong attack at the plate over the second half of the season, hitting three home runs in the last 13 games as well as 18 hits for 13 RBI.

• In Leonard's last 10 games, he's hit 10-30 (.333), two doubles and and five RBI. He's recorded a hit in six of his last 10 games, including a 4-for-5 and 2-for-4 effort.

• Since April 14, Appalachian State's pitching staff has gotten the work done, having a 4.42 ERA, 113 strikouts and three saves.

• 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 six players have hit above .250.

• Zupcic has jumped out to leading the team, hitting .300 with a .393 slugging percentage. He's second on the team in on-base percentage (.372) and third in hits (42).

•  Vernon currently leads several offensive categories with a No. 2 batting average of .298 and a third-best .465 slugging percentage. He leads in runs scored (37 – 14 more than next highest), hits (59 – 10 more than next highest) and doubles (14).

• Stroup still leads the way with home runs and RBI with seven and 30, 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 13 of its 27 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 sixth overall as a team in the Sun Belt with a 4.46 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 for fourth in the league in pickoffs with nine (GaSo, A-State).

• LHP/DH Schmid has continued to be the Mountaineers' two-way player this season again and with a team-best season ERA of 3.11 (good for eighth 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 has hit .500 (8-for-16) over the last four games with five runs, four RBI, three HR and one double. He's also owner of a 1.125 slugging percentage in that time frame.

• Brill will once again be a person-of-interest to watch this weekend as he finished the final two games against Troy 6-for-9 with two RBI, a double and a jack. Three of his last four performances have been multi-hit efforts (see "Matt Brill Returns from Tommy John" below).

• After Tyler Stroup set the season-high for reached-base streak for any Mountaineer this season at 12, Brian Bauk and Jason Curtis both reached 13-straight games reaching base. Curtis' streak is still active heading into the weekend.

• At 19 wins, Appalachian State is two wins away having it's most victories since 2014 (21).

• The weekend's matchup on the mound this weekend have LHP Colin Schmid go on Saturday and RHP Luke Watts and go on Sunday, with Friday being TBA.

• Schmid enters Saturday with a team-best and eighth-league leading ERA of 3.11. With a 6-6 record and 75.1 innings of work, he's allowed just 79 hits, 26 earned runs, striking out a team-high 71 batters (tied-seventh in SBC). His .275 opponents batting average is first among starters.

• Watts enters Sunday with the second-best ERA among starters (5.00) and a 2-6 record in 12 appearances. Through 66.2 innings, he's allowed just 81 hits, 37 earned runs and struck out 54 batters. He has a .303 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 14 would-be base stealers. DH/LHP Schmid is also fourth in SBC at a career-high 11 (from the mound) while Seagle's have come from behind the dish. Holden and Bradley Davis are next highest on the team with three.

• 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 38.9 percent of would-be base thieves this season (14-36), leading the conference (see "Sharp-Shooters Behind the Dish" below).

SERIES HISTORY

• The all-time series between the two teams sits currently with Appalachian holding a 4-3 advantage over South Alabama.

• The first and only meeting between App State and South Alabama before the Sun Belt came in 1975 at the NCAA District III Playoffs in Starkville, Miss. The Mountaineers won the matchup 2-1.

• Appalachian upended the Jaguars last season when they came to Boone, taking the series against then-No. 23 South Alabama.

• The Mountaineers took Game One off then-freshman Beau Myers' bases-loaded walk that capped a three-run rally to take the game and hand USA its first conference loss of the season.

• App State would then hand the nationally ranked squad its second Sun Belt loss of the year in Game Three to take the series as Colin Schmid fanned a then-career-high nine hitters and Tyler Stroup it a two-run homer to win 4-3.

• Also in Game Three, Brian Bauk became the first Mountaineer to strike out four batters in an inning since former Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim farmhand Nate Hyatt accomplished the rare feat at Georgia Southern on March 13, 2012. Bauk would get his third save of the season on the game.

APPALACHIAN STATE BASEBALL vs South Alabama
Date	Opponent	Time (ET)	App State Probable Starting Pitcher	Opponent's Probable Starting Pitcher
Saturday, May 13	South Alabama	1 p.m.	So. LHP Colin Schmid	Sr. RHP Randy Bell
Saturday, May 13	South Alabama	4:30 p.m.	Jr. RHP Luke Watts	Jr. RHP Tyler Carr
Sunday, May 14	South Alabama	11 a.m.	TBA	Sr. LHP Thomas Huston

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