The only scheduled meeting this season between Appalachian State and Wake Forest, a 2017 Super Regional qualifier, has moved from Boone to Winston-Salem because of weather projections for the High Country.
First pitch today is scheduled for 4 p.m. in Couch Ballpark, and admission is free. The Mountaineers (5-12) will wear their white uniforms and bat last as the "home" team.
Brandon Boone and Wake Forest freshman Cole McNamee are the probable starters on the mound. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound McNamee is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA over 3.0 innings in three relief appearances this season.
Appalachian State is looking for its first victory against Wake Forest (9-11, 4-2 ACC) since the Mountaineers won 10-1 in Winston-Salem early in the 2015 season. The Demon Deacons won 5-4 in Boone last season thanks to a tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning from Bruce Steel, and the Mountaineers held a 3-1 lead until the Demon Deacons scored seven runs in the fifth inning of a 10-3 victory in Shelby.
SETTING THE STAGE
After playing 14 nonconference games, Appalachian State began its Sun Belt Conference schedule with a weekend series at cross-divisional foe Texas State last weekend. The Mountaineers have nonconference games scheduled against Wake Forest (Tuesday) and at UNC Asheville (Wednesday) before resuming their Sun Belt schedule with a home series against Georgia Southern this weekend.
App State opened the 2018 season with seven straight road games and will play 16 of its first 19 games on the road, but 13 of those road games are in-state matchups. The Mountaineers are scheduled to play 40 of their 56 regular-season games in the state of North Carolina.
STARTING ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Junior right-hander Brandon Boone has started in three of his four appearances, and he has a 2.03 ERA in that role, as he's allowed three earned runs through 13.1 innings. He allowed five hits, recorded seven strikeouts and issued no walks in six scoreless innings against North Carolina Central last week.
Boone allowed one earned run and struck out five batters over four innings against UNCW in his first career start for App State. He gave up two earned runs in 3.1 innings against Marshall the next weekend.
Boone went 7-0 with a 2.48 ERA, 75 strikeouts (10.33 per game) and 65.1 innings pitched last year as a sophomore at Brunswick Community College.
MAKING A SPLASH
Two freshman outfielders — left fielder Kendall McGowan and center fielder Alex Leshock — lead the team with batting averages of .297 and .280, respectively. Leshock also has a team-best four stolen bases.
Leshock is coming off a game in which he had a double and an RBI triple. He leads the team with five multi-hit games (in his 14 starts), and he's reached base in all 14 of his appearances. He drew six walks in his first four games as a leadoff hitter, and in his last three games as a leadoff hitter, he's batted 4-for-13.
McGowan started the first six games, was sidelined by an injury and has started the last four games in the outfield. In his 10 starts, he has batted 11-for-33 with one homer, four doubles and five runs scored.
RECAPPING THE LAST TIME OUT
Relief pitchers Cameron Kepley, Tristan Helms, Reed Howell and Kaleb Bowman combined to allow one run on two hits over the final 6.1 innings of a loss to Texas State, as the bullpen retired 17 of the first 18 batters it faced.
SCOUTING THE DEMON DEACONS
Wake Forest, which led the nation with 106 home runs during a 43-20 season in 2017, has 15 home runs in 20 games so far this year. Johnny Aiello and D.J. Poteat have four apiece.
The Demon Deacons were 5-9 overall before taking the last two games of their opening ACC series against No. 3 Florida State and winning two of three home games against No. 11 Louisville.
Wake Forest is 0-4 in midweek games with losses to Davidson (3-1), UNCG (11-5), Coastal Carolina (19-3) and Charlotte (13-1).
INTRODUCING SOME NEW FACES
App State has 13 returning players and 18 newcomers following a 19-36 season in which it stood at 18-24 overall and 7-12 in Sun Belt play before closing against South Alabama, Wake Forest and Coastal Carolina.
There are six seniors among the 13 returnees, and the 18 newcomers are split evenly between nine freshmen and nine transfers, including eight from the junior college level. Four freshmen and four transfers have started in hitting roles, two newcomers have started on the mound and five newcomers have pitched in relief.
Four of the team's six homers have come from newcomers: freshman Kendall McGowan, freshman CJ Brown, transfer Drew Beck and transfer Riley Smith (Sunday). Senior first baseman Conner Leonard has homered twice.
MOVING CLOSER TO FULL STRENGTH
Freshman outfielder Kendall McGowan, an opening-day starter, returned to the starting lineup as an outfielder against North Carolina Central.
Freshman second baseman Bailey Welch, who started App State's first 10 games, returned to the lineup at Texas State after missing the previous four games.
STRIKING IMPRESSION
App State junior left-hander Colin Schmid, the Saturday starter, ranks eighth in the Sun Belt with a 2.30 ERA, fifth with 32 strikeouts, 11th with a .204 opposing batting average and sixth with 6.03 hits per nine innings.
Schmid's 11 strikeouts at UNCW are tied with two other Sun Belt pitchers for the most in the league this year. He has struck out 31 batters and allowed six earned runs in 27.1 innings over his last four starts, with seven strikeouts coming against Marshall and eight coming against Elon.
