Coming off a Sun Belt Conference road series victory at Louisiana, Appalachian State (10-12) faces Radford (10-13) at 5 p.m. in Virginia.
The game will be available on ESPN+.
App State has a 13-7 record against the Highlanders in a nonconference series that began in 1985. The Mountaineers posted a 5-1 road win and an 8-3 home loss against Radford last season.
In the road win,
Kendall McGowan hit a two-run homer after a first-inning double from
Bailey Welch, and
Alex Leshock had two RBIs. McGowan and
Riley Smith produced four of App State's five doubles in Boone.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
MAKING HIS STARTING DEBUT
Freshman right-hander
Austin Primm is set to make his first career start. His 0.00 ERA over 3.2 innings in four relief appearances includes scoreless innings vs. Gardner-Webb, Furman (3 Ks) and N.C. Central.
Hunter Williams is Radford's probable pitcher.
RECAPPING THE WEEKEND
App State took two of three games at Sun Belt West Division favorite Louisiana, as the Mountaineers had a pair of 6-5 comeback wins. They erased an eighth-inning deficit Friday and a ninth-inning deficit Sunday.
App State scored once in each of its final three at-bats in the opener, with
Luke Drumheller scoring the tiebreaking run on
Bailey Welch's RBI fielder's choice with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning. In Game 3, Drumheller's two-run single in the ninth turned a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead.
Kaleb Bowman picked up the win in both games with a combined five innings of scoreless relief, and Sunday was App State's third-ever Sun Belt win in which it overcame a ninth-inning deficit on the road.
BEATING THE DRUM
Freshman second baseman
Luke Drumheller leads the Sun Belt in batting average (.416, No. 28 nationally) while also ranking second in doubles (10, No. 22 nationally) and third in RBIs (25, No. 72 nationally).
Drumheller broke a school and Sun Belt record on March 10 with a five-double game, which was voted the national Performance of the Week by the Golden Spikes Award. He became just the seventh Division I player to hit five doubles in a game and the first since Western Carolina's Aaron Attaway in 2012.
COMING ON STRONG
After being hobbled early in the season, center fielder
Alex Leshock is batting .310 (9-for-29) over the last nine games. He is 7-for-7 on steals and has scored 10 runs in the last 10 games.
EARNING THEIR KEEP
With a 4.04 ERA as a team, App State ranks third in the Sun Belt behind only Texas State (3.56) and Georgia Southern (3.99). The Mountaineers have two shutouts and 10 games with three or less runs allowed.
Nine of the 13 pitchers who have appeared in a game have an ERA below 4.00.
ASSESSING THE BULLPEN
App State moved forward without 2018 closer
Luke Watts, who had a team-leading 2.29 ERA in 30 appearances, but the Mountaineers brought back standout right-handers
Kaleb Bowman and
Andrew Papp.
Bowman improved to 3-0 by picking up the win in both victories at Louisiana, and he has a 1.99 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 22.2 innings over 11 appearances.
Bowman also has one save, and Papp leads the team with three. Also possessing 11 appearances, he has a 2.93 ERA with a whopping 23 strikeouts in 15.1 innings.
Bowman had five strikeouts over three innings in a victory at FAU and earned his first win of the season against Michigan State by striking out four batters over four scoreless innings.
Earlier this year, Papp struck out the side in a perfect inning at South Carolina and had two strikeouts while recording a save in a perfect ninth inning at FAU. He also picked up a save with a scoreless ninth inning against Michigan State.
Bowman had a 2-0 record last season and ranked second on the team (sixth among Sun Belt pitchers during the regular season) with 25 appearances. In his best 19 combined outings, he had an ERA of 0.88 with 36 strikeouts and just three earned runs allowed over 30.2 innings.
Papp ranked third on the 2018 team with a 3.29 ERA and had a 1-0 record with one save in 15 appearances.
FACING TOUGH COMPETITION
App State has played six games vs. four Power Five foes who are a combined 66-32: Tennessee (20-5), South Carolina (16-8), Miami (15-9) and Wake Forest (15-10). Appalachian won on the road against an FAU team that is 16-8 with four NCAA regional appearances in the last six seasons.
CATCHING ON QUICKLY
Riley Smith led Sun Belt catchers during the 2018 regular season with 23 thrown-out steal attempts, and he's tied for second with 10 this season.
Smith won the Rawlings NCJAA DII Gold Glove Catcher of the Year award in 2017 at Catawba Valley Community College and threw out a runner at Tennessee.
