BOONE, N.C. — With inclement weather in Boone and a high wind warning in effect for the rest of Friday, Appalachian State's home baseball series against UTA is now scheduled to begin Saturday with a doubleheader starting at noon.
Game 2 of the series would begin Saturday after the conclusion of Game 1, and the series finale remains scheduled for Sunday at noon.
Entering this weekend, UTA (28-14, 14-4) had won nine straight games (seven of them in league play) prior to a 10-5 midweek loss at No. 6 Texas A&M. App State weekend starters
Brandon Boone (3.29 ERA) and
Tyler Tuthill (3.47 ERA) are fifth and eighth in the Sun Belt, respectively, in ERA.
The Mountaineers (16-22, 8-9) have had two 9-21 league records (2018, 2016) and two 8-22 league records (2017, 2015) since joining the Sun Belt, so they need one win against UTA to match the previous high for a season and two wins to surpass the previous high for a season.
The Mavericks have swept four Sun Belt foes (Georgia State, South Alabama, Arkansas State, Louisiana) and dropped two of three games against both Georgia Southern and Little Rock. They lead this series 8-4.
Last year, App State didn't trail during any of the 27 innings of a road sweep at UTA and posted its first three-game sweep in league play since the highly decorated 2012 team had a 3-0 weekend at Wofford.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
CLIMBING THE SUN BELT
Since mid-April of 2018, when
Will Sprinkle entered the weekend rotation, the Mountaineers are one of seven teams in the 12-team Sun Belt with a winning percentage of .500 or better in league play.
Appalachian State's 16-16 mark in those 11 series includes a 15-14 record over a calendar year counting the second half of the 2018 league schedule and first half of the 2019 league schedule. It went 8-7 to finish its 2018 league slate and started 7-7 in 2019 to reach .500 in the Sun Belt for the first time ever after March.
After going 1-2 last weekend at Troy, the Mountaineers are the only Sun Belt team to have won at least one game in each of its last 11 league series from mid-April in 2018 until now. Each of the 11 other Sun Belt teams has had a winless weekend in Sun Belt play during that time.
GAME 1: WILL SPRINKLE
Sprinkle, who ranked No. 2 on the team last season with a 2.96 ERA, made some minor tweaks and returned to form in two straight starts before enduring a difficult outing at Troy.
Perfect through five innings vs. Georgia Southern, Sprinkle allowed two runs in a career-high-tying seven innings vs. ULM, when he struck out five batters and allowed just four hits: a bunt single that preceded a homer that snuck inside the right-field pole, a check-swing bloop single over an infielder's head and an infield single between the mound and first base.
GAME 2: TYLER TUTHILL
Named the league's No. 2 impact freshman by D1Baseball, Tuthill is tied for No. 3 in the Sun Belt in victories (five). He is No. 8 in ERA (3.47) and No. 2 in opposing batting average (.208, behind just a .192 from ULM's Trey Jeans).
Tuthill, who had six strikeouts and one earned run allowed in 4.1 innings last weekend at Troy, is tied for No. 8 nationally in wins for a D1 freshman.
GAME 3: BRANDON BOONE
App State is 3-1 in Game 3 conference starts from Boone, the midweek starter for all of 2018 and the first part of this year. He gave up no earned runs and struck out a career-high-tying seven batters in his first five innings of work last weekend in a win at Troy.
Fifth in the Sun Belt in ERA (3.29), Boone has 96 strikeouts in 91.1 innings since joining the program before the 2018 season. Of App State's six shutouts in the last two seasons, he has started four of them.
BEATING THE DRUM
Freshman infielder
Luke Drumheller, who has hit safely in 29 of his last 32 games, leads the Sun Belt in average (.383, No. 49 nationally) while also ranking second in hits per game (1.50, No. 51 nationally) and second in doubles (14, No. 55 nationally). He leads the team with 33 RBIs.
Drumheller's .383 average ranks No. 2 nationally among D1 freshmen, behind just the .387 mark from UIC catcher Ryan Hampe, who has played only 27 games.
D1 freshman batting leaders
Ryan Hampe, UIC, .387
Luke Drumheller, App State, .383
Hudson Haskin, Tulane, .378
Tristin Garcia, Alcorn, .376
CALLING ON KALEB
Senior
Kaleb Bowman's fingerprints are all over App State's wins this season, as he is 4-0 with four saves and a 2.88 ERA (No. 2 Sun Belt) in 20 appearances. His ERA is No. 8 nationally among pitchers with at least 20 appearances.
NCAA ERA leaders (at least 20 games)
Adrian Mardueno, San Diego State, 1.62
Michael McGreevy, UCSB, 1.62
Fred Villarreal, Houston, 1.65
Michael Clark, Cal Poly, 1.71
Stevie Emanuels, Washington, 2.01
Chase Smith, Pittsburgh, 2.70
Vince Coletti, FAU, 2.79
Kaleb Bowman, App State, 2.88
Heading into last weekend, at the halfway point of the Sun Belt schedule, Bowman had a league-leading 1.46 ERA that ranked No. 2 nationally among pitchers with at least 17 appearances. He had a 0.48 ERA in eight Sun Belt appearances before pitching twice against Troy and throwing the final two innings of a 9-7 win in the series finale.
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.
Papp has a 3.73 ERA in 19 appearances with three saves, a 1-1 record and 35 strikeouts in 31.1 innings. Eliminating a rain-soaked eighth inning against ULM in which the two teams combined for 10 runs in difficult pitching conditions that led to a pair of lengthy delays, Papp has a 2.97 ERA this season.
The team's other relievers with double-digit appearances this season are
Jack Hartman (15 appearances, with 21 strikeouts in 16.1 IP),
Jason Cornatzer (13 appearances, with 19 strikeouts in 26.1 IP) and
Cam Roberts (11 appearances with 11 strikeouts in 14.1 IP).
TAKING A CLOSER PEEK AT LEEK
Outfielder
Tyler Leek, a newcomer from North Greenville University, homered against Georgia Southern in back-to-back games and leads the team with 21 runs scored even though he's had only 71 official at-bats (11th on the team).
Leek has posted 18 hits, drawn four walks and been hit by a pitch four times. Seven of his 18 hits have been extra-base hits, and that doesn't count two doubles in the first three innings of a series-ending ULM matchup that wasn't finished because of inclement weather.
KEEPING UP WITH KENDALL
In Sun Belt games, sophomore outfielder
Kendall McGowan has a .294 batting average, which has helped his season-long average rise to .283.
Because of lower-body injuries in 2018, McGowan (successfully) attempted just one steal last season. After stealing 22 bases over the summer while playing in the Coastal Plain League, he has nine steals already this season. He is No. 8 in the Sun Belt with five steals in league play.
