Moving forward from a three-game sweep of UTA and a Tuesday win against Western Carolina, Appalachian State (20-22, 11-9) resumes its Sun Belt schedule at Arkansas State (23-22, 9-12) this weekend.
Friday's series-opening game has been moved up to start at 5 p.m. ET (4 CT) because of forecasts for inclement weather. Game 2 is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, and the series is scheduled to conclude Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
To watch the games on the
Red Wolves Digital Network, a 24-hour pass costs $4.95 and a one-month pass costs $8.95.
It's a matchup of team ERAs that rank No. 3 (App State, 4.46) and No. 5 (Arkansas State, 4.82) in the league. Three of the league's top five individual ERAs belong to App State in Game 2 starter
Tyler Tuthill (No. 3, 3.00), reliever
Kaleb Bowman (No. 4, 3.22) and Game 3 starter
Brandon Boone (No. 5, 3.33). Bowman's ERA is 10th nationally among pitchers with at least 20 appearances, and
Andrew Papp's (3.37) is 12th.
Arkansas State pitchers will face a lineup that includes Sun Belt batting leader
Luke Drumheller, whose .379 average is No. 3 nationally among D1 freshmen, and
Joel McDaniel (.375 average in league play).
Arkansas State a 5-4 lead in the relatively young series.
SIZING UP THE SUN BELT
Last weekend, App State secured its first three-game home sweep in league play since 2012 and moved into a tie for fifth place in the 12-team league with a program-best Sun Belt record of 11-9. In its first four years in the Sun Belt, Appalachian had two 9-21 records (2018, 2016) and two 8-22 records (2017, 2015).
The Sun Belt is currently ranked No. 9 among the nation's 31 Division I leagues, and App State is tied with Coastal Carolina for second in the East Division, just a half-game back of first-place Georgia Southern.
Since the midway point of last season, the Mountaineers' league record of 19-16 ranks fifth in the Sun Belt behind just Texas State (23-13), Coastal Carolina (22-13), Georgia Southern (22-14) and Troy (21-15).
App State went 8-7 over the last half of its league schedule in 2018, and the UTA sweep produced an 11-9 mark that has the Mountaineers above .500 in league play for the first time as a Sun Belt program. That includes an 8-3 mark vs. West Division teams UTA (3-0), ULM (2-0), Louisiana (2-1) and Troy (1-2).
Going back to the midway point of 2018, App State is also the only Sun Belt program to have won at least one game in each of its last 12 league series. Every other Sun Belt team has had a winless weekend.
TAKING THE MOUND
GAME 1: WILL SPRINKLE
Sprinkle, who ranked No. 2 on the team last season with a 2.96 ERA, allowed four earned runs or less in each of his first nine starts this year and pitched at least 6.0 innings in six of his first nine starts.
Perfect through five innings vs. Georgia Southern on April 5, Sprinkle allowed two runs in a career-high-tying seven innings vs. ULM on April 12, 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 in the preseason and only days removed from winning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week honors, Tuthill is tied for No. 1 in the league in wins (six), is No. 2 in opposing batting average (.197, behind just a .187 from ULM's Trey Jeans) and is No. 3 in ERA (3.00). He is tied for No. 4 nationally in wins for a D1 freshman.
NCAA freshman pitcher wins leaders
8: Hayes Heinecke (Wofford), JT Ginn (Mississippi State)
7: Tyler Thorton (Saint Mary's)
6: Tyler Tuthill (App State) and others
In throwing the only complete-game shutout by a Sun Belt pitcher this season, Tuthill faced only four batters over the minimum during a 6-0 win against UTA last weekend. He allowed four hits, struck out a career-high eight batters and issued no walks in his 94-pitch performance. The two hits he allowed in the first six innings occurred on a misplayed popup and a slow roller between the mound and first.
Tuthill pitched App State's first complete-game shutout since the program's first Sun Belt win in 2015. He is one of five D1 freshmen with a nine-inning shutout this year, and his four-hitter tied Central Arkansas' Noah Cameron and LIU Brooklyn's Nick Torres for the lowest hit total in that group.
Tuthill has allowed three earned runs or less in nine of his 11 starts and given up four hits or less in seven of his 11 starts.
GAME 3: BRANDON BOONE
App State is 4-1 in Game 3 conference starts from Boone, the midweek starter for all of 2018 and the first part of this year, and he has 101 strikeouts in 96.1 innings since joining the program before the 2018 season.
He has started four of App State's seven shutouts in the last two years.
Boone improved to 5-2 by allowing two runs on five hits in five innings last weekend against UTA, and he gave up no earned runs and struck out a career-high-tying seven batters in his first five innings of work at Troy.
BEATING THE DRUM
Freshman infielder
Luke Drumheller, who has hit safely in 32 of his last 35 games, leads the Sun Belt in average (.379, No. 54 nationally) while also ranking second in hits per game (1.45, No. 75 nationally) and fourth in doubles (14, No. 93 nationally). He leads the team with 33 RBIs.
Drumheller's .379 average ranks No. 3 nationally among Division I freshmen.
PITCHING IN
With three of the top five individual ERAs in the Sun Belt, App State's pitching staff is No. 3 in the league in team ERA (4.46), No. 2 in hits allowed per nine innings (8.55) and No. 2 in WHIP (1.39).
After Coastal Carolina's Matt Eardensohn (2.31) and Georgia Southern's Seth Shuman (2.70), the rest of the top five individual ERAs belong to
Tyler Tuthill in third (3.00),
Kaleb Bowman in fourth (3.22) and
Brandon Boone in fifth (3.33).
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's fingerprints are all over App State's wins this season, as he is 4-0 with four saves and a 3.22 ERA (No. 4 Sun Belt) in 22 appearances.
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, throwing the final two innings of a 9-7 win in that series finale and also pitching 2.1 innings in a sweep-ending win against UTA.
* Papp has a 3.37 ERA in 22 appearances with five saves, a 1-1 record and 38 strikeouts in 34.2 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 2.67 ERA this season.
Papp pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief in two appearances during the UTA series, including a four-out save in Game 2, and also earned a save Tuesday night.
The team's other relievers with double-digit appearances this season are
Jack Hartman (17 appearances, with 22 strikeouts in 18.1 IP),
Jason Cornatzer (15 appearances, with 24 strikeouts in 35.0 IP) and
Cam Roberts (11 appearances with 11 strikeouts in 14.1 IP).
CATCHING ON QUICKLY
Riley Smith led Sun Belt catchers during the 2018 regular season with 23 thrown-out steal attempts, and he's fourth with 13 this season.
Smith won the Rawlings NCJAA DII Gold Glove Catcher of the Year award in 2017.
TAKING A CLOSER PEEK AT LEEK
Outfielder
Tyler Leek, a newcomer from North Greenville University, homered in back-to-back wins against UTA and leads the team with 25 runs scored even though he's had only 84 official at-bats (11th on the team). He also homered in back-to-back games during the Georgia Southern series.
Not factoring in a fielder's choice or error, he has reached base via a hit (counting homers), walk or hit by pitch 34 times, so Leek is scoring at a very high rate.
MAKING SOLID CONTACT
Shortstop
Joel McDaniel has started 17 of the last 18 games, beginning with the last two games of the Texas State series in late March, and he's hit 21-for-58 (.362) with four homers and seven multi-hit games in those 18 appearances.
His .375 batting average in 13 league games ranks No. 8 in the Sun Belt.
KEEPING UP WITH KENDALL
Sophomore
Kendall McGowan is moving forward from a nine-RBI week in which he homered twice in four games, including a two-run shot that turned a deficit into an 8-7 lead in the seventh inning of a 9-7 win against UTA. He followed that productive week with a 2-for-5 game against Western Carolina and second on the team this season with 12 multi-hit games (all in his last 28 games).
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
