CONWAY, S.C. — A business trip to the beach continues with postseason baseball.
In its fifth season in the league, Appalachian State has qualified for the Sun Belt Championship tournament for the first time thanks to a program-record 13 wins in Sun Belt play. This week's tournament is being held at Coastal Carolina's Springs Brooks Stadium, where App State recently completed the regular season with a three-game series against the Chanticleers.
The ninth-seeded Mountaineers (22-30 overall, 13-16 Sun Belt) will face eighth-seeded Louisiana (27-29, 15-15) on Tuesday at approximately 6:30 p.m. in the single-elimination portion of the 10-team event, with the winner advancing to an eight-team, double-elimination format that runs from Wednesday through Sunday.
Tuesday's game can be
seen on ESPN+, and tournament tickets are available by
clicking here.
If No. 7 seed South Alabama beats No. 10 seed ULM in Tuesday opener's at 3 p.m., the App State-UL winner face No. 1 seed Texas State on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. because the regular-season champ plays the lowest remaining seed. If ULM wins Tuesday's opener, the App State-UL winner faces No. 2 seed Georgia Southern at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2019 season.
RECAPPING THE SEASON SERIES WITH LOUISIANA
App State went 2-1 at Louisiana from March 22-24 and trailed entering the eighth inning during 6-5 wins in Game 1 and Game 3. App State tied Game 1 in the eighth inning and broke the ninth-inning tie on
Bailey Welch's RBI fielder's choice before closing the series with
Luke Drumheller's go-ahead, two-run single in the ninth inning of Game 3.
Kaleb Bowman earned the win in both App State victories.
RETURNING TO POSTSEASON PLAY
App State is making its first postseason appearance since 2014, its last year in the Southern Conference.
That year, in Charleston, S.C., the Mountaineers won 3-2 against Georgia Southern on May 21 thanks to Michael Pierson's 11th-inning homer before losing 3-1 against Furman and 2-1 against Georgia Southern.
TAKING THE MOUND
Jason Cornatzer, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, began his college career with 23 straight relief appearances before making the first of his three career starts on April 30. He has a 3.46 ERA in 13 innings as a starter.
Cornatzer needed only 44 pitches to retire the first 14 batters as he took a perfect game into the fifth inning of a 6-3 win vs. Western Carolina in his first start. He started Game 3 of the South Alabama series on May 12 and nearly ended the top of the fifth with a 2-0 lead, but a potential third out on a sliding catch attempt popped out of the outfielder's glove, and the Jaguars hit a three-run homer on the next pitch.
Cornatzer started Sunday's regular-season finale in Springs Brooks Stadium and threw 37 pitches before exiting with a 2-1 lead vs. Coastal Carolina. He allowed one run on three hits in three innings.
Louisiana's probable starting pitcher is Brandon Young.
LOOKING AT THE BIGGER PICTURE
With
Kaleb Bowman finishing the regular season as the only (qualifying) Sun Belt pitcher with an ERA lower than 3.00,
Luke Drumheller ranking No. 2 among Sun Belt freshmen with a .337 average and
Kendall McGowan hitting seven homers over 11 games leading up to the weekend series with Coastal Carolina, App State posted double-digit Sun Belt victories for the first time.
In its first four years in the Sun Belt, Appalachian had two 9-21 records (2018, 2016) and two 8-22 records (2017, 2015), but it was 11-9 this year following a three-game sweep of then-first-place UTA from April 26-28.
App State set a program record for runs in a Sun Belt game with its 18-6 win Friday at Coastal Carolina in Springs Brooks Stadium.
Joel McDaniel had a first-inning grand slam and a solo homer during a 3-for-3 night in which he had five RBIs, scored five runs and drew three walks. App State led 6-5 when Bowman got an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the third, and he followed that with four scoreless innings to earn the win.
Phillip Cole added a three-run homer to push the lead to 11-5, and
Riley Smith also homered.
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.
With a 2.98 ERA, Bowman finished first in the Sun Belt ERA standings during the regular season (qualifying pitchers had at least one inning for every team game). He ranked No. 4 with a .230 opposing batting average.
He improved to 6-1 this season and 8-1 in his App State career with no runs allowed in a career-high 4.2 innings Friday against Coastal Carolina. He also has four saves this season while leading full-time Sun Belt relievers with 57.1 innings (Georgia Southern's Cole Whitney is No. 2 with 51.0 innings). Bowman's 26 regular-season appearances led pitchers who qualified for the ERA title.
In addition to the Friday win at Coastal Carolina, Bowman had both App State wins during the team's 2-1 weekend at Louisiana and had both saves in a 2-0 weekend vs. ULM. He also has a league win against Arkansas State as well as a Sun Belt save vs. league-leading Texas State.
Papp has a 3.35 ERA in 26 appearances this year with six saves, a 1-1 record and 44 strikeouts in 40.1 innings. Eliminating a rain-soaked eighth inning vs. 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 2.75 ERA this season.
Papp earned a save with two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth inning to open the regular-season series at Louisiana. He had a save in the Arkansas State finale and pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief in two appearances during the UTA series, including a four-out save in Game 2.
BEATING THE DRUM
Luke Drumheller, who led the Sun Belt in hitting and ranked in the top five nationally among D1 freshmen for most of the year, already has accepted an invitation to play in the prestigious Cape Cod League this summer with the Wareham (Mass.) Gatemen.
Batting .337 on the year, he ranked among the top Sun Belt second basemen in RBIs (36, second), slugging (.454, second) and doubles (15, tied for second).
Drumheller tied an NCAA record while breaking school/league records 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 D1 player to hit five doubles in a game and the first since Western Carolina's Aaron Attaway in 2012.
KEEPING UP WITH KENDALL
With a combination of power and productivity,
Kendall McGowan entered the weekend series at Coastal Carolina with seven home runs in a span of 11 games, including an inside-the-park homer last week in which he circled the bases in 16.23 seconds, according to the @AppStSportsData account on Twitter.
McGowan also has a .361 average (22-for-61) and 17 RBIs over the last 14 games. He's second on App State's team with 16 multi-hit games (all in his last 38 games).
McGowan is batting .304 for the year with eight homers and a league-leading four triples, and he hit .323 in league play with a .596 slugging percentage that ranked 10th in the conference and seven steals that ranked ninth.
TAKING A CLOSER PEEK AT LEEK
In his first year playing at App State following a transfer from Division II North Greenville,
Tyler Leek is hitting .325 with 32 runs scored (team leader) and five home runs (all in Sun Belt play) among his 13 extra-base hits in just 123 at-bats (ninth on the team).
The 32 runs are a high number considering he has reached base via a hit, walk or hit by pitch 54 times.
MAKING SOLID CONTACT
Joel McDaniel finished the regular season by leading Sun Belt shortstops in slugging percentage (.567) and tying for first with nine home runs. On Friday, he hit a first-inning grand slam and added a solo homer as part of a 3-for-3 night with five RBIs, five runs scored and three walks.
He leads the team this year with a 112-mph exit velocity recorded during the Georgia Southern series, according to the @AppStSportsData account.
McDaniel had a go-ahead, two-run single at UNC Asheville before homering in both wins vs. ULM. His solo homer in Game 1 of that series helped App State overcome a 2-0 deficit in a 3-2 win, and he broke a 3-3 tie during a 10-8 win in Game 2 with a two-run shot that went 411 feet with an exit velocity of 105 mph.
McDaniel returned to App State's starting lineup during the Texas State series in late March and had only one swing and miss in a 4-for-7 effort during that weekend. He averaged a 102 mph exit velocity on the balls he put in play with measurements of 109, 108, 105, 103, 100 (homer), 96 (double) and 91 mph.
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 15 this season. His total of 38 over the last two seasons leads Sun Belt catchers.
Smith won the Rawlings NCJAA DII Gold Glove Catcher of the Year award in 2017.
