BOONE, N.C. — App State will face its first of four Power Five opponents this weekend with a three-game series at Kentucky. First pitch for Friday's contest is set for 4 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday's games are both scheduled for 1 p.m. at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky.
All three games will stream live on SECN+. Anybody who has an ESPN+ subscription also has access to stream games on SECN+. All direct links to this weekend's games are also posted on the 2020 baseball schedule.
Kentucky (1-3) opened its 2020 campaign with three-straight losses at Texas Christian. The Wildcats rebounded on Tuesday with a victory at Kentucky Proud Park over Southeast Missouri State, scoring the final five runs of the game to secure a 9-4 triumph.
Head coach Nick Mingione enters his fourth season in charge of the Wildcats. UK finished its 2019 season with a 26-29 record, struggling against conference opponents. The Wildcats finished 7-23 against SEC foes this past season, but they did knock off national runner-up Michigan 7-4 on May 14.
App State (1-2) played in its own midweek matchup on Tuesday at North Carolina A&T. Appalachian's game in Greensboro, North Carolina, was suspended and will be completed before App State's home game against the Aggies on March 17. The Mountaineers hold a 6-2 advantage with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning.
The Mountaineers seek their first win over an SEC opponent since 2012, which is when App State took two of three games from No. 7 LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Here are the probable starting pitching matchups for this weekend:
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2020 season.
SETTING THE STAGE
App State continues its 15-game road stretch to open the season with a weekend series at Kentucky starting on Friday. Kentucky earned its first win of the season Tuesday with a 9-4 victory at home over Southeast Missouri State. Friday's game will be Kentucky's first matchup against a Sun Belt foe since March 4, 2018, when UK defeated Louisiana 10-4 after taking the lead for good in a four-run sixth inning.
App State competed in its own midweek tilt against North Carolina A&T on Tuesday, but the game was suspended and will be completed before Appalachian's regularly scheduled contest against the Aggies on March 17 in Boone. App State will hold a 6-2 lead in the top of the ninth inning with the bases loaded. Sophomore Cole Hooper delivered six innings on the mound in his first-career start, allowing just one earned run. Junior Andrew Greckel belted his second home run in the uncompleted contest.
Appalachian's most previous victory, a 10-1 win at Gardner-Webb, marked win No. 1,200 in program history.
The Wildcats lead the all-time series between the two schools 2-1, splitting a pair of matchups in 2001 and retaking the series lead in 2005 with a 6-1 win in Charleston, South Carolina. App State's 6-4 win over the Wildcats on Feb. 18, 2001, was played in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Kentucky finished its previous campaign in 2000 at 38-20-1 with a fourth-place finish in the SEC East.
Kentucky is one of four Power Five opponents the Mountaineers will square off against this season. App State will play two games against Wake Forest, one against South Carolina and one against North Carolina. The Mountaineers' home contest against the Tar Heels will mark the first time in program history that UNC will make the trip up the mountain. It will be the first Power Five opponent the Mountaineers have hosted in Boone other than Wake Forest since Duke in 2012, which is the season when App State last made an NCAA postseason appearance. The Mountaineers defeated Michigan State 9-6 for head coach Kermit Smith's first win over a Power Five opponent this past season.
BUILDING OFF OF 2019
App State looks to build off a 2019 campaign where the Mountaineers finished with a program-best 13 Sun Belt victories, earning a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time. In 2019, App State led the Sun Belt in the percentage of at-bats (66%) and innings pitched (57%) by freshmen or sophomores.
The Mountaineers earned two players on the 2020 Preseason All-Sun Belt Team for the first time. Sophomore Luke Drumheller and senior Andrew Papp received the honors after standout performances in 2019.
GETTING OFF TO A HOT START
Many Mountaineers made their App State debuts in the season-opening series at Gardner-Webb. Starting pitchers Shane Roberts and Quinton Martinez both went six innings and allowed just one run apiece in their debuts. Relievers Noah Hall, Cy Smith and Matthew Helms also delivered strong outings, combining for 10 strikeouts in 4.2 innings pitched. Junior transfers and former Chattahoochee Valley CC teammates Jack Lipson and Andrew Greckel put together stellar weekends at the plate, amassing six hits, two doubles, a home run and five runs scored between the two of them.
PROJECTING THE WEEKEND
Tyler Tuthill, who finished 2019 as App State's Game 1 starter, is projected to continue his Game 1 role on the mound in 2020. The left-handed sophomore recorded 60 strikeouts in a team-high 74.1 innings as a freshman. Tuthill tossed a complete-game shutout against first-place UTA on April 27, allowing just four hits and striking out a career-high eight batters.
Tuthill struggled in his first appearance of 2020, allowing six hits and four walks in just 3.2 inning pitched. The southpaw pitched well against SEC competition in 2019, giving up just one run and striking out five batters in four innings on the mound in a 2-0 defeat at Tennessee.
Shane Roberts, a right-handed sophomore from Jupiter, Fla., is the projected Game 2 starter in Boiling Springs. Roberts pitched at Palm Beach State in 2019 after spending a season at South Carolina in 2018.
Roberts excelled in his App State debut, allowing just four total base runners in six innings pitched. The sophomore rebounded after giving up a leadoff home run, recording three innings where he faced the minimum.
Quinton Martinez, a left-hander from Orlando, Fla., will round out the projected weekend rotation. Martinez played at St. Petersburg College in 2019, finishing with a 3-1 record, a 4.20 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 40.2 innings pitched.
Martinez became App State's first pitcher to notch a victory in 2020, striking out seven Runnin' Bulldogs while limiting Gardner-Webb to just four base hits. The lefty also recorded key outs via the double play, where second baseman Luke Drumheller and shortstop Bailey Welch helped turn a pair of 4-6-3 double plays.
ASSESSING THE BULLPEN
App State moves forward without 2019 Sun Belt ERA champion Kaleb Bowman, who finished the 2019 season with a 3.05 ERA in 62.0 innings pitched. The Mountaineers, however, bring back seniors Papp and Jack Hartman to anchor the App State bullpen.
Papp, a 2020 Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference Team honoree, led the Mountaineers with six saves and finished second on the team with a 3.38 ERA as a junior. The reliever has posted an ERA under 3.40 in both of his seasons at App State, striking out 45 batters and allowing just 14 walks in 42.2 innings pitched in 2019. Opposing batters hit just .226 against the right-hander, which also ranked second among App State pitchers in 2019.
Hartman finished the 2019 season with a 4.98 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 21.2 innings pitched. The Peachtree City, Georgia native posted four strikeouts in a pair of two-inning outings in conference play against Georgia State and Troy this past season. The right-hander's 20 appearances ranked third on the team in 2019.
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
App State returns three hitters who batted over .300 in 2019. Drumheller (.337), Tyler Leek (.323) and Kendall McGowan (.305) led the Mountaineers in the batter's box with each student-athlete scoring at least 28 runs.
Drumheller led the team in five categories – batting average (.337), RBIs (37), hits (67), doubles (15) and on-base percentage (.401). McGowan and Leek tied for a team-high four triples, and McGowan tied with senior Luke Allison with a team-best 11 stolen bases.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
App State's fielding percentage dipped from .969 in 2018 to .963 in 2019. Even with the drop, the percentage ranks No. 10 in program history. Smith's teams have finished inside the top 10 in fielding percentage in each of his three seasons. Outfielders Alex Leshock and McGowan both made just one error apiece this past season.
BRINGING THE HEAT
App State pitchers combined for 406 strikeouts in 2019, which ranked eighth in school history. The Mountaineers have posted totals of 411, 430 and 406 during Smith's tenure as App State's head coach, all of which rank inside the top 10 in school history. Four Mountaineers — 2019 senior Brandon Boone, Tuthill, Bowman, and Papp each recorded 45 strikeouts or more this past season. Boone led the team with 67, while Tuthill followed closely behind at 60.
HAVING THE CAROLINAS ON THEIR MIND
The Mountaineers play 23 total games against 11 different teams located in either North or South Carolina this season. App State's season-opening trip to Gardner-Webb marked the first three of seven games against teams in the Carolinas in the opening month.
PREVIEWING THE SUN BELT
In 2019, the conference slate was highlighted by a weekend sweep over UTA and wins against Texas State, Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern. The Sun Belt finished as the 10th-best league out of all 31 Division I conferences in 2019, according to warrennolan.com.
D1 Baseball recognized three Mountaineers in its 2020 Sun Belt Conference Preview, including freshman Noah Hall. Hall, a freshman from Charlotte, North Carolina, was named the No. 4 impact freshman in the conference. The right-handed pitcher finished his senior season with a 9-1 record, 103 strikeouts and a 1.66 ERA.
D1Baseball also named McGowan as the Sun Belt's No. 19 prospect for the 2020 draft and Tuthill as the league's No. 10 prospect for the 2021 draft.
GETTING THEIR FEET WET
Of the 35 players listed on App State's roster, 25 of them are entering either their first or second years with the program.
App State welcomes 10 newcomers this season, comprising six freshmen and four transfers. Two of the transfers, Roberts and Martinez, will begin the season in App State's weekend starting rotation. Andrew Greckel, a transfer from Chattahoochee Valley Community College, will serve a key utility role for the Mountaineers.
PLAYING IN THE BIG LEAGUES
App State has five alums who played within a MLB organization this past season, highlighed by Jaylin Davis' call up to the Major Leagues in September. Davis, an outfielder for the San Francisco Giants, went 1-for-3 in his Major League debut on Sept. 4. The outfielder then slugged his first MLB home run in style, crushing a walk-off home run to lift the Giants to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rockies. Davis was named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year in 2013 for the Mountaineers.
Jeffrey Springs, a former relief pitcher for the Texas Rangers, was traded to the Boston Red Sox in January. Springs pitched a combined 64.1 innings from 2018-19 at the Major League level. He finished with a 3.38 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 2018.
GRADING OUT WELL
In the fall semester, App State baseball finished with a 3.07 GPA, including 24 players surpassing a 3.0. The Mountaineers have posted a team GPA of better than 3.0 in three of the past five semesters. Sixteen players made the academic honor roll, which required student-athletes to maintain a 3.25 GPA or higher during the fall semester.
LOOKING BACK AT SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2019
• The Mountaineers set a Smith Stadium record with 24 runs scored in a 24-3 win over Gardner-Webb on March 2. App State tallied the first 11 runs of the game in the second game of the doubleheader.
• On March 5, App State defeated Florida Atlantic 6-3 on the road. The Owls finished the 2019 season 41-21 with NCAA Regionals appearance. FAU concluded the season ranked No. 37 in the NCAA RPI.
• In the first game of a doubleheader on March 10, Drumheller tied a NCAA record with five doubles in a 14-0 victory at Furman. The Mountaineers followed their win over the Paladins with a 9-6 win over Michigan State in Greenville, South Carolina.
• With a pair of 6-5 wins, App State secured its first road series victory at Louisiana from March 22-24. The Mountaineers notched a series win at home over the Ragin' Cajuns in their inaugural Sun Belt season in 2015. The triumph over the Spartans was Smith's first over a Power Five opponent.
• On April 27 and 28, App State completed a weekend sweep of first-place UTA at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. The Mountaineers scored at least six runs in all three wins.
• In App State's final weekend series, the Mountaineers exploded for 18 runs to knock off Coastal Carolina 18-6 on the road. The triumph clinched Appalachian's first-ever Sun Belt Conference Championship berth.
