BOONE, N.C. – App State's baseball team closes out its 15-game road stretch this weekend with a three-game series at Charleston Southern. The Mountaineers have won four of their past five games, and they will begin the weekend series with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday at Nielsen Field. Saturday's game is slated to begin at 4 p.m., while Sunday's first pitch is set for 1 p.m.
App State fans can follow this weekend's contests at the attached live stats links. No video broadcast will be available for this weekend's series in Charleston, South Carolina.
Charleston Southern (7-7) opened its 2020 campaign with a four-game losing streak, but the Bucs have rebounded with five straight wins. CSU completed a four-game sweep of Delaware State before defeating Davidson 3-1 on Tuesday. The Bucs have allowed four runs or less in all seven victories this season, giving up an average of less than two runs per game in victories.
Senior Alex Andronica paces the Bucs with a .351 batting average, eight RBIs, 10 runs scored, two triples and 23 total bases. Kyle Sandstrom, a senior from Ferndale, Washington, leads CSU with nine stolen bases, which ranks first in the Big South Conference.
The Bucs finished 23-36 this past season, holding an 11-16 record against Big South opponents. CSU enters its first season under interim head coach George Schaefer, who served as Charleston Southern's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator since the fall of 2016.
CSU's projected weekend rotation will feature left-hander Jaret Bennett on Friday, right-hander Daniel Padysak on Saturday and right-hander Cam Weinberger on Sunday. All three pitchers have recorded a victory this season with Bennett pacing the trio with a 0.90 ERA and 20.0 innings pitched. Bennett also went all nine innings in a 2-1 win over Kansas on Feb. 22, allowing no earned runs and just three hits in the victory over the Jayhawks.
App State will make a change to its starting rotation this weekend, moving junior left-hander
Quinton Martinez to Saturday and sophomore
Cole Hooper into Sunday's starting spot. Sophomore left-hander
Tyler Tuthill will remain in the Friday spot and looks to record his second straight win on the mound.
App State's 2-0 win over Western Carolina on Wednesday marked its sixth straight victory over the Catamounts. The victory was also Appalachian's first shutout of its former conference rival since 1990.
Junior
Andrew Greckel kept his reached-base streak alive at WCU with a leadoff double in the sixth inning. The junior has reached base in all 10 games this season, recording an extra-base hit in five straight games. Sophomore
Luke Drumheller extended his RBI streak to six games with a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning.
The Mountaineers hold a 3-2 all-time record against Charleston Southern, winning the first three games in the series. App State's most recent victory came in 2003 when the Mountaineers slugged their way to a 16-13 win.
App State Baseball would like to thank AutoStar Nissan of Boone for serving as the presenting sponsor of the 2020 season.
