BOONE, N.C. — Off to a 3-1 start, App State opens its home schedule Saturday with a scheduled doubleheader against North Carolina A&T (1-3).
First pitch of the series opener is scheduled for noon on Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. Game 2 would follow the conclusion of Game 1, and Game 3 is scheduled for Sunday in Greensboro at 2 p.m.
Based on social distancing in the stands at Smith Stadium, only family members of student-athletes and staff will be admitted on Saturday, up to a maximum of 120. There will not be tickets available for the general public on Saturday.
Updated venue capacity and ticket information for games after this weekend will be coming soon.
Fans can follow the action from Saturday's doubleheader live by listening to the game broadcasts from student-run WASU. Those can be heard on 90.5 FM in Boone, via WASU's "Listen Live" link by clicking HERE or by downloading the station's mobile app, which is available on Google Play and the App Store.
Live stats from Saturday's home games should also be available by clicking HERE. There will not be video streams of this weekend's games.
App State is actually scheduled to face North Carolina A&T four times in the span of four days, ending with a return trip to Boone on Tuesday. The original schedule called for one Friday game in Greensboro and one Saturday game in Boone but changed due to weather projections for the weekend.
App State is 14-7 since the start of the 2020 season, and it has outscored its opponents 10-2 in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings combined so far this season. In a 5-4 win at ETSU on Tuesday, the Mountaineers scored once in the seventh inning, once in the eighth and twice in the top of the ninth to erase a 4-1 deficit.
Tuesday's win was undeniably a team effort, as 21 different Mountaineers played against the Bucs.
App State will have the same projected weekend pitching rotation it employed in taking two of three games from Winthrop to open the season: left-handers Tyler Tuthill in Game 1, Quinton Martinez in Game 2 and Cole Hooper in Game 3. North Carolina A&T is expected to counter with senior RHP Michael Johnson in Game 1, junior LHP Ethan Chavis in Game 2 and senior RHP Cole Parks in Game 3.
In the doubleheader sweep of Winthrop, four App State pitchers allowed one run on a combined eight hits (all singles) over 18 innings, and Martinez is the reigning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week thanks to his work in a 4-0 shutout. In a career-high seven innings, he didn't allow a run while facing just 22 batters — one over the minimum total for that number of innings.
Noah Hall already has two wins in relief this season and is 4-0 in his young career with a 1.40 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 25.2 innings.
Offensively, Phillip Cole has a team-leading seven hits in 15 at-bats, a team-leading four RBIs and a .556 on-base percentage through four games. Alex Leshock (.364 average, .563 on-base percentage) and Bailey Welch (.308 average) are also hitting above .300.
Defensively, with some fine plays by Welch at shortstop, the Mountaineers have allowed no unearned runs this season. They've scored five unearned runs as a team.
