MONTGOMERY, Ala. — From App State to "The Alley" district of downtown, the baseball club from Boone has arrived at the home of the Biscuits.
Fresh off a home series win against the league's top-rated team, the Mountaineers are set to compete at the Sun Belt Championship in Montgomery after going 11-10 to post the sixth-best record in the 12-team conference.
As the East Division's No. 4 seed, App State (20-30 overall) is scheduled to open tournament play Tuesday night against West Division No. 6 seed Texas State (21-34, 9-15). The fourth game of the day at Riverwalk Stadium, home of the minor league Montgomery Biscuits, will likely begin around 10 p.m. ET.
Each tournament game will be available on ESPN+, with Matt Stewart and John Gregory calling the action.
All 12 Sun Belt teams qualified for the six-day tournament, with four "pool" groups of three teams apiece. Each team plays a minimum of two games (against the other two teams in its pool), and the four pool winners advance to Saturday's single-elimination semifinal round.
App State, Texas State and West Division No. 1 seed Louisiana (30-22, 13-11) make up Pool "C." The Mountaineers will have an off day Wednesday, when Texas State faces Louisiana, and the Ragin' Cajuns will play App State on Thursday night.
Because the highest seed in a pool would win the tiebreaker if all three teams go 1-1, App State or Texas State must go 2-0 to reach the semifinal round instead of Louisiana.
The Mountaineers will open play Tuesday with
Quinton Martinez, their Saturday starter for most of the season, taking the mound. Texas State will counter with right-handed senior Zachary Leigh (4-7, 5.40 ERA in 80 innings this year).
Leigh started Thursday to open the final regular-season series and threw 81 pitches in 2.2 innings against Coastal Carolina. Martinez's last appearance was a rain-interrupted start at Miami on May 9.
The Mountaineers went 0-11 against RPI top-50 teams during the regular season but had a winning record with a 20-19 mark against teams outside the top 50. With 16 of its 22 games against teams in the top 80 of the RPI being played away from home, App State went 17-11 against teams outside the top 80.
App State's win Friday to clinch a series win against South Alabama capped an impressive six-game stretch in which the Mountaineers took two of three games at Little Rock, lost 2-0 at No. 21 South Carolina and claimed the first two games against the Jags. App State allowed a combined 13 runs in those six games and had three wins in which it took the lead in the seventh or eighth innings.
Earlier this month, Texas State won the first two games against South Alabama in a series that didn't count in the league standings. After the Jags took Game 3, the Bobcats ended the season by being swept in a home series with Georgia State and a road series with Coastal.
App State qualified for the Sun Belt Championship for the first time in 2019, with its last postseason appearance before that coming in 2014 — its final year in the Southern Conference. Two years ago,
Jason Cornatzer started the postseason debut as a Sun Belt program, and App State tied the game in the fifth inning before losing 6-2 in a May 21 play-in matchup against Louisiana in Conway, S.C.
App State didn't play Louisiana or Texas State in the regular season and last met Texas State on March 31, 2019.
POSITION PLAYER NOTES
• Robbie Young (first baseman, first-team All-Sun Belt)
— Led Sun Belt first basemen in overall batting (.299), batting in league play (.338, good for 12th in the Sun Belt) and RBIs in league play (20, good for sixth in the Sun Belt).
— Didn't commit an error in league play while ranking among the Sun Belt leaders with 186 chances.
— Home runs against Arkansas State and at Georgia Southern helped propel App State to key conference wins.
• Luke Drumheller (second baseman, first-team All-Sun Belt)
— Preseason All-Sun Belt pick at second base in 2021 and 2020 (when no end-of-season honors were awarded), led Sun Belt second basemen with 36 RBIs while also ranking in the top two at the position in batting average (.285) and slugging (.425) during the regular season.
— Five homers led full-time second basemen during regular season.
— In league play, Drumheller batted .289 with three homers, 17 RBIs and a .470 slugging percentage.
— In 118 career games, has 145 hits (.311 average), 91 RBIs and 44 extra-base hits. His 31 doubles include an NCAA-record-tying five vs. Furman in 2019.
— Freshman All-American in 2019.
• Bailey Welch (shortstop)
— In Sun Belt play, ranked No. 2 in batting average (.368, after entering the final weekend at a league-leading .414), No. 1 in on-base percentage (.476) and No. 9 in slugging percentage (.544, after entering the final weekend No. 3 at .621).
— Has produced a D1Baseball.com Defensive Play of the Week this season with a quick-reflex play on a ricochet to initiate a 6-3 double play at Lipscomb. Also made a barehanded catch and throw to first following a high chopper to short from South Alabama's Ethan Wilson to create a highlight-reel out.
— Fielding percentage of .989 in league play ranked No. 1 in the league among Sun Belt shortstops, all while he led Sun Belt players with 61 assists in league play.
— Four of his seven career homers have come this season.
— Has started in 161 of his 164 career games.
• Andrew Terrell (third base)
— One of 17 players nationally on the watch list for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, he has made multiple starts/appearances in seven different spots: 3B (six starts), RF (five starts), starting pitcher (two starts with one win), closer (two saves), DH (16 starts), LF (four starts) and CF (three starts).
— College Baseball Foundation named him the John Olerud Award Two-Way Player of the Week in March, after he picked up a win in his first career mound start, and he earned the first two saves of his career on back-to-back Sundays in April.
— Along with no errors this season, overall has a .369 on-base percentage plus an average of 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
— Hit first career homer at Troy.
• Hayden Cross (catcher)
— Led Sun Belt catchers with a .451 on-base percentage in league play, where he batted .300 in 15 games (13 starts).
— Has thrown out 10 steal attempts this season.
— Hit first career homer in the regular-season finale.
• Kendall McGowan (left fielder)
— App State's active leader with 19 career homers, including eight as a sophomore and six more this season.
— Has started in 150 of 162 career games and has 12 career OF assists.
— Batting .270 overall, including .275 in league play during the regular season.
— Has fared well against tough competition, going 5-for-9 with five RBIs in back-to-back road games against Wake Forest and NC State.
• Alex Leshock (center fielder)
— Batting .273 this season with a team-best on-base percentage of .407.
— Has made several highlight-reel catches, including a leaping one against the wall in the ninth inning of a 4-2 win against Georgia State.
— Made a leaping catch as he ran back toward the wall to rob South Alabama's Ethan Wilson of a hit in the regular-season finale and also had a diving, two-out catch in the gap with the bases loaded at Troy.
• Phillip Cole (right fielder)
— Batted .750 (6-for-8) with five extra-bases hits as App State took the first two games of its series vs. East Division champ South Alabama.
— Also struck out the side as he pitched a perfect inning against the Jaguars in the regular-season finale.
— Fourth on the team with 21 RBIs this season.
• Tyler Leek (designated hitter)
— Made his injury-delayed season debut on April 27 and is batting .265.
— Impactful start doesn't include an apparent three-run homer that was ruled foul in the first inning of a recent midweek loss to ETSU.
— Hit five homers and batted .333 in Sun Belt play in the 2019 season.
PITCHER NOTES
• Quinton Martinez
— Had made 15 straight weekend starts (primarily as the Game 2 starter, with a Game 3 start at Miami) leading up to the last two weekends.
— Pitched one inning during Sunday start at Miami before inclement weather to start bottom of the second inning created a 2-plus-hour delay.
— Allowed just an unearned run through five innings against ULM in his last full start and officially gave up three runs (two earned) with four Ks in 6.1 innings.
• Tyler Tuthill (starting pitcher, second-team All-Sun Belt)
— In last four starts, totaled 28.2 innings, 30 strikeouts and just three earned runs allowed as App State went 3-1 (wins vs. ULM, Little Rock and South Alabama, with a loss at Miami).
— Allowed two earned runs or less in seven of his last nine starts and in nine of his 13 total starts this season.
— Overall ERA of 2.87 ranked third among Sun Belt starters during the regular season and finished No. 2 with a 1.59 ERA in league play.
— Ranked first in the Sun Belt and 10th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings with 5.07 — the number went down to 4.8 in league play.
— No. 2 in the Sun Belt in opposing batting average, both overall (.168) and in league play (.160).
— With 31 career starts in hand (including 12 as the Game 2 weekend starter to begin his freshman season), has pitched at least 5.0 innings in 24 of the starts, including all 13 this season.
• Jason Cornatzer
— Made two straight Game 2 weekend starts to close the regular season, setting a career high for innings each time, with his last start before that coming in a 2019 Sun Belt Championship opener.
— In a 4-2 win against South Alabama, pitched a career-high 5.1 innings and allowed single runs in each of the first two innings. A second-inning sac fly started a stretch in which he retired 12 of 14 batters, with two walks serving as the only baserunners.
— In a 4-2 loss at Little Rock, allowed three earned runs in 5.0 innings.
• Eli Ellington
— In 10 league games during the regular season, had eight scoreless outings, two wins, three saves and 20 strikeouts in 20.1 innings.
— Picked up the Game 2 win vs. South Alabama by recording 11 outs despite facing only 10 batters, five of whom were retired on strikeouts. Entering a bases-loaded, one-out jam with the score tied in the sixth inning, a failed squeeze play and strikeout to escape the jam preceded 1-2-3 efforts in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
— Earned saves in wins against North Carolina A&T, at Georgia Southern (3.0 scoreless innings), Georgia State and Little Rock (one hit allowed in 3.0 scoreless innings).
• Andrew Papp
— Recorded the eighth save of his career (tied for ninth in program history) by retiring all three batters he faced in a 6-4 win against South Alabama last Thursday.
— Has pitched one inning apiece in his last four outings and not allowed an earned run.
— In 70 career games, is 3-1 with a 3.92 ERA.
— Led team with six saves in 2019 and had a 2.53 ERA in the shortened 2020 season.
• Shane Roberts
— Picked up his first career win in the South Alabama opener.
— Retired all five batters he faced, striking out two, in a May 18 loss at South Carolina.
— Before the South Alabama appearance, had allowed one hit and no runs over 4.2 innings in four games.
— South Carolina transfer opened 2020 as the Game 2 weekend starter.
• Cy Smith
— Had a key strikeout to end the top of the eighth inning in the series-opening win against South Alabama last Thursday.
— Before that appearance, had three straight scoreless outings against South Carolina (two Ks in 1.0 inning), Little Rock (2.0 innings) and ETSU (1.0 inning).
— In the third game of 2021, took the mound for App State's first save opportunity of the season.
— Posted a 2.19 ERA (second best on the team) with 14 strikeouts in 12.1 innings pitched last year and has 13 strikeouts in 12.0 innings this year.
