BOONE, N.C. - App State opens the 2022 campaign on Friday with a three-game road series at Campbell in Buies Creek, N.C.
As App State prepares to face the Fighting Camels, who advanced to the Starkville Regional final last season, we're previewing the Mountaineers' pitchers and position players in a two-part series.
Today is Part II of the two-part series, position players.
AROUND THE HORN:
Only four of the defensive starting nine from the final Sun Belt Tournament pool-play game against Louisiana last season returned to App State. Of the starters that game, the Mountaineers welcomed back Hayden Cross, Andrew Terrell, Phillip Cole and 2022 Preseason All-Sun Belt honoree Luke Drumheller.
Drumheller was named First-Team All-Sun Belt last season at second base. He batted a team-high .289 in 52 games, all starts, while leading the team with 39 RBIs and 58 hits. He also had 30 runs, five homers, 10 doubles, one triple, a .423 slugging percentage and a .354 on-base percentage.
Drumheller batted .289 in league play with three homers, 17 RBIs and six doubles in just 21 games. He drove in all three of App State runs in the two Sun Belt tournament games, hitting a sixth-inning RBI single in the 1-0 win against Texas State and a two-run single that pulled the Mountaineers within 3-2 in the fifth inning against Louisiana.
Terrell played in 46 games and made 39 starts with multiple starts and appearances at seven different positions: 3B (11 starts), RF (five starts), starting pitcher (two starts with one win), closer (two saves), DH (16 starts), LF (four starts) and CF (three starts).
Terrell was one of 17 players nationally on last year's watch list for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award. He did not commit a single error last season despite playing so many positions. Terrell had a .353 on-base percentage to accompany a .225 batting average, had his first career homer, 15 RBIs, five doubles, 24 runs, 31 hits, 19 walks and nine stolen bases in 2021.
Behind the plate, Cross played in 41 games and started 33 as App State's top catcher. Despite dealing with a mid-season injury, Cross started in 13 of his 15 appearances in league play during the regular season.
Cross held an on-base percentage of .364 while batting .236 with his first career homer against South Alabama.
He led Sun Belt catchers with a .451 on-base percentage in league play, where he batted .300. Cross threw out 10 steal attempts and his RBI double in the eighth inning of a series-clinching win against South Alabama broke a 2-2 in the 4-2 victory.
Andrew Greckel missed most of the final two months of the season with an injury. He appeared in 22 games, making 18 starts (15 starts at third base, three at DH).
Greckel connected on a homer, had five RBIs, four doubles, 12 total hits, five runs and a .197 average in 2021. Entering the 2022 campaign, Greckel was named as the No. 25 Sun Belt prospect for the 2022 Draft, according to D1Baseball, and projects to be another steady outfield option for App State.
Cole played in 47 games, making 40 starts, and had two scoreless appearances on the mound last year. He was the primary starter in right field, had 21 RBIs with two homers, a team-high 11 doubles, one triple, 30 total hits, 15 runs scored and a batting average of .204.
As App State took the first two games against league champion South Alabama, Cole went 6-for-8 with four doubles and two RBIs, including a 4-for-4 game with two RBIs in the Game 2 victory.
Dalton Williams appeared in 29 games and made 15 starts (nine in right field, six at DH) in 2021. He recorded two homers, nine RBIs, one double, 10 total hits and four runs scored. Williams homered last season in conference games against Georgia State and ULM and saved a potential home run with a leaping catch against the wall at Miami.
JOINING THE MIX:
Freshman RJ Johnson was named at the No. 5 Sun Belt prospect for the class of 2024 and projects to be a pivotal Mountaineer piece in the outfield. Johnson boasted a .512 batting average for the Kerr-Vance Academy Spartan's out of Henderson, North Carolina. He tallied 17 RBIs, belted four home runs and scored 29 runs in 2021.
On the base paths, Johnson recorded a total of 35 stolen bases. He was named to HighSchoolOT's All-State First Team, which features the best high school players from across all state associations. Johnson was also named the Tar River Preps 2020-2021 Baseball Player of the Year helping Kerr-Vance win its fourth straight state title.
Staying in the outfield,
Dylan Rogers, a Chattahoochee Valley Community College transfer, lit up the Appalachian League this past summer for the Princeton WhistlePigs. Rogers was named to the 2021 All-Appalachian League Team as an outfielder and belted a three-run home run in the 2021 Appalachian League All-Star Game.
Rogers held a .405 batting average for Chattahoochee Valley in 2021 boasting a slugging percentage of .647.
At shortstop,
Alex Aguila projects to slide into the six hole. Aguila is a Hillsborough Community College transfer where he competed in 32 games averaging .323 up at the plate to go along with an on-base percentage of .455.
Aguila drew 19 walks, stole 11 bases, scored 22 runs and accounted for a total of 14 RBIs in 96 at-bats for the Hawks. Aguila produced two doubles and a home run in his 31 total hits during 2021. In 2020, Aguila was originally a transfer from VCU that played in 11 games as a freshman for the Rams, earning a total of four starts at shortstop.
Austin St. Laurent, an East Carolina transfer, was named as the No. 15 Sun Belt prospect for the 2023 Draft, according to D1Baseball, and projects as a possible candidate at first base for the Mountaineers.
Jacob Whitley, a grad transfer from Charlotte, averaged a .244 career batting average for the 49ers and projects to be in the designated hitter role as needed for App State. Whitley boasted a .522 average in 2021, making an appearance in 19 games. He tallied 12 hits, three doubles and a home run in just 23 plate appearances in 2021.
The 2022 App State baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
