BOONE, N.C. – The Mountaineers continue their four-game homestand with a three-game set against Coastal Carolina at Smith Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and the series wraps up Saturday with a 1 p.m. start. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING APP STATE: The Mountaineers (11-19, 3-9 Sun Belt) rebounded from a six-game losing skid in a big way on Tuesday, rolling past High Point, 17-9, at Smith Stadium, in the first midweek game played in Boone this season. After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning, App State responded with a six-run second to take the lead. The Mountaineers also scored six runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by a grand slam from
Luke Drumheller.
Braxton Church capped the scoring in the scoring in the eighth inning by hitting his first collegiate home run.
This season App State has won series against Campbell, UNC Wilmington, and Little Rock.
Hayden Cross leads the Mountaineers offense with a slash line of .314/.413/.431, with nine doubles, and 20 RBIs.
Phillip Cole is slugging a team-high .477, after missing the first 14 games of the season due to injury. On the mound
Cameron Kepley and
Caleb Cross both boast sub-3.00 ERAs in 11 outings each.
SCOUTING COASTAL CAROLINA: The Chanticleers (16-13-1, 5-6-1 Sun Belt) were swept by Georgia State last weekend, although the final two games were just one-run affairs. The Chanticleers did not schedule a midweek contest this week. Coastal did sweep Arkansas State earlier in conference play, and this season has tallied ranked wins over Texas State, Clemson, and Central Michigan.
At the plate Eric Brown leads Coastal in batting at .324 on the season, while Dale Thomas has homered a team-best eight times on the year which ranks fifth in the conference. Austin White is a big threat on the bases for the Chanticleers, stealing 21 bases in 23 attempts to lead the Sun Belt. Friday night starter Reid VanScoter boasts a 2.56 ERA, which ranks third in the conference, and he has accounted for five of the team's 16 wins this season.
ON THE BUMP:
Thursday - LHP Reid VanScoter (5-2, 2.56) vs. LHP
Tyler Tuthill (1-4, 6.69)
Friday - RHP Michael Knorr (1-0, 3.42) vs. RHP
Xander Hamilton (1-5, 6.15)
Saturday - RHP Nick Parker (1-2, 4.71) vs. RHP
Trey Tujetsch (3-2, 3.63)
SERIES HISTORY: The Mountaineers and Chanticleers have met 11 times all-time heading into this series, but have not faced on another since 2019, as last year's meetings were canceled due to COVID protocols. The Chanticleers lead the all-time series 9-2, which dates back to 2002.
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: The Mountaineers offense erupted at the plate Tuesday in their 17-9 victory over High Point. The 17 runs were the most that App State had scored in a ballgame since 2019, when they scored 18 runs in the penultimate game of the season against Coastal Carolina; an 18-6 win in Conway. The Mountaineers hit three home runs in that ballgame, including a three-run blast from
Phillip Cole.
Tuesday's 17 runs are tied for the second-most scored by a Sun Belt team this season, while the Mountaineers' 21 hits are the third most this season among conference teams. All nine App State starters tallied a hit in the contest, and eight enjoyed multi-hit games. App State put together a pair of six-run innings, sending ten men to the plate in the second and the fifth.
BEAT THE DRUM: Junior second baseman
Luke Drumheller highlighted the offense Tuesday, posting a three-hit ballgame, including a grand slam in the fifth inning, the first of his career. The home run was the second for Drumheller this season, with the first coming on a game-tying shot in the eighth inning against UNC on March 22. Drumheller was named a pre-season All-Sun Belt selection, after being chosen as the First Team All-Conference second baseman a season ago.
HIGH COUNTRY CHURCH: Freshman catcher
Braxton Church launched his first career home run in the eighth inning Tuesday against High Point. It capped a great all-around game for Church, who was making his second start behind the plate. He reached base four times on the night, singling in the fourth, and was twice hit by a pitch, and he scored all four times aboard. This performance came in just the second start of his career for the Mountaineers.
HITTING THE CENTURY MARK: The win over Little Rock on March 27, marked the 100
th win for
Kermit Smith since taking over the App State program ahead of the 2017 campaign. Smith ranks fourth (102) on the all-time wins list at App State behind
Jim Morris (611),
Chris Pollard (244), and
Frank Lovrich (125).
RED HOT CROSS: App State catcher/designated hitter
Hayden Cross has gotten off to a great start to the season. He tallied a two-hit game on Sunday, to give him 11 multi-hit games on the season, compared to only nine games this year without a hit, in 28 games played. Cross leads Mountaineer qualifiers in OPS (.844), AVG (.314), hits (32), RBIs (20), and OBP (.414), while ranking second in SLG (.431).
SWISS ARMY KNIFE: Cameron Kepley has been a big cog in the Mountaineer's bullpen this season, sporting a team-best 2.70 ERA through 11 appearances (one start). He has struck out 21 batters in 20.0 innings of work, with opponents hitting just .203 against him. Across his last four outings, Kepley has combined to allow just two runs in eight innings, while striking out eight. Kepley has gone multiple innings in eight of his 11 outings this season.
EXTRA! EXTRA!: Despite slugging just .360 as a team (10th in Sun Belt), the Mountaineers have seen several individuals pepper the gaps this season.
Dylan Rogers ranks tied for fourth in the Sun Belt with 10 doubles, and
Hayden Cross has tallied nine doubles, which is tied for eighth in the league. Rogers,
Andrew Terrell, and
Austin St. Laurent have each notched a pair of triples this season, which is just two back of the league lead.
APRIL SHOWERS: Prior to Tuesday's win over High Point, the month of April had not been kind to App State, which opened the month on a six-game losing streak, and was out-scored 44-10 over that span. Over the six-game losing skid, the team has not tallied double-digit hits in a contest, and is batting just .152 as a team. This past weekend in Mobile, the Mountaineers tallied just 11 hits in three games, and only three were extra-base hits, while they struck out 27 times over that span. On the mound, Mountaineer pitching twice issued at least 10 walks in a ballgame during that stretch.
LET'S PARTY LIKE IT'S 2012: App State Baseball honored the 10
th anniversary of the 2012 team with a brunch on March 19, ahead of game two of their series against Georgia Southern. The 2012 team claimed the Southern Conference regular-season title and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1986, beating Oklahoma and Virginia in the regional round. They came within one win of a Super Regional berth, finishing the season with a record of 41-18. Not only did they set the programs wins record that season, but they defeated four ranked opponents, including back-to-back wins over No. 7 LSU.
BUILDING BLOCKS: Under the direction of
Kermit Smith, App State went 11-10 in Sun Belt Conference regular season games last season to post the sixth-best record in the 12-team league. It was the program's first winning record and best Sun Belt finish since joining the league in 2015. The Mountaineers also earned their first-ever Sun Belt tourney win with a 1-0 victory against Texas State.
With the Sun Belt ranking as a top-10 league (out of 31 Division I conferences) in each of Smith's first five seasons, the Mountaineers are 35-42 in their last 77 Sun Belt regular season games after winning nine times in 45 Sun Belt regular season games during Smith's first year-and-a-half of rebuilding.
NEXT UP: The Mountaineers return to action Tuesday, when they travel to Winston-Salem to face off with Wake Forest, in the first of a home-and-home series this season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra.
The 2022 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
