BOONE, N.C. – App State baseball will look to continue their unbeaten streak to begin the season as they travel to face North Carolina A&T in a three-game weekend series. Friday's game will be played at Truist Point, home of the High Point Rockers, with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday's games will both be played at War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro, with first pitch on Saturday slated for 3 p.m., ahead of a 1 p.m. first pitch in the finale. Sunday's contest will be streamed on Flo Baseball.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State is off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2011, following a 16-7 victory over High Point on Tuesday night.
Golston Gillespie drove in a career-high six runs, including a go-ahead three-run home run to kickstart a nine-run sixth inning.
Hayden Cross and
Xavier Moronta also added three hits apiece. App State opened the season by sweeping Queens in a three-game series in Hickory. App State ranks second among Sun Belt teams in batting at .342 on the season, led by Cross and Moronta who have combined for 19 hits over the first four games of play. On the mound App State pitching has worked to a 3.75 ERA on the season, while opponents are batting just .197 against them, good for the second-best mark in the conference.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
After opening the season with a three-game sweep over Maryland-Eastern Shore, North Carolina A&T was dealt a lopsided mid-week loss by reigning A-10 champion Davidson, falling 15-1 on Tuesday. The Aggies gave up back-to-back six-run innings in the sixth and seventh. Anthony Hennings leads the Aggies this season at the plate, going 9-for-17 with a double and 3 RBIs to begin the year. Canyon Brown lifted the Aggies to victory on Sunday with a walk-off RBI double in the 10
th inning. On the mound, Saturday starter Daniel Carter impressed last weekend, striking out nine in five innings of work to earn the win. The Aggies finished last season 15-38 overall and 3-21 in Big South play before making the move to the CAA this season.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and North Carolina A&T have met 65 times in program history. The Aggies won the only meeting last season, 4-2, at War Memorial Stadium. App State fell behind 4-0, but scored a run in the seventh and one in the ninth, before stranding the tying run on base to end the ballgame. Prior to last year's loss, App State had won six of the last seven, and 18 of the last 20, in the head-to-head series.
STARTING STRONG
App State is off to their best start in over a decade after sweeping Queens in their opening weekend series, and following it up with a road victory over High Point on Tuesday. The Mountaineers are now 4-0 for the first time since 2011 when they swept Maryland-Eastern Shore at home to begin the year, and followed it up with a mid-week win at Gardner-Webb. The last time App State began a season 5-0 or better was in 2010 when the Mountaineers won their first ten games of the season, posting wins over Presbyterian (2), USC Upstate, Gardner-Webb, Niagara (2), Marist, and Rider (3).
X MARKS THE SPOT
Xavier Moronta had an exceptional start to his career with the Mountaineers. Through four games this season, Moronta has reached base 17 times, tallying a conference-best 10 hits, to go along with five walks, in addition to being hit by pitch twice. Through Tuesday's games, Moronta ranked tied for 7
th in the nation with an .800 OBP. The Miramar, Fla. native ranks among Sun Belt leaders in batting average, on-base percentage, hits, walks and runs scored.
UP NEXT:
App State will face off with ETSU on Tuesday in Johnson City, Tenn. The Bucs are 2-2 on the season and will face another App State foe this weekend as they tangle with Georgia Southern in Statesboro. The Mountaineers and Buccaneers had both of their meetings in 2022 canceled due to inclement weather.
