BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball welcomes its first conference opponent to Smith Stadium this weekend, as the Georgia State Panthers come to Boone for a three-game series. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m., with Saturday's contest scheduled for 3 p.m. The series will conclude on Sunday, with first pitch set for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (11-8, 2-1) has won three of their last four games, following a 4-3 win over the College of Charleston on Tuesday.
Golston Gillespie homered to open the scoring in the second inning, while also plating the go-ahead runs late with a two-run single.
Jackson Steensma recorded a four-out save, striking out the side in the ninth inning.
Collin Welch returned from injury to make the start, facing the minimum over three scoreless innings. Prior to the win on Tuesday, App State took two of three on the road at Marshall to open Sun Belt play. Gillespie and
CJ Boyd each homered twice in the series, while
Xander Hamilton fanned nine batters on Friday night to earn the win. App State also stole 12 bases in the series. App State has now won series over Queens, North Carolina A&T, and Marshall so far this season.
Hayden Cross leads App State with a .373 batting average, and clubbed his first home run of the season on Sunday.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Georgia State (12-9, 3-0) opened conference play with a three-game sweep of the Troy Trojans. Dylan Strickland tied a program record with three home runs in the ballgame on Sunday, and finished the weekend with five round-trippers on his way to being named the Sun Belt Player of the Week. Georgia State plated 37 runs across the three-game set. The Panthers most recently dropped a mid-week game to Georgia, 8-3. The Panthers went on a five-game winning streak from Feb. 24-28 with four wins against Brown and a win at Alabama State. Strickland is batting .390 this season with nine home runs on the year, while reining All-Conference selection Max Ryerson it batting .394 on the campaign. Cameron Jones is also hitting .333 with 17 stolen bases in 20 games. The Panthers are led on the mound by Friday night starter Joseph Brandon who is 2-0 with a 2.86 ERA in five starts.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Georgia State have faced off 26 times on the diamond in a series that dates back to 1979, with the Panthers holding a 16-10 lead in the all-time series. Last year the Panthers took two of three in an early-May series in Atlanta. The Mountaineers were able to salvage the finale with a home run barrage on Sunday, in a game that saw
Austin St. Laurent,
Andrew Greckel, and
Luke Drumheller all go yard in the first three innings of play.
BOYD IS BACK
After missing 11 games due to injury,
CJ Boyd returned to the Mountaineers lineup last week and has been able to provide the Mountaineers a major lift. In the series win at Marshall, Boyd homered in each of the first two games, including a four-hit, five-RBI game on Saturday in which he added two doubles. He finished the weekend going 6-for-11 and also worked two walks and stole two bases. Boyd followed that up with a three-hit game on Tuesday against Charleston, and is 9-for-15 with four extra-base hits in his last four games. On the season, Boyd is batting .381 with three home runs and five doubles in 11 games played. The sophomore from Lillington, N.C. transferred to App State this season after beginning his career at ECU.
SUPER STEENSMA
Freshman reliever
Jackson Steensma has been terrific out of the bullpen to begin his Mountaineer career. Steensma was called upon in the eighth inning on Tuesday, with the tying run at third and two aboard. He escaped the jam with a first-pitch flyout to center and went on to strike out the side in the ninth to earn his third save of the year. On Saturday against Marshall, he recorded a seven-out save to secure the series with a 9-8 win, stranding runners in scoring position in all three frames. The Byron Center, Mich. native has allowed just one earned run through nine outings this season, striking out 14 in 10.2 innings of work.
BOMBS AWAY
Redshirt senior
Golston Gillespie opened the scoring Tuesday with a solo home run in the second inning. Gillespie leads the team, and is tied for ninth in the Sun Belt, with six home runs on the season, and has left the park in five of his last eight games. Gillespie hit home runs in back-to-back games against Marshall, March 13-14. It was the second time in as many weekends that Gillespie accomplished that feat, as he also hit home runs on consecutive days against Campbell, March 10-11. The Ila, Ga. Native has been the embodiment of a three true outcome player this season. In 83 plate appearances this season, Gillespie has hit six home runs, walked 19 times (T-1
st SBC), been hit by four pitches, and struck out 30 times (1
st SBC). Those outcomes account for 59 of his 83 results, or 71% of his plate appearances. Gillespie has also notched five doubles, and his 1.143 OPS ranks second on the team.
UP NEXT
App State will head to Truist Field in Charlotte, home of the Charlotte Knights (While Sox, Triple-A), where they will face off with Queens on Wednesday, March 29 in a mid-week contest. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. App State opened the season by sweeping Queens in a three-game series at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory.
