BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball heads to Charlotte where they will meet up with Queens for a mid-week contest at Truist Field, home of the Charlotte Knights (White Sox, Triple-A) at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (13-9, 4-2) has won each of their first two series of conference play, following a walk-off winner in the ninth inning on Sunday to claim the rubber game, 15-14.
Golston Gillespie homered twice on Sunday, and has now hit eight home runs in his last 11 games. App State also got home runs on Sunday from
Andrew Terrell, and
Hayden Cross, who also delivered the game-winner on a ball that went under the glove of the Panthers first baseman. Cross leads the Mountaineers at the plate, batting .360 on the season with an OPS of 1.039. Gillespie,
Luke Drumheller and
Xavier Moronta are also all batting over .300 on the campaign.
Xander Hamilton picked up his fourth win of the season on Friday night, striking out a season-high nine batters for the third time this season.
SCOUTING THE ROYALS
In their first season at the Division I level, Queens (4-19, 1-5) earned their first ASUN victory over the weekend, with a ten-inning triumph over Lipscomb on Tyler Peters' walk-off home run. App State faced Queens to begin the season in Hickory, sweeping the three-game series. The Royals earned their first victory the following weekend when they took two of three from Fairleigh Dickinson in Charlotte. The Royals are led by Riley Cheek who is batting .366 on the season with 10 doubles and six home runs in 23 games. On the mound, Brandon Dahlman has won three of Queens' four games this season in relief, while Marshall Pile boasts a 2.76 ERA out of the bullpen.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Queens met for the first time in the season opener, Feb. 17-19 in Hickory. The Mountaineers won each of the first two games by a 5-2 final, and then finished the series sweep with a 13-4 victory on Sunday, helped by a two-homer game from
Andrew Terrell.
COMEBACK COMPLETE
Despite trailing Georgia State, 8-0, just two innings into play on Sunday, the Mountaineers came charging back to win the ballgame, 15-14 in the ninth inning. It marked the largest deficit overcome in a win — league game or otherwise — since joining the Sun Belt before the 2015 season. It hadn't erased an eight-run deficit in a win since April 14, 2009, when ETSU led 10-2 and 12-4 before App State scored the final 11 runs in a 15-12 home victory.
BOMBS AWAY
Redshirt senior
Golston Gillespie homered twice in the ballgame on Sunday, and has now gone yard eight times in his last 11 games. Gillespie went 3-for-3 on Sunday and drove in a career-high six runs for the second time this season. His team-best nine home runs this season are the most a Mountaineer has hit in a campaign since Joel McDaniel hit nine in 40 games in 2019. The program record for home runs in a single season is 17, set by Daniel Kassouf in 2012. The last time a Mountaineer hit double-digit homers in a season was Dillon Dobson, who hit 12 homers in 2012. Gilliespie is currently tied for sixth in the Sun Belt in home runs.
UP NEXT
App State will continue their road trip this weekend in Lafayette, La., where they will face off with the Ragin' Cajuns in a three-game series. The opener on Friday is set for 7 p.m., with first pitch on Saturday slated for 5 p.m. The series concludes on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
