BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball will face off with 2
nd ranked Wake Forest, Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Smith Stadium. It is the first of two meetings this season between the two in-state foes. The first 50 fans in attendance will receive a complimentary App State tumbler. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (16-13, 6-5) is looking to bounce back after dropping both games of their abbreviated series against ULM over the weekend. Prior to that, the Mountaineers had won their first three series of Sun Belt play, taking two of three from Marshall, Georgia State, and Louisiana. App State is led at the plate by
Hayden Cross, who is hitting .333 on the season with 12 doubles and 29 RBIs in 29 games.
Luke Drumheller and
Xavier Moronta are also batting at least .300 on the year and have started every game this season.
Golston Gillespie has belted a team-high 10 home runs on the season and boasts an OPS of 1.140. On the mound, freshman reliever
Jackson Steensma has made a team-high 14 appearances this season, striking out 19 batters in 17.1 innings to go along with an ERA of 3.12.
SCOUTING THE DEMON DEACONS
Wake Forest (28-4, 12-2) is ranked 2nd in the nation for the second week in a row, following a two-game series sweep of NC State on Sunday. The Deacs dropped last Tuesday's mid-week contest to Elon, 5-3, which snapped an 8-game winning streak. Wake Forest is off to the program's best start since 1950, and started the season by winning their first 13 games of the year. The Deacs lead the nation with a 2.30 ERA as a team and a 0.98 WHIP on the season, while also ranking 8
th in the nation in runs scored and second in walks drawn. At the plate, the Demon Deacons have six regulars batting over .300, paced by Tommy Hawke who is batting .387 on the campaign. Brock Wilken and Nick Kurtz have hit 14 and 10 homers respectively. On the mound Wake has struck out 390 hitters, compared to just 75 walks. Camden Minacci has recorded eight saves which ranks second nationally.
SERIES HISTORY
The Mountaineers and Demon Deacons have met 63 times on the diamond in a series that dates back to 1970. Wake Forest leads the series 48-15, including a pair of victories last season, despite the Mountaineers leading after six innings in the meeting in Winston-Salem on April 19. App State's most recent head-to-head win came on Feb. 26, 2020 when they defeated #24 Wake Forest in Winston-Salem.
APP VS RANKED
The Mountaineers are searching for their first win over a ranked team since they defeated #24 Wake Forest, 11-9, on Feb. 26, 2020 in Winston-Salem. The win ignited a six-game winning streak, which was ultimately halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the win over the Demon Deacons, the Mountaineers have lost ten straight matchups with ranked opponents, despite several games which were close in the late innings. Last season App State fell to #13 North Carolina, 4-2, despite tying the ballgame in the top of the eighth inning on a home run from
Luke Drumheller. And this season App fell 16-15 to #24 Campbell, despite scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth and putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
App State is 0-7 all-time when facing a top-2 team in the nation, most recently falling, 2-1, in heartbreaking fashion to top-ranked South Carolina in 2014, when the Gamecocks won on a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth. Four of the seven losses against top-two teams have been by three runs or fewer.
BEAT THE DRUM
Fifth-year senior
Luke Drumheller is among the most experienced players in all of college baseball. He has started 185 consecutive games for the Mountaineers at second base and has played a total of 202 games in his career, which is tied for 21
st among active Division 1 players. Prior to going 0-for-5 on Tuesday, Drumheller had hit safely in eight straight games, while reaching base in 15 consecutive games. Drumheller is slashing .319/.434/.425 in 29 games, including nine multi-hit contests, highlighted by a four-hit game against Campbell on March 10. Drumheller was a first team All-Conference selection at second base in 2021.
CLUTCH CROSS
Fifth-year senior catcher
Hayden Cross has reached base safely in 18 consecutive games, tallying 18 hits, 11 walks, and three hit by pitch during that stretch. Cross has enjoyed a sensational 2023 campaign, slashing .333/.421/.526. His 12 doubles on the campaign are tied for fifth in the Sun Belt this year. Defensively, Cross has also thrown out 12 runners, which leads the conference, and he has not committed an error in Sun Belt play.
UP NEXT
App State will travel to Statesboro this weekend to face off with Georgia Southern in a three-game series. First pitch Friday is set for 6:30 p.m., with Saturday's game scheduled for 2 p.m. The series will wrap up Sunday, with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
