BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball looks to sweep the home-and-home series with UNC Asheville on Tuesday, when the Mountaineers and Bulldogs square off at Smith Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (17-16, 7-7) is coming off a series loss at Georgia Southern over the weekend. The Mountaineers won the opener on Friday night, 10-7, behind a great start from
Xander Hamilton who struck out nine in six innings.
Jonathan Xuereb led the offense with a career-high four RBIs. The Mountaineers won their first three series of Sun Belt play, taking two of three from Marshall, Georgia State, and Louisiana prior to series losses to ULM and Georgia Southern. App State is led at the plate by
Hayden Cross, who is hitting .325 on the season with 12 doubles and 33 RBIs in 33 games.
Luke Drumheller is also batting .321 on the year, while
Xavier Moronta is at .313.
Golston Gillespie has belted a team-high 10 home runs on the season and boasts an OPS of 1.108. Hamilton leads the Sun Belt with 70 strikeouts and is tied for third in the conference with six wins on the campaign.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
UNC Asheville (20-15, 7-8) is coming off a series win over USC Upstate, in which they won the final two games of the series after dropping the opener. The Bulldogs also have series wins this season over Presbyterian and Longwood. The Bulldogs won non-conference series over Sacred Heart, Iona, and UMass. Robbie Burnett leads the offense batting .397 with 12 home runs, whole Dylan Bacot is not far behind, batting .348 with 14 doubles and 45 RBIs. UNC Asheville is batting .285 as a team.
SERIES HISTORY
The Mountaineers and Bulldogs have met 68 times on the diamond previously, in a series that dates back to 1985. App State holds a 45-23 lead in head-to-head play, including a 7-3 victory on the road two weeks ago. After trailing 3-2 after three innings, the Mountaineers scored five unanswered to pull out the win. App State's bullpen struck out 11 over 6.2 scoreless innings that night. Last season the Mountaineers defeated the Bulldogs 11-1 in seven innings last season in Hickory. App State scored five runs in the seventh inning to win it on a walk-off run rule.
RECORD ATTENDANCE
App State baseball had a record crowd on hand last Tuesday night against No. 2 Wake Forest. 1,376 fans attended the contest, eclipsing the previous high of 1,116 against Georgia Southern on April 16, 2013. App State also announced record season ticket sales ahead of the 2023 season, the sixth consecutive year of growth.
MR. 600
Head Coach
Kermit Smith recorded his 600
th career victory on Friday night against Georgia Southern. Prior to his arrival in Boone, Smith won 244 games at Lander and 228 at Belmont Abbey, taking each to the Division II College World Series. He has since won 128 games in seven seasons with the Mountaineers. After passing Frank Lovrich's 125 wins earlier this year, Smith now ranks third on the Mountaineers wins list, trailing only Jim Morris (611) and Chris Pollard (244).
JOHNNY ROCKETS
Freshmen shortstop
Jonathan Xuereb belted his first career home run on Tuesday, a go-ahead shot in the second inning to put App State in front of No. 2 Wake Forest, 3-2. Xuereb followed that up with a career-high four RBIs in Friday's win at Georgia Southern. Xuereb has started 13 games as a freshmen this season, and also came through with a big hit in extra-innings to help App State defeat North Carolina A&T on Feb. 26. Prior to joining the Black and Gold, Xuereb won a state title at North Broward Prep, the same high school as men's basketball freshmen standout Justin Abson attended.
UP NEXT
App State will continue their homestand by welcoming Old Dominion to Smith Stadium for their first meeting as Sun Belt members. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. with the middle game Saturday slated for 3 p.m. The series will conclude Sunday, with first pitch set for 1 p.m. in the finale.
