MONTGOMERY, Ala. – With its victory at Troy on Saturday, App State baseball clinched a sixth-place finish in the Sun Belt conference and advanced into the double-elimination portion of the Sun Belt Conference tournament in Montgomery, where the Mountaineers will open with a rematch against the third-seeded Trojans on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET.
The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+. With a win at Riverwalk Stadium, home to the minor league Montgomery Biscuits, the Mountaineers would advance to face the winner of second-seeded Southern Miss and seventh-seeded James Madison on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET. With a loss, the Mountaineers would face the loser of that matchup in a contest played at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (27-23, 16-13) capped off its best season since joining the Sun Belt, recording its 16
th conference win Saturday to secure a spot in the double-elimination bracket. The Mountaineers' 27 overall wins this season are their most since 2013.
App State won six of its 10 conference series this season, while also knocking off No. 8 Coastal Carolina for its highest ranked win since 2013. Down the stretch, the Mountaineers were led by a pair of first-team All-Sun Belt selections. Right-handed pitcher
Xander Hamilton, who will make the start on Wednesday, set a program record with 109 strikeouts on the campaign, ranking eighth in the nation.
CJ Boyd finished the season by hitting nine home runs in his final 11 games and boasts a team-high .353 average at the plate.
Xavier Moronta and
Hayden Cross are also batting over .300 on the season, while
Golston Gillespie leads the squad with 15 home runs, the most by a Mountaineer since 2012.
Andrew Terrell's 14 stolen bases are also the most by a Mountaineer since 2013.
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Troy (38-18, 18-12) took two of three from App State in the final series of the season to clinch a third-place finish in the Sun Belt. First-team All-Sun Belt selection Grayson Stewart tossed seven innings on Friday night to earn his ninth win of the season. At the plate, the Trojans are led by Sun Belt Player of the Year, and Newcomer of the Year Shane Lewis, who has belted a program-record 27 home runs on the season, the second most by any player in the country. William Sullivan is also batting .312 on the year with 16 long balls, while Ethan Kavanagh leads the squad with a .325 average. The Trojans began the season 11-0 in non-conference play and since won seven of their 10 Sun Belt series on the year. Troy also recorded a notable non-conference win a few weeks ago, taking down SEC foe Auburn on the road on April 25.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Troy have faced off 24 times, all since the Mountaineers joined the Sun Belt in 2015. The Trojans took two of three in the regular season, just last weekend, winning the opener 3-2 behind a three-run second inning, then coming from behind to win the second game 7-5, scoring the go-ahead runs in the eighth inning. It marked the first time all season that the Mountaineers lost a game when leading after seven innings. The Black and Gold took the finale, 12-8, helped by a first-inning grand slam from
Golston Gillespie. Wednesday will be the first postseason meeting between the two programs. The Trojans lead the all-time series 18-6.
APP AT THE SBC
After not qualifying for the Sun Belt tournament in their first four seasons in the league, the Mountaineers made history with a 1-0 shutout of Texas State in 2021 to earn their first Sun Belt Tournament win.
Eli Ellington recorded the final nine outs to secure the save of the contest, one of three different pitchers to toss three innings that day for the Mountaineers. App State followed that up with a victory over Little Rock last season in the opening round of the tournament, advancing to the quarterfinals, where they lost to Georgia Southern. App State's lone conference tournament championship came as a SoCon member in 1984. The Mountaineers have won six regular season titles, most recently in 2012, when they won a program-record 41 games and advanced to the Charlottesville, Va. regional.
Double Elimination Format (Play In)
5/21/19 Louisiana (#8) L, 6-2
Pool Play Format
5/25/21 Texas State (West #6) W, 1-0
5/27/21 Louisiana (West #1) L, 7-2
Single Elimination Format
5/24/22 Little Rock (#8) W, 10-3
5/27/22 Georgia Southern (#2) L, 7-1
RECORD ATTENDANCE
App State baseball set a home attendance record this season, welcoming over 13,000 fans to Smith Stadium this spring. The Mountaineers also set a single-game attendance record against No. 2 Wake Forest on April 11, as 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.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Xander Hamilton was named a Sun Belt first-team all-conference selection by the league on Monday. Hamilton enjoyed one of the most dominant strikeout seasons in the nation, finishing the regular season eighth in the country with 109 strikeouts in 82.0 innings pitched (11.96 K/9). His strikeout total led Sun Belt pitchers and was the most by an App State pitcher in single-season history.
Hamilton struck out nine or more batters in seven of his 14 starts, including a program-record 15 batters against No. 8 Coastal Carolina on May 5 as part of eight scoreless, one-hit innings in an 11-0 Mountaineer triumph. Hamilton also struck out 13 batters on the road against Louisiana on March 31, earning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week honors after both outings. Hamilton finished the season with eight wins, tied for fifth most among Sun Belt pitchers, while winning seven Sun Belt starts. App State went 11-3 in his starts this season and 8-2 in Sun Belt play.
BASHIN' BOYD
CJ Boyd was named a first-team all-conference outfielder in the Sun Belt after a sensational finish to the season, homering nine times in the Mountaineers' final 11 regular season games. In Sun Belt play, Boyd finished in the top 10 in the league in hits (2nd - 46), slugging (4th – .782), OPS (3
rd – 1.213), home runs (T-3
rd – 12) batting average (4
th – .387) doubles (T-7
th – 11), and RBI (10th – 33). He was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week last Tuesday, following an outstanding weekend against Arkansas State. Boyd hit four home runs in the series, going for 7-for-14 (.500) at the plate, while also doubling, scoring seven runs, and driving in seven more.
Boyd has hit safely in 14 consecutive games, going 31-for-68 (.456) over that span, raising his average by 73 points, to .353, which ranks 10
th in the Sun Belt. The ECU transfer also ranks fifth in slugging percentage (.688). Boyd finished the regular season with 14 home runs, 14 doubles and 10 stolen bases, becoming the first Mountaineer since Wes Hobson (2010) to boast double-digit homers, doubles, and steals in the same season.
FAST & PHYSICAL
In his postseason press conference last June, head coach
Kermit Smith said he wanted his 2023 team to play a fast and physical style of baseball. Through 50 games this season, App State has tallied 172 extra-base hits, including 61 home runs, with 12 different players leaving the park. On the bases, the Mountaineers have swiped 64 bags in 75 tries (85%) and have had 15 different players steal a base. By comparison, last year's squad finished the campaign with 29 home runs and 36 stolen bases in 53 games. The Mountaineers' 61 home runs rank fifth in a single season and are the most since the 62 posted in 2009, while their 64 steals are their most since 2013 (100).
SENSATIONAL SUN BELT
The Sun Belt continues to be one of the top conferences in college baseball, ranking fifth in the nation in RPI, ahead of the Big Ten. Coastal Carolina leads the Sun Belt, ranking 13
th in the nation, while all 10 Sun Belt Tournament teams rank in the top 100. App State currently sits at 98 in the RPI, its best standing in a full season in
Kermit Smith's seven-year tenure.
