MONTGOMERY, Ala. – App State used a ten-run sixth inning to rally past Troy in an elimination game on Friday, advancing to play second-seeded Southern Miss on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+. The Mountaineers are among the final four teams remaining in the Sun Belt Tournament, along with the Golden Eagles, Coastal Carolina, and Louisiana. The Mountaineers will need to beat Southern Miss twice on Saturday to advance to the conference championship game on Sunday. A win in the morning game would force an elimination game at 5 p.m. ET.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (29-24, 16-13) takes aim at their first 30-win season since 2013 after coming back from down 7-0 to defeat Troy, 14-10, in an elimination game on Friday. The Mountaineers scored 10 runs with two outs in the sixth inning to grab the lead.
CJ Boyd hit two more home runs for the Mountaineers, matching a program record with his 17
th of the season. He has now gone deep 12 times in his last 14 games. Boyd leads the Mountaineers with a .358 average and 53 RBI in 43 games played this season. Boyd is also in the midst of a 17-game hitting streak, while fellow outfielder
Xavier Moronta has hit safely in 19 in a row.
Andrew Terrell has stolen a career-high 17 stolen bases, the most by a Mountaineer since 2013. Right-hander
Seth Whitley will make his second start of the season for App on Saturday morning.
The Mountaineers capped off their best season since joining the Sun Belt, recording their 16
th conference win on Sunday to secure a spot in the double-elimination bracket. The Mountaineers 29 wins overall this season are their most since 2013. App State won six of their 10 conference series this season, while also knocking off No. 8 Coastal Carolina for their highest ranked win since 2013.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Southern Miss (39-16, 22-8) is ranked 16
th in the nation and 21
st in RPI. They advanced to the Sun Belt semifinals with a 7-1 win over JMU on Wednesday in which Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year Tanner Hall tossed a complete game, allowing just an unearned run on three hits and struck out nine. They followed that up with a walk-off win over Troy on Thursday. Southern Miss has won 17 of their last 18 games this season and won eight of their ten Sun Belt series in their first year in the league. The Golden Eagles hosted a regional last season in their final year in Conference USA, winning 47 games on the campaign and posting a 23-7 record in conference play. With a win on Saturday the Golden Eagles will record their seventh consecutive 40-win season (full year). The Eagles are led at the plate by Slade Wilks who is batting .303 with 18 home runs on the year. Matthew Etzel holds a team-best .325 average and has stolen 20 bases in 23 attempts. Right-hander Matt Adams will make his 13
th start of the season on Saturday morning. In his last outing he was bounced after just one inning in the regular season finale against Louisiana.
SERIES HISTORY
The Mountaineers and Golden Eagles will meet for the first time in program history on Saturday. Southern Miss was one of four newcomers added to the Sun Belt this season, and the only one of that group that was not on the Mountaineers regular season schedule. The only conference teams that App State will not play this season will be Texas State and South Alabama. The Mountaineers notably did play in Starkville, Mississippi in the NCAA Tournament in 1973 and 1984.
OFFENSE IGNIGHTED
The App State bats have come alive in Montgomery, tallying 15 hits in each of their three tournament games, combining to score 31 runs on 45 hits. App State has tallied 11 extra-base hits, with seven of their nine starters batting over .350. As a team the Mountaineers are slashing .372/.446/.579 in the tournament. They have also stolen eight bases in nine attempts.
ON THE RISE
Picked to finish 12
th in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll, the Mountaineers finished the season in sixth place, going 16-13 against Sun Belt foes, their most wins since joining the league in 2015. App State went just 10-20 in Sun Belt play last season, marking a six-win improvement. No other team that was in the Sun Belt in both 2022 and 2023 won more than four more games this season than they did a year ago.
APP AT THE SBC
The Mountaineers have won back-to-back elimination games over James Madison and Troy the last two days. It marks the first time since 2013 that the Mountaineers have won multiple games in a conference tournament. App State has won a game at the Sun Belt tournament in each of the past three seasons 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 win came as a SoCon member in 1984. They also 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
Double Elimination Format
5/24/23 Troy (#3) L, 10-9 (10 inn)
5/25/23 James Madison (#7) W, 8-7
5/26/23 Troy (#3) W, 14-10
BASHIN' BOYD
CJ Boyd was named a First Team All-Conference outfielder in the Sun Belt Monday, and continued his home run barrage with a two-homer game against the Trojans on Friday to give him 12 home runs in his last 14 games played. Boyd tied the App State single-season home run record of 17 home runs on the season set by Daniel Kassouf in 2012. Boyd has hit safely in 17 consecutive games going 38-for-85 (.447) over that span. On the season Boyd is slashing .358/.395/.716 with 15 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.
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.
X MARKS THE SPOT
Xaveir Moronta has been a valuable addition for the Mountaineers this season, since transferring in from Santa Fe College (Fla.). The outfielder is riding a 19-game hitting streak, going 30-for-75 (.404) over that span, while batting .342 with 12 doubles in Sun Belt play. On the season the Miramar, Fla. Native is slashing .338/.448/.455 with 34 walks compared to 28 strikeouts. He has reached base in 46 of 53 games played this season. He joins
Luke Drumheller and
Golston Gillespie as the only Mountaineers to start in every contest.
