BOONE, N.C. – For the third consecutive season, App State Baseball will host a game in Hickory, as it faces off with Siena in a three-game weekend series. First pitch on Friday is set for 3 p.m. with action on Saturday and Sunday slated to begin at 1 p.m. All three games will feature an audio broadcast on
appstatesports.com.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State is 3-1 on the season, following a 7-1 victory at High Point on Tuesday.
Banks Tolley and
Braxton Church led the offense with a pair of home runs, while the pitching staff allowed just three hits in the win. Prior to that, the Mountaineers opened the season by taking two of three from Gardner-Webb. The Mountaineers won the rubber game in dramatic fashion on Sunday, coming back from a six-run deficit to take the lead in the seventh, and then later trailing by a run in the ninth before forcing extra-innings and winning 15-11 in ten innings. App State also won 9-5 on Friday behind a career-high eight strikeouts from
Bradley Wilson, and a five-RBI performance from
Joseph Zamora in his App State debut. App State is coming off a 30-win season in 2023, their best since 2013, en route to a Sun Belt Tournament Semifinals appearance. App State has added 15 newcomers to their 2024 roster, in addition to 23 returning player. Boyd has also been named to the 2024 Preseason All-Sun Belt team.
SCOUTING THE SAINTS
Siena is 0-3 on the season after being swept by Longwood on the road in their season-opening series. The Lancers outscored the Saints 53-16 across the three-game set. Despie taking a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning in game one, Longwood responded with 13 runs in the bottom half of the frame, and did not look back the rest of the weekend. The Saints were picked 10
th out of 11 teams in the MAAC Preseason Poll, following a 14-41 (7-17) finish a season ago. The Saints hired a new head coach in Alex Jurczynski, who was previously an assistant coach at Princeton. The Saints return five players who registered more than 100 at-bats last spring, highlighted by MAAC All-Rookie Team selection Danny Barbero.
SERIES HISTORY
The Mountaineers and Saints have met twice in program history, as App State played host to a two-game weekend series in 2020. The Mountaineers edged the Saints 7-5 on March 10, behind a six-run first inning, and 9-8 on March 11 in the final games played in 2020 before the NCAA halted play due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that point, App State was 11-6 on the season and had won six games in a row.
PITCHING MATCHUP
RHP Alistair Morin (Siena) vs RHP
Bradley Wilson (App)
LHP Billy Rozakis (Siena) vs RHP
Jackson Steensma (App)
RHP Connor Byrne (Siena) vs RHP
Dante Chirico (App)
KING TUT RETURNS
After missing the entirety of the 2023 season recovering from Tommy John Surgery, 6
th year Mountaineer
Tyler Tuthill made his triumphant return to the mound. Pitching the second inning against High Point, Tuthill retired the side in order with a flyout, a groundout, and a strikeout to end the inning. It marked the first time he pitched for the Mountaineers in 642 days. Tuthill had been the Mountaineers' Friday night starter and was a second team All-Sun Belt selection in 2021. He has totaled 46 appearances in an App State uniform, with Tuesday marking his first out of the bullpen.
BASHIN' BOYD
Senior outfielder
CJ Boyd has been named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt team. Boyd was named first-team All-Conference following last season and garnered a spot on the Sun Belt All-Tournament team in 2023. After going hitless in each of the first two games of the year, Boyd erupted in the finale against Gardner-Webb on Sunday, tallying four hits and four RBIs, including a two-run home run in the Mountaineers' comeback win at Gardner-Webb.
Boyd enjoyed one of the most productive offensive seasons in App State history, slashing .364/.399/.712 in 45 games (43 starts) for the Mountaineers. The transfer from East Carolina tied a program record with 17 home runs, blasting 12 homers in his final 16 games of the season. Boyd hit safely in the final 19 games of the year, going 42-for-93 (.452) over that span. Boyd became the first Mountaineer since Wes Hobson (2010) to finish a season with double-digit home runs, doubles and stolen bases. He finished top 10 in the Sun Belt in batting average, slugging, OPS and home runs.
RECORD VELO
Junior
Bradley Wilson was pumping gas on Friday night. The right-hander struck out a career-high eight batters in his win over Gardner-Webb. During that outing, Wilson was consistently hitting 98 miles-per-hour on the radar gun and even ran his fastball up to 99.6 miles-per-hour marking the fastest pitch ever recorded by an App State pitcher.
LEATHERMEN
Through four games this season, the App State defense has committed just one error in 141 chances for a team fielding percentage of .993, the best mark in the Sun Belt and 13
th in the nation. App State is one of just 33 teams in the country to have committed one error or fewer this season.
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
In their opening three-game series against the Bulldogs, the Mountaineers were hit by 13 pitches in their 28 innings of play.
Drew Holderbach led the way being hit five times in 15 plate appearances on the weekend.
CJ Boyd was also hit three times, and
Joseph Zamora was plunked twice. In total, App State has been hit by 14 pitches in four games. Last year App State was hit by 111 pitches in 55 games.
COMEBACK KIDS
Trailing by six runs after three innings of play on Sunday, App State rallied to tie, and eventually took a 10-7 lead before taking down Gardner-Webb in extra-innings. Last year the Mountaineers overcame a similar deficit, beating Georgia State 15-14, despite falling behind 8-0 in the second inning of play. Similarly in that ballgame the Panthers regained the lead, before
Hayden Cross won it on a walk-off single in the ninth.
NEWCOMER SUCCESS
App State newcomers have gotten off to a great start this season.
Joseph Zamora homered and tallied five RBI on Friday.
Adam Quintero blasted a go-ahead three run home run on Sunday, while
Drew Holderbach reached base 12 times on the weekend.
Banks Tolley continued the effort with a three-run homer in the first inning on Tuesday. On the mound,
Cody Little has allowed just one run in four innings in relief across two outings.
2023 RECAP
App State enjoyed their best season in a decade last season, going 30-25 on the season and 16-13 in Sun Belt play. App State knocked off No. 8/7 Coastal Carolina on the road on May 5, and then toppled 16
th Ranked Southern Miss in the Sun Belt tournament. The team finished 88
th nationally in RPI, their best mark in seven seasons under
Kermit Smith. App State finished sixth in the Sun Belt, their best finish since joining the league in 2015, and boasted top-10 statistical seasons in runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, stolen bases, batters struck out, saves and fielding percentage.
FAST & PHYSICAL
A focus going into 2023 was for the team to play a faster and more physical style of baseball. The Mountaineers went on to steal 73 bases, their ninth most in program history and most since 2013, doing so in 85 tries (86%). The team also belted 67 home runs, their fourth-most all-time and most since 2008.
CJ Boyd tied a program record with 17 home runs, while
Golston Gillespie added 15 long balls. So far in 2024, App State has hit six home runs and stolen 10 bases in four games.
National Recognition
CJ Boyd has received national recognition leading up to this season, earning a spot on the Perfect Game All-Sun Belt preseason team, in addition to being ranked as the 59th-best outfielder in the nation by D1baseball.com.
UP NEXT
App State will renew a long-standing rivalry with ETSU on Tuesday, as the Mountaineers travel across the Mountain to Johnson City for the first of a home and home this season. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. from Thomas Stadium.
