GREENSBORO, N.C. – After picking up two big wins in their home opener over ETSU, the App State Mountaineers trek to Greensboro to wrap up the early portion of their non-conference schedule, facing the UNCG Spartans on Wednesday. The Spartans made the NCAA Tournament in 2022, making Wednesday's contest the third game App State will play against a 2022 NCAA Tournament qualifier. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
Who: App State (11-10) vs. UNCG (15-12)
Where: UNCG Softball Stadium // Greensboro, N.C.
When: Wednesday, March 13 // 4 p.m.
Last Time Out
App State throttled ETSU in their home-opening doubleheader, scoring 25 total runs for the day while keeping ETSU to just three runs. The Black and Gold strung together hit after hit and scored a run in all but two innings they stepped to the plate.
Killian Roberts was perfect at the plate on Monday, notching four hits in four at-bats and reaching base six times. Her perfect day was highlighted by a four-RBI performance in Game 1 which included a walk-off home run to give App State a nine-run win.
The Mountaineers slugged a total of 27 hits which included an astounding 15 extra-base hits. Seven different players accounted for App State's 15 extra-base hits.
Hannah Forbes tallied her first double of the season in game 1 while
Kayt Houston roped three extra-base hits throughout the day, including a two-run triple in game 1.
The duo of
Sejal Neas and
Kaylie Northrop bounced off App State's strong offensive day by combining to allow just one hit in eight innings of work. Northrop started the second game and threw just the fourth no-hitter in program history, retiring 15 of the 16 batters she faced while striking out seven. Defensively, the Mountaineers were errorless for the day.
First Pitch
- With the win in game 1 on Monday, head coach Shelly Hoerner eclipsed 150 career wins at App State, becoming the first coach in program history to cross that threshold. She sits just 11 wins away from 700 for her career.
- App State's 25 runs scored across the two games on Monday against ETSU is the second time this season that App State has had a two-game stretch where they tallied at least 20 runs. The last time the Mountaineers tallied at least 25 runs across a two-game stretch was in 2022 when they scored 29 runs in a doubleheader against NC Central.
- Offense has been critical to the Mountaineers' success this season as they average 8.8 runs a game in wins. App State has scored at least five runs in all but two of their 11 wins on the young season while scoring in double-digits in five of those wins.
- The Mountaineers have seen production up and down the lineup this season, seeing an astounding 14 players record a hit through 21 games. Additionally, 15 different players have recorded at least one RBI entering Wednesday's battle in Greensboro.
- In addition to the high-scoring output in wins, the long ball has played a tremendous role in App State's success this year as they have hit at least one home run in seven of their 11 wins this season. The Mountaineers hit three home runs across the two games on Monday.
- Kaylie Northrop's no-hitter in game 2 against ETSU was just the fourth no-hitter in program history and the first since 2020. The last App State pitcher to throw a no-hitter was Sydney Holland, who threw a no-hitter against UNCG.
- Senior outfielder Kayt Houston tallied four more hits on Monday, giving her 208 for her career. She needs just 22 more to pass Lindsay Glover's record of 229.
- App State and UNCG have met 36 previous times, making this series one of the longest-standing rivalries in program history. The two teams were formally Southern Conference rivals before App State left for the Sun Belt in 2014.
On the Mountaineers
- The Mountaineer offense has been potent to start the season as they enter Wednesday's midweek brawl with the highest batting average in the Sun Belt Conference and the 20th-highest batting average in the country, batting .336 as a team. Additionally, the Mountaineers sit third in slugging percentage and third in RBI in the SBC.
- Extra-base hits have paced the Mountaineers to the third-highest slugging percentage in the conference entering Wednesday as 53 of their 188 total hits this season have gone for extra bases. Kayt Houston leads the team in extra-base hits with 16 of her 33 total hits going for extra bases this season.
- App State has seen production all throughout the lineup, seeing eight different payers enter Wednesday's game with a batting average of at least .300. Grace Barrett's three-hit outing in game 2 against ETSU on Monday marked the sixth different Mountaineer to record a three-hit game this season.
- Abby Cunningham has been the hottest Mountaineer at the plate lately, taking advantage of her playing time in the outfield. Her three-hit day yesterday pushed her batting average above .400 for the season, which is the ninth-highest batting average in the Sun Belt entering Wednesday.
- Peyton Darnell continues to produce at a high level in her first season in the High Country as she leads the team in home runs and RBI. She has recorded at least one RBI in each of her last three games and has nine multi-RBI games.
- In the circle, the duo of Sejal Neas and Kaylie Northrop have started 18 of the 21 games this season and have combined for a 3.03 ERA on the season. Both of them sit in the top 20 in the Sun Belt Conference in ERA entering Wednesday.
- Northrop and Neas have combined to pitch four shutouts so far this season.
Series History
- App State vs. UNCG
- 37th Meeting
- Last meeting: April 7, 2021
- Record: 20-16
- Trends:
- App State makes its first trip to Greensboro since Feb. 2021 on Wednesday. App State has won three of the last four contests against UNCG in Greensboro.
- It has been a historically close series as each of the last 18 games has been decided by four or fewer runs.
Up Next
The Mountaineers kick off their Sun Belt Conference schedule after play concludes Wednesday, taking to Atlanta to take on Georgia State in a three-game weekend set this Friday-Sunday. First pitch from Bob Heck Softball Complex is slated for 5 p.m. on Friday and can be streamed on ESPN+.
