BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball will continue its 12-game road swing, as the Mountaineers head to Durham on Tuesday for a mid-week matchup against the 12
th ranked Duke Blue Devils. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Jack Coombs Field and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
At 9-2 on the season, App State enters the week with the second-best winning percentage in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers have won Eight of their last nine games, and as a team have outscored their opponents by a combined 43 runs this season. App State is coming off a series win over Southern Illinois in which they claimed victories on Saturday and Sunday by a combined 17-2 margin. The Mountaineers are led at the plate by a pair of newcomers.
Drew Holderbach is batting .382 and is reaching base at a .625 clip this season, while
Banks Tolley has four home runs and is batting .375 on the year. On the mound, App State's team ERA of 4.59 is more than three runs-per-game better than it was at the conclusion of last season.
SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
At 10-1 on the season, the Blue Devils are ranked 12
th in the nation for the second week in a row in the D1 Baseball Top-25 poll. Duke suffered their first setback over the weekend, albeit during a series in which they took two of three from Akron. Duke began the season 8-0, their best start since 2008, which included a sweep of Northwestern and a win over No. 18 Coastal Carolina at the Chanticleers Baseball at the Beach tournament. The Blue Devils have scored at least 17 runs in a game three times this season, and are second in the country in home runs with 29. They are equally impressive on the mound, boasting a 2.32 ERA that ranks fourth in the nation. Duke is led by Ben Miller, who is batting .465 with five homers on the year.
SERIES HISTORY
Duke leads the all-time series 7-3, including a 5-0 win last season at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, in which they held the Mountaineers to just one hit.
PITCHING MATCHUP
LHP Tim Nooner (DUKE) vs RHP
Carter Boyd (APP)
WINNING WAYS
App State is off to a 9-2 start to the season, which marks their best start since 2012, when a win at Duke capped a 12-game winning streak, and pushed their record to 14-2 to begin the season. The 2012 squad went on to record a program-record 41 wins that season, twice beating No. 7 LSU, and earning a spot in the NCAA Charlottesville regional.
APP STATE VS RANKED OPPONENTS
Last season App State knocked off No. 8 Coastal Carolina on May 5 and later took down 16
th ranked Southern Miss in the Sun Belt tournament Semifinals on May 27. It marked the first time since 2016 that App State had beaten multiple ranked opponents in the same season, when App State defeated No. 23 South Alabama twice and No. 19 Louisiana. Prior to the two ranked wins last season, App State had not won a game against a ranked opponent since 2020 when they topped No. 24 Wake Forest in Winston-Salem.
COACHING CONNECTION
Duke Head Coach Chris Pollard has significant ties to the App State program. Pollard was the Head Coach of the Mountaineers from 2005 through 2012, culminating with a school-record 41 wins in his final campaign, leading the Mountaineers to a SoCon Championship and the final round of the Charlottesville regional with postseason wins over Virginia and Oklahoma. Not only did Pollard lead the Mountaineers, but he was also App State Head Coach
Kermit Smith's Head Coach at Pfeiffer University for his senior season in 2000.
BOMBS AWAY
App State has hit 18 home runs through 11 games this season, which is third most among Sun Belt teams. After hitting just 29 home runs as a team in 2022, App State has seen a major uptick in the power department the last two seasons, slugging 67 home runs in 2023. On Feb. 25 at Siena,
Banks Tolley,
Braxton Church, and
Drew Holderbach hit back-to-back-to-back home runs, marking the first time since April 14, 2017 against Georgia Southern that the Mountaineers had hit three consecutive long balls in a game.
ALL ABOARD
Drew Holderbach has been a valuable addition for the Mountaineers this season, after joining the team as a grad transfer from Rice. The first baseman is slashing .382/.625/.647/1.272 and has tallied 13 hits, 14 walks, and been hit by eight pitches, reaching base safely in all 11 games this season, while currently riding an eight-game hitting streak. Holdebach has reached base 35 times in 56 plate appearances this season, and his on-base percentage ranks second in the Sun Belt and 12
th in the nation.
TAKE IT TO THE BANKS
Banks Tolley has been seeing the ball well early in the season, slashing .375/.474/.708/1.182 with four home runs and 12 RBIs, starting in all 11 games this season. The Ole Miss transfer has also walked six times and been hit by three pitches. Over the last week of play he tallied 17 total bases with three doubles and two home runs, leading the Mountaineers to a 3-1 week. His 18 hits this season rank seventh in the Sun Belt.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
App State starting pitchers were terrific over the weekend in their series win at Southern Illinois.
Bradley Wilson,
Jackson Steensma and
Dante Chirico combined to work 17 innings, allowing just four earned runs (2.12 ERA) on seven hits, while striking out 14.
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. Boyd recorded a seven-game hitting streak from Feb. 18 – March 1 going 12-for-31 (.387) with four home runs, 11 RBIs and 11 runs scored.
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.
THE ZACH ATTACK
Redshirt sophomore
Zach Lewis has been superb in the back end of the Mountaineers' bullpen this season. Lewis leads the team with six appearances this season and has yet to allow a run. He has struck out nine while allowing just one hit, collecting his first save of the year at ETSU on Tuesday. The right-hander topped out at 94 miles-per-hour in that outing.
LEATHERMEN
Through eight games this season, the App State defense has committed just eight errors in 386 chances for a team fielding percentage of .982, which ranks second in the Sun Belt and 29
th nationally.
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
App State has registered a .416 on-base percentage this season, in large part due to being hit by a lot of pitches. App State batters have been hit 31 times in 11 games, a mark that leads the Sun Belt and ranks fourth in the country. Individually,
Drew Holderbach has been hit by eight pitches, which leads the conference and ranks fifth in the nation.
UP NEXT
App State will continue their road trip in Rock Hill, S.C. as they visit Winthrop for a three-game series. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
