BOONE, N.C. – The App State Baseball team welcomes the Troy Trojans to Smith Stadium for a three-game Sun Belt series Friday through Sunday. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. with Saturday's contest slated for 3 p.m. The series concludes on Sunday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the weekend 19-11 on the season and 5-7 in Sun Belt play following a dramatic walk-off win over UNC Asheville on Tuesday. After allowing four runs in the top of the ninth inning to give up the lead for the first time in the ballgame, App State loaded the bases in the bottom half of the frame, and
Braxton Church delivered a game-winning two-run single for the first walk-off win of the year. App State is now 10-2 at home this season and 87
th in the nation in RPI. App State is led by a trio of players who boast an OPS of over 1.000 this season in
Austin St. Laurent,
Banks Tolley, and
Drew Holderbach. The season has been highlighted by a series win over No. 13 Coastal Carolina, the first series win over a top-15 opponent since defeating No. 7 LSU in 2012.
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Troy enters the weekend 23-11 and 7-5 in Sun Belt play following a sweep of Arkansas State last weekend, highlighted by a walk-off single from Peyton Watts on Sunday to give the Trojans their fifth win in a row. Troy has also won a series from ULM, while a series win over Indiana headlined non-conference play. Kole Myers leads the Trojans at the plate with a .376 average and 16 extra-base hits, including eight home runs. Will Butcher has also hit 10 homers on the year. As a team the Trojans are batting .294 and own a .939 OPS. Friday starter Luke Lyon leads the Troy pitching staff with a 2.35 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 38.1 innings this season.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Troy have met 26 times in program history, with the Trojans leading the all-time series, 19-7. The two teams met five times in a nine-day span last season with the Trojans taking two of three to end the regular season. The two squads met again in the opening round of the Sun Belt tournament, with the Trojans winning 10-9 in 10 innings to advance to the winners' bracket. App State then got revenge with a 14-10 victory against Troy two days later, in an elimination game, to send the Mountaineers on to the semifinals. The Mountaineers used a 10-run sixth inning to overcome an early 7-0 deficit.
PITCHING MATCHUP
RHP Luke Lyon (4-1, 2.35) vs. RHP
Bradley Wilson (1-2, 8.36)
RHP Garrett Gainous (1-1, 4.58) vs. TBA
RHP Brady Fuller (0-0, 2.92) vs. RHP
Dante Chirico (3-1, 5.88)
INSTANT OFFENSE
The Mountaineers offense has been impressive this season, and has scored double-digit runs in 11 games this year. Overall, the Mountaineers are averaging 9.3 runs-per-game which is second-most in the Sun Belt and 15
th in the nation. The App State offense also ranks second in the conference in home runs (53), third in on-base percentage (.422), third in slugging (.510), fifth in doubles (62) and fifth in triples (7).
BOMBS AWAY
App State has hit 53 home runs through 30 games this season, which is second-most among Sun Belt teams and 28
th nationally. 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. March 19 against Queens, the Mountaineers slugged five home runs, marking just the third time in program history and the first time since 2008 that App State went deep five times in a single game. The Mountaineers have hit at least three home runs in a game eight times this year.
ALL SAINTS DAY
Redshirt junior
Austin St. Laurent has been red hot at the plate as of late, hitting safely in each of his last 11 games. Over that span he has gone 25-for-51 (.463), with three home runs, 15 RBIs and 22 runs scored. St. Laurent has slugged eight home runs this season, eclipsing his total (6) from his first two years combined. After playing first base and shortstop as a freshman and center field as a sophomore, St. Laurent has settled in as the Mountaineers everyday third baseman this season. Overall, he is slashing .358/.414/.619/1.033. He ranks second in the Sun Belt in hits (48), fourth in runs scored (44), and eighth in RBIs (36).
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 .317/.507/.558/1.065 and has tallied 33 hits, 25 walks, and been hit by 16 pitches, reaching base safely in all 30 games this season. Holderbach belted the go-ahead home run in the March 17 win at Texas State, which was the longest home run hit by a Mountaineer in recorded history, traveling 465 feet. Holderbach tallied an 11-game hitting streak from Feb. 20 through March 10. His .507 on-base percentage ranks fourth in the Sun Belt and 54
th nationally.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
Despite hitting ninth in the batting order,
Joseph Zamora has had a major impact on the Mountaineers offensive attack. Zamora recorded an 11-game hitting streak, from March 19 – April 7 going 22-for-46 (.478), with nine doubles, 20 RBIs, and ten runs scored over that span. Zamora was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week on March 26, following 10 hits and 10 RBIs the week prior, helping the Mountaineers to a series win over No. 13 Coastal Carolina. He has raised his average by 127 points during the streak.
TAKE IT TO THE BANKS
Banks Tolley has been seeing the ball well this season, slashing .361/.480/.730/1.210 with 12 home runs and 38 RBIs, starting in all 30 games this season. The Ole Miss transfer has hit safely in 25 of 30 games, including 14 multi-hit efforts. Tolley ranks tied for second in the Sun Belt in home runs, third in total bases (89), second in slugging and fifth in RBIs. On April 2 against High Point, Tolley ripped a single to left field that left the bat at 113.62 miles-per-hour, the hardest hit ball by a Mountaineer in the TrackMan era.
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 12 appearances this season and has allowed just ten hits and six earned runs across 15.0 innings of work. Lewis has struck out 18 while collecting a pair of saves. The righty tossed two innings in relief on March 29 against Marshall to earn his first win of the year.
GRAHAM SLAM
Redshirt freshman
Graham Smiley enjoyed a career-day at the plate March 19 against Queens. Smiley hit his first collegiate home run in the fourth inning, and followed it up with a grand slam in the fifth, becoming the third Mountaineer to hit two home runs in a game this season. Smiley finished with six RBIs, joining
Golston Gillespie (twice) as the only players to drive in six runs since App State joined the Sun Belt. Smiley followed that up with another grand slam on April 6 at JMU, his second grand slam out of his first three career home runs, coming across just six starts at the collegiate level. The Denver, N.C. native launched a solo home run on Tuesday versus UNC Asheville.
BASHIN' BOYD
After matching a program record with 17 home runs a season ago,
CJ Boyd is on pace to eclipse that mark this season, having already gone deep 11 times in 30 games. Boyd has now hit 28 career home runs which ties him for sixth place on the App State career list, despite playing just 75 games in a Black & Gold uniform. A first team All-Conference selection in 2023, and a preseason All-Conference selection this season, Boyd was ranked as the 64
th best outfielder in the nation on the D1baseball.com midseason rankings.
WHAT A RELIEF
Grey LaSpaluto earned the win in relief on Tuesday for the Mountaineers, marking his fourth victory this season, all as a reliever. LaSpaluto joins Noah Manning (Troy, 5-0) and Billy Oldham (USM, 4-0) as Sun Belt pitchers to have at least four wins without a defeat this season. In ten outings this season, LaSpaluto has struck out 21 batters in 17.2 innings of work.
LET'S GET WILD(ER)
Despite batting .233 overall this season,
Hunter Wilder has really elevated his play against conference opponents, batting .355 with two home runs, four doubles, 11 RBIs and an OPS of 1.164 in 11 games (eight starts) against Sun Belt opponents.
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
App State has registered a .422 on-base percentage this season, in large part due to being hit by a lot of pitches. App State batters have been hit 83 times in 30 games, a mark that leads the Sun Belt and ranks second in the country. Individually,
Drew Holderbach has been hit by 16 pitches, which leads the Sun Belt and ranks tenth in the nation, while
Banks Tolley and
Hunter Wilder have each been hit ten times.
LEATHERMEN
Through 30 games this season, the App State defense has committed just 26 errors in 1,040 chances for a team fielding percentage of .975, which ranks third in the Sun Belt and 62
nd nationally.
SUPERB SUN BELT
App State enters the weekend with an RPI of 87, sitting as one of 10 Sun Belt teams inside the top-100 in college baseball. The Sun Belt continues to be one of the top conferences in college baseball, ranking fourth in the nation in RPI, ahead of the Big Ten and Pac12. Last season nine Sun Belt teams finished in the Top-100 in RPI, with four Sun Belt squads advancing to the regional round of the NCAA tournament.
UP NEXT
App State will travel to Western Carolina on Tuesday for a meeting with the Catamounts with first pitch slated for 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
