BOONE, N.C. – The App State Baseball begins a four-game road swing, beginning with a stop in Cullowhee, N.C. to face Western Carolina in a midweek contest. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the week 20-13 on the season and 6-9 in Sun Belt play, marking the fastest that the Mountaineers have reached the 20-win plateau since 2013. App State took one of three from Troy over the weekend, winning game two of Saturday's doubleheader 11-1 in seven innings.
Jackson Steensma struck out a career-high ten batters, while the offense slugged five home runs for the second time this year. App State is led by a quartet of players who boast an OPS of over 1.000 this season in
Austin St. Laurent,
Banks Tolley,
Drew Holderbach, and
CJ Boyd. 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 CATAMOUNTS
Western Carolina enters the matchup 19-14 on the season and 5-4 in SoCon play after taking one of three from UNCG over the weekend. The Catamounts recorded a seven-game winning streak in non-conference play, taking down Michigan State and sweeping Harvard over that span. The Catamounts are led at the plate by Nate Stocum, who leads the conference with 12 doubles and ranks second with 14 home runs. Stocum leads six members of the lineup batting over .300, paced by Mason Holton who is batting .343. Jonathan Todd leads the Western Carolina bullpen, recording six saves and pitching to a 2.45 ERA over 16 appearances this year.
SERIES HISTORY
Former SoCon opponents App State and Western Carolina have met 157 times in program history, with the Catamounts leading the series 91-65-1. The two programs most recently faced off in 2020, with App State winning 2-0 in Boone. Noah Hall picked up the win with two scoreless innings in relief, while Jack Hartman recording the save.
PITCHING MATCHUP
RHP Gavin Mortenson (2-2, 3.93) vs. RHP
Trey Tujetsch (2-1, 7.20)
INSTANT OFFENSE
The Mountaineers offense has been impressive this season, and has scored double-digit runs in 12 games this year. Overall, the Mountaineers are averaging 9.0 runs-per-game which is third-most in the Sun Belt and 20
th in the nation. The App State offense also ranks second in the conference in home runs (60), second in triples (10), third in on-base percentage (.416), third in slugging (.519), and fifth in doubles (66).
BOMBS AWAY
App State has hit 60 home runs through 33 games this season, which is second-most among Sun Belt teams and 26
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. App State tied a program record by hitting five home runs in a ballgame, doing so twice this season, once against Queens on March 19 and once against Troy on April 13. It marks the third and fourth times in program history and the first time since 2008 that App State has gone deep five times in a game.
ALL SAINTS DAY
Redshirt junior
Austin St. Laurent has been red hot at the plate as of late, hitting safely in 13 of his last 14 games. Over that span he has gone 28-for-62 (.452), with four home runs, 18 RBIs and 24 runs scored. St. Laurent has slugged nine 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 .352/.409/.621/1.030. He ranks fourth in the Sun Belt in hits (51), fourth in runs scored (46), seventh in RBIs (37), and ninth in average.
TAKE IT TO THE BANKS
Banks Tolley has been seeing the ball well this season, slashing .361/.476/.744/1.220 with 14 home runs and 42 RBIs, starting in all 33 games this season. The Ole Miss transfer has hit safely in 28 of 33 games, including 15 multi-hit efforts. Tolley ranks tied for first in the Sun Belt in home runs, second in total bases (99), second in slugging and third 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. He is three home runs shy of the single-season record.
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 .319/.506/.566/1.072 and has tallied 36 hits, 28 walks, and been hit by 16 pitches, reaching base safely in all 33 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. He ranks third in the Sun Belt in on-base percentage and sixth in walks.
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.
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 in a game since App State joined the Sun Belt. Smiley hit a walk-off two-run home run in the seventh inning against Troy on April 13 for a run-rule win. Smiley also hit a second grand slam on April 6 at JMU. In nine starts this season, Smiley has hit five home runs, accounting for all but three of his hits this year.
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 13 times in 33 games. Boyd has now hit 30 career home runs which ties him for fourth place on the App State career list, despite playing just 78 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.
SUPER STEENSMA
After recording seven saves as a closer his freshman season,
Jackson Steensma has been superb since moving into the starting rotation as a sophomore. Steensma is coming off a career-high ten strikeouts in a win over Troy on April 13, allowing just five baserunners over six innings of work. Steensma is now 4-1 on the season with a 4.12 ERA and has struck out 46 batters in 43.2 innings of work. He has gone at least five innings in six of his nine starts this season.
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 86 times in 33 games, a mark that leads the Sun Belt and ranks third in the country. Individually,
Drew Holderbach has been hit by 16 pitches, which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 16
th in the nation, while
Banks Tolley and
Hunter Wilder have each been hit 11 and 10 times respectively.
LEATHERMEN
Through 30 games this season, the App State defense has committed just 39 errors in 1,149 chances for a team fielding percentage of .974, which ranks third in the Sun Belt and 72
nd nationally.
SUPERB SUN BELT
App State enters the weekend with an RPI of 97, 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 Jonesboro, Ark. this weekend for a three-game series against Arkansas State. The Red Wolves enter the week 17-20 overall and 4-11 in Sun Belt play. Second place and last place in the Sun Belt are separated by just five wins in the standings.
