BOONE, N.C. – For the second consecutive week, App State baseball hit the road in Sun Belt play, traveling to Atlanta, Ga. to take on Georgia State in a three-game series. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. with game two slated for 3 p.m. on Saturday. The series concludes on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. in the finale. Entering the weekend, just three wins separate second place and tenth place in the conference standings.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the weekend 23-14-1 on the season and 8-9-1 in Sun Belt play following a dramatic walk-off win on Tuesday over ETSU. After letting a seven-run lead slip away, the Mountaineers tallied three ninth inning singles, including the game-winning hit from
CJ Boyd over the drawn-in ETSU infield for a 12-11 win. App State has now scored 56 runs on 60 hits over the course of its last four games. The Mountaineers are led at the plate by a quartet of players who all boast an OPS of over 1.000 –
Banks Tolley,
Austin St. Laurent,
Drew Holderbach, and
CJ Boyd. Saturday starter
Jackson Steensma leads the Black and Gold on the mound with a 4.14 ERA and 52 strikeouts on the year.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Georgia State enters the series 21-20 on the season and 10-8 in Sun Belt play. The Panthers are coming off a Wednesday loss to Presbyterian, after posting a run-rule win over Alabama State on Tuesday. The team lost two of three last weekend at Troy. The Panthers have also recorded series wins over South Alabama, ULM, JMU, and Southern Miss in Sun Belt play. Will Mize leads the Panthers at the plate, batting .353 with 13 doubles, nine home runs and 40 RBIs. Seven different Panthers have hit at least six home runs this season. Michael Maginnis is also batting .339 and has stolen a team high 18 bases. Saturday starter Rob Evans is the only Panther to start more than five games this season, while Brady Jones is their top reliver, boasting a 3.07 ERA in 11 appearances, including a pair of saves.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Georgia State have faced off 29 times in a series that dates back to 1979, with the Panthers holding a 17-12 advantage. App State took two of three in last year's series, including a thrilling 15-14 win in the finale on a walk-off from
Hayden Cross, after the Mountaineers fell behind 8-0 in the second inning.
PITCHING MATCHUP
RHP Kameron Douglas (0-1, 9.00) vs RHP
Bradley Wilson (1-3, 8.80)
LHP Rob Evans (3-2, 5.89) vs RHP
Jackson Steensma (5-2, 4.14)
RHP Sam Schofield (2-1, 6.55) vs RHP
Dante Chirico (3-1, 6.85)
INSTANT OFFENSE
The Mountaineers offense has been impressive this season, and has scored double-digit runs in 16 games this year, including each of their last four contests. Overall, the Mountaineers are averaging 9.4 runs-per-game which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 11
th in the nation. The App State offense also leads the conference in home runs (68), and slugging percentage (.521), and ranks second in triples (11), third in on-base percentage (.424) and batting average (.298), and fourth in hits (402).
BOMBS AWAY
App State has hit 68 home runs through 38 games this season, which is the most among Sun Belt teams and 27
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. The program record for home runs in a season is 90, established in 1986, but no team had hit more than 67 in the BBCOR bat era (2011-present) prior to this year's team.
ALL SAINTS DAY
Redshirt junior
Austin St. Laurent has been red hot at the plate as of late, hitting safely in 17 of his last 19 games. Over that span he has gone 39-for-87 (.448), with six home runs, 26 RBIs and 32 runs scored. St. Laurent has slugged 11 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 began the season as the everyday third baseman, before shifting to shortstop in mid-April. Overall, he is slashing .364/.428/.647/1.075. He leads the Sun Belt in hits (62) and ranks third in runs scored (55), sixth in RBIs (47), and seventh in average.
TAKE IT TO THE BANKS
Banks Tolley has been seeing the ball well this season, slashing .371/.479/.755/1.234 with 17 home runs and 49 RBIs, starting in all 38 games this season. The Ole Miss transfer has hit safely in 33 of 38 games, including 19 multi-hit efforts. The Madison, Miss. native is currently riding a ten-game hitting streak, going 19-for-43 (.442), with six home runs and 13 RBIs over that span. Tolley leads the Sun Belt in home runs, slugging and total bases, and ranks 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. April 20 at Arkansas State, Tolley tied the single-season home run record, matching Daniel Kassouf (2012) and
CJ Boyd (2023).
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 .338/.508/.566/1.074 and has tallied 46 hits, 32 walks, and been hit by 17 pitches – compared to just 23 strikeouts, reaching base safely in all 38 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 fourth in the Sun Belt in on-base percentage, fourth in doubles (14) and fifth in walks.
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 6.1 innings in his win at Arkansas State on Saturday, striking out six without issuing a walk. Steensma registered a career-high ten strikeouts in a win over Troy on April 13 and has combined for 16 strikeouts and just two walks across his last two starts. The sophomore also took a no hitter into the fifth inning against Marshall on March 30. Steensma is now 5-2 on the season with a 4.14 ERA and has struck out 52 batters in 50 innings of work. He has gone at least five innings in seven of his ten outings, including four quality starts. His five wins are tied for fifth in the Sun Belt, while his 1.16 WHIP is seventh in the Conference.
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. The App State second baseman reached base in 25 consecutive games from March 3 through April 21. He leads the Black & Gold with a .391 batting average in Sun Belt games.
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 14 times in 38 games. Boyd has now hit 31 career home runs which ties him for third place on the App State career list, despite playing just 82 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. Boyd tallied a walk-off single in the Mountaineers win over ETSU on April 23, almost exactly a year following a walk-off two-run homer against JMU in the 10
th inning in 2023.
X MARKS THE SPOT
After being in-and-out of the lineup this season due to injury,
Xavier Moronta found his groove in the Mountaineers series win at Arkansas State. The senior tallied seven hits, including three doubles, and drove in ten runs across three games. He added two more hits in Tuesday's win over ETSU. The Mountaineers hope Moronta can regain his 2023 form down the stretch. The Miramar, Fla. native Moronta started all 55 games for the Black & Gold last season, slashing .339/.444/.459 and reached base safely in 47 of 55 games.
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
App State has registered a .424 on-base percentage this season, in large part due to being hit by a lot of pitches. App State batters have been hit 97 times in 38 games, a mark that leads the Sun Belt and ranks third in the country. Individually,
Drew Holderbach has been hit by 17 pitches, which ranks second in the Sun Belt, while
Banks Tolley has been plunked 11 times.
LEATHERMEN
Through 38 games this season, the App State defense has committed just 35 errors in 1,329 chances for a team fielding percentage of .974, which ranks fourth in the Sun Belt and 76
th nationally. App State has finished with a fielding percentage above .972 just twice in a season in program history.
SUPERB SUN BELT
App State enters the weekend with an RPI of 83, 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 fiftth in the nation in RPI, ahead of the 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.
2024 Bullets
- Series win over No. 13 Coastal Carolina was the first series win versus a top-15 opponent since the 2012 squad took two of three from No. 7 LSU in Baton Rouge
- App State has set the program record for most home runs in the BBCOR Bat era (since 2011)
- 20 runs against Arkansas State on April 19 were the most since 2019 and most ever against a Sun Belt opponent
- 12-12 tie with the Red Wolves on April 21 was just the eighth tie in program history and the first for the Mountaineers since 2010 against Western Carolina
- 2-0-1 series at Arkansas State was first unbeaten three-game Sun Belt road series since 2018 at UT Arlington
UP NEXT
App State will head to Shelby, N.C. for a matchup with No. 8 Wake Forest on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
