BOONE, N.C. – App State's final home and Sun Belt Conference series of the season kicks off Thursday with a meeting against the Georgia Southern Eagles at Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium. The weekend series will conclude a five-game homestand to wrap up the year. First pitch from Boone is scheduled for Thursday at 2 p.m. with every game being streamed on ESPN+.
A packed weekend of promotions and events highlights the three-game set as App State will hold Destress Yosef Day on Thursday with pizza and snow cones for students. Friday will be Senior Graduation Day and the Mountaineers will honor all nine seniors before the game on Saturday. Admission is free to every softball home game.
Who: App State (21-27, 4-17 SBC) vs. Georgia Southern (27-20, 9-12 SBC)
Where: Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium // Boone, N.C.
When: Thursday, May 2 – Friday, May 3
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers extended their nonconference winning streak to eight games with a doubleheader sweep over the ETSU Buccaneers on Tuesday. 19 hits and 18 runs along with solid pitching and defense highlighted the day as App State won 7-0 and 11-4.
A two-homer, four-hit day from
Kayt Houston and a three-hit, four-RBI game from
Addie Wray helped set the tone for App State's five-game homestand to close the season.
Ambry Lucas and
Brooke Kennerly were also instrumental in the two wins as they combined for five hits and three RBIs.
In the circle, the duo of
Sejal Neas and
Delani Buckner were marvelous, combining to allow just four runs while striking out 18 (nine apiece). Neas' four-hit shutout helped set the tone as she struck out nine while walking none and Buckner followed that with her season-best number of strikeouts in a complete-game effort.
First Pitch
- App State's offense has been on a torrid stretch as of late, scorching 31 hits and scoring 30 runs over the last three games. It's the second-best three-game stretch in terms of runs scored this season – the Mountaineers scored 31 runs across three games against ETSU and UNCG from March 11-13.
- With the doubleheader sweep of ETSU on Tuesday, App State concluded its nonconference portion of the schedule with a 17-10 record, which included an eight-game winning streak to close the year. The Mountaineers didn't lose a nonconference from March 3 on.
- An eight-run fourth inning last Sunday at Marshall highlighted a furious comeback effort in the series finale and marked the fifth time this season that the Mountaineers have scored at least eight runs in an inning. It was the second time in the past two weeks that App State has scored at least eight runs in a single inning, with the other time coming back on April 17 against North Carolina A&T.
- Head coach Shelly Hoerner sits just one win away from 700 career wins. She is already the winningest head coach in program history and the only coach to surpass 150 career wins at App State.
- Four runs have been the magic number for the Mountaineers this season as they are 20-4 when scoring four or more.
On the Mountaineers
- Because of the Mountaineers' recent offensive output, the team has raised its overall batting average to .300, good for the fourth-best mark in the Sun Belt entering the weekend. Five different players boast a .300 or higher batting average with Kayt Houston leading the team and the Sun Belt with a .439 number.
- Houston recently became App State's all-time hits and total bases leader, passing Lindsay Glover's mark of 229 set in 2007. With four hits on Tuesday, she also became the first player in program history to eclipse 240 career hits. She has homered in three consecutive games and is two doubles shy of setting the single-season program record for doubles in a season.
- A pair of milestones highlighted last week's action as Delani Buckner struck out her 250th-career batter against Western Carolina on April 23 and Sejal Neas recorded her 200th-career punchout on Sunday at Marshall. Both tossed complete games against ETSU on Tuesday.
- Killian Roberts' two-hit outing on Tuesday pushed her to within one hit of the 100-career hit milestone. If she reaches it, she will become the third Mountaineer this season to eclipse 100 career hits, joining Addie Wray and Taylor Thorp.
- Sophomore infielder Ambry Lucas has started each of the last nine games for the Black and Gold and has produced 11 hits in those games, including a four-hit day in the series finale against Marshall and a three-hit game one against ETSU. Over her last seven games, she has the third-best batting average on the team at .381.
- Two players enter action against Georgia Southern with at least 10 homers in Peyton Darnell (10) and Houston (11). It's the first time that two different players have hit at least 10 homers in the same season since 2016 when Jenny Dodd and Cara Parker went deep 10 and 12 times respectively.
- Entering play this weekend, three Mountaineer pitchers sit in the top 25 in the SBC in ERA in Neas, Buckner and Kaylie Northrop. Neas leads the team with a 3.69 ERA and posted her fourth shutout of the year on Tuesday.
Series History
- App State vs. Georgia Southern
- Record: 14-34
- Last Meeting: April 7, 2023
- Trends:
- The Mountaineers have won two of the last three contests in Boone against Georgia Southern
