BOONE, N.C. – App State will open play in the 2024 Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship presented by Troy University on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET when the sixth-seeded Mountaineers face off with the third-seeded Troy Trojans. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and an audio broadcast will also be available on appstatesports.com.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the tournament 31-19-1 on the season and concluded Sun Belt play at 16-13-1 on the season. Despite being picked ninth in the Sun Belt preseason poll, the Mountaineers finished in sixth place in the conference standings and rank 76th nationally in RPI. App State will look to build upon last year's success at the Sun Belt when the Mountaineers fended off elimination three times, defeating No. 16 Southern Miss to advance to a winner-take-all semifinal showdown. First team All-Conference selections
Banks Tolley and
Austin St. Laurent lead the Mountaineers at the plate. Tolley leads the league in home runs with 25, which is also an App State single-season record, and was named the Sun Belt newcomer of the year.
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Troy enters tournament play 36-20 on the season and wrapped up Sun Belt play with a mark of 18-12, highlighted by a series win over Sun Belt regular season champion Louisiana in the final month of the season. Troy ranks 53rd nationally in RPI. Brooks Bryan leads the Trojans with 83 RBIs this season, a mark that ranks third in the nation, while Ethan Kavanaugh paces the club with a .371 averages and Kole Myers leads the way with a league-best 34 stolen bases on the season. Starter Luke Lyon leads the way on the mound with a 3.95 ERA.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Troy have met 29 times in program history, with the Trojans leading the all-time series, 21-8. Troy took two of three in the regular season series in Boone, with App State getting its lone win in run-rule fashion on a walk-off homer from
Graham Smiley. That day
Jackson Steensma set a career high with 10 strikeouts in an 11-1 win. The two squads earned identical seeds in the tournament a year ago. In the opening round the Trojans won 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 rally with two outs in the sixth inning to overcome an early 7-0 deficit.
APP AT THE SBC
App State has won at least one game at the Sun Belt tournament in each of the last three seasons. Last year the Mountaineers staved off elimination three times, culminating with a victory over No. 16 Southern Miss to advance to a winner-take-all semifinal for the first time in program history. App State's lone conference tournament championship came as a SoCon member in 1984. The Mountaineers have also won six regular season titles, most recently in 2012 when they won a program-record 41 games and advanced to the Charlottesville, Va. regional.
INSTANT OFFENSE
The Mountaineers offense has been impressive this season, and has scored double-digit runs in 21 games this year. Overall, the Mountaineers are averaging 9.0 runs-per-game which ranks 15th in the nation. The App State offense ranks second in the Sun Belt in slugging percentage (.520) and home runs (91) and third in batting average (.300) and on-base (.415).
BOMBS AWAY
App State has hit 91 home runs through 51 games this season, which ranks second in the Sun Belt and ranks 35th 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 Smith Stadium 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 stadium history and the first time since 2008 that App State has gone deep five times in a game. With
Banks Tolley's home run in the regular season finale, the Mountaineers broke the program record of 90 home runs in a year which had stood since 1986. Overall, App State has accumulated 25 multi-homer games, including nine three-homer games, four four-homer games, and a pair of five-homer efforts.
TAKE IT TO THE BANKS
Banks Tolley continues his banner season for the Mountaineers, headlined by program-record total and league-leading 25 home runs on the season. The Ole Miss transfer has hit safely in 43 of 51 games, including 25 multi-hit efforts. Tolley leads the Sun Belt in home runs, batting average (.385), slugging (.798), and OPS (1.288) and ranks second in the league in total bases (166), and RBIs (71), fourth in runs scored (66) and on-base (.490) and tied for fifth in hits (80). 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 26 at Georgia State, Tolley crushed his 18
th home run of the season, establishing a new single-season program record. May 16 against Georgia Southern, Tolley matched Andre Crawford's program record by hitting three home runs in a game, including a walk-off blast in the 10th inning. Tolley was named the 2024 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and garnered First Team All-Conference recognition.
DANTE'S INFERNO
Senior right-hander
Dante Chirico was named the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week May 13, following an exceptional in his start against Old Dominion on Saturday. Chirico delivered a career-high eight innings in the Mountaineers' 4-3 win over the Monarchs, marking the longest outing by a Mountaineer pitcher this season. The Chapin, S.C. native allowed just one run, while scattering seven hits and struck out eight, without walking a batter in the outing. He did not allow a runner to advance past second base until the sixth inning and did not allow a run to score until the eighth. The performance served as an encore for Chirico, who tossed seven innings a week prior, combining with
Cody Little to one-hit South Alabama.
ALL SAINTS DAY
Redshirt junior
Austin St. Laurent has been red hot at the plate as of late, hitting safely in 28 of his last 32 games. Over that span he has gone 61-for-147 (.415), with nine home runs, 36 RBIs and 51 runs scored. St. Laurent has slugged 14 home runs this season, more than doubling 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. St. Laurent ranked among league leaders in triples (4 – T-1st), hits (85 – 2nd), runs scored (74 – 3rd), batting average (.371 – T-6th), OPS (1.061 – 10th) and RBIs (57 – 10th).
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 reached base safely in each of the Mountaineers first 43 games of the season marking the second-longest on-base streak in program history. Holderbach has reached base at a .485 clip this season which is sixth in the Sun Belt. He has totaled 63 hits, 38 walks and 17 hit by pitch compared to just 36 strikeouts. 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 among league leaders in doubles (18 – T-4th), hit by pitch (17 – T-5th), runs scored (61 – 8th), walks (38 – 8th), and on-base (.470 – T-8th).
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 has made 12 starts this season, going 6-2 with a 4.15 ERA. Steensma ranks among league leaders in opponent's batting average (.238 – T-8th), strikeouts (69 – T-7th), looking strikeouts (24 – 5th), wins (6 – T-8th) and innings pitched (65 – 10th). Steensma registered a career-high ten strikeouts in a win over Troy on April 13 and has combined for 26 strikeouts and just one walk across his last four starts. The sophomore also took a no hitter into the fifth inning against Marshall on March 30.
BASHIN' BOYD
After matching a program record with 17 home runs a season ago,
CJ Boyd has a chance to eclipse that mark this season, having already gone deep 16 times in 48 games. Boyd has now hit 33 career home runs which ties him for first place on the App State career home run list with Andre Crawford (1985-87), despite playing just 93 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. Boyd is one stolen base away from a second consecutive season of double-digit home runs, doubles and stolen bases.
WHAT A RELIEF
Senior right-hander
Grey LaSpaluto is undefeated out of the Mountaineers bullpen this season, boasting an 8-1 record which is tied for the most in the Sun Belt this season. Over LaSpaluto's last 14 outings he has struck out 27 batters in 20.1 innings of work. The Mountaineers are 15-5-1 in games in which LaSpaluto pitches. He has struck out a career-high five batters three times this season.
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
App State has registered a .415 on-base percentage this season, in large part due to being hit by a lot of pitches. App State batters have been hit 116 times in 51 games, a mark that ranks second in the Sun Belt and ranks fifth in the country. Individually,
Drew Holderbach has been hit by 17 pitches, which ranks fifth in the conference.
LEATHERMEN
Through 51 games this season, the App State defense has committed just 44 errors in 1,789 chances for a team fielding percentage of .975, which ranks third in the Sun Belt and 60th nationally. App State has finished with a fielding percentage above .972 just twice in a season in program history.
National Recognition
D1Baseball.com ranked
Banks Tolley (54) and CJ Body (64) as Top-100 outfielders on their midseason rankings. Following week 12 play,
Drew Holderbach was ranked as the 37
th best first baseman in the country,
Austin St. Laurent was named the 28
th best third baseman,
Banks Tolley was named the 14
th best outfielder and
Jackson Steensma was selected as the 142nd-best starting pitcher in the country.
SUPERB SUN BELT
App State enters the tournament with an RPI of 76, sitting as one of nine 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 fifth 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
- App State has never before recorded a six-game unbeaten stretch in Sun Belt play
- Five different Mountaineers have tallied an 11-game hitting streak this season
- Five different Mountaineers have recorded a two-homer game this season
- App State won four consecutive Sun Belt series for the first time in program history (ASU, GSU, USA, ODU)
UP NEXT
With a win on Wednesday the Mountaineers will advance in the winner's bracket and play their second game of the tournament on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET. With a loss the Mountaineers would play an elimination game on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. All Sun Belt tournament games are streamed on ESPN+ and will have an audio broadcast on appstatesports.com.
