Mountaineers Battle Jaguars in Weekend Set

BOONE, N.C. – App State returns to Sun Belt play this weekend as the Mountaineers welcome the South Alabama Jaguars to Smith Stadium for a three-game series. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. with the middle game on Saturday slated for 2 p.m. The series concludes on Sunday, with first pitch set for 12 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+. Entering the weekend, tenth place and third place in the Sun Belt standings are separated by just two wins.
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the weekend 26-15-1 on the season and 11-9-1 in Sun Belt play and in fifth place in the conference standings with an RPI of 76. The Mountaineers were edged 10-9 by No. 13 Wake Forest on Tuesday in Shelby, N.C. despite hitting four home runs in the game. Previously the Mountaineers swept a series from Georgia State last weekend, highlighted by a Friday night win that saw Banks Tolley set the App State single-season home run record with his 18^th of the year. The Mountaineers also won their Sun Belt series the weekend prior at Arkansas State, collecting two wins and a tie against the Red Wolves. The Mountaineers are now 7-1-1 over their last nine games and have scored at least nine runs in eight of the nine contests. App State is led at the plate by the combination of Banks Tolley, Austin St. Laurent, Drew Holderbach and CJ Boyd who all boast an OPS of over 1.000. Out of the bullpen Zach Lewis has made a team-high 18 appearances, including three straight scoreless outings, while Grey LaSpaluto leads the Sun Belt with seven wins.
 
SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
In ninth place in the Sun Belt, the Jaguars begin the series with a 26-18 overall record, and a 10-11 mark in Sun Belt play. The Jaguars are coming off a midweek win against UAB, after winning a best of three series against conference opponent Texas State last weekend. The Jaguars are second in the Sun Belt in fielding percentage and like to play small ball with 35 sacrifice bunts on the year which is also second in the conference. The Jaguars are led by pitcher Cam Hill who holds a 5-4 record and a 4.61 ERA through 11 starts. The Jaguars pitching staff ranks third in the conference for ERA as a unit. At the plate the Jags are led by Micah Morgan, who is batting .357 on the year. The Jaguars enter the series ranked 66^th in the nation in RPI.
 
SERIES HISTORY
App State and South Alabama have met 22 times in program history, with the Jaguars leading the series 16-6, dating back to the first meeting in 1973. The teams most recently squared off in 2022 with the Jaguars sweeping the three-game set in Mobile, Ala., including a pair of 9-0 shutouts.
 
INSTANT OFFENSE
The Mountaineers offense has been impressive this season, and has scored double-digit runs in 18 games this year, including in six of their last eight contests. Overall, the Mountaineers are averaging 9.4 runs-per-game which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 11th in the nation. The App State offense leads the Sun Belt in in slugging percentage (.522) and ranks second in batting average (.302), home runs (74), triples (11), and on-base percentage (.425), and third in hits (453).

BOMBS AWAY
App State has hit 74 home runs through 42 games this season, which ranks second among Sun Belt teams and 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 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. Banks Tolley broke the record for single-season home runs with his 18th home run against Georgia State on April 26. Overall this season, App State has accumulated 20 multi-homer games, including five three-homer games, four four-homer games, and a pair of five-homer efforts.
 
ALL SAINTS DAY
Redshirt junior Austin St. Laurent has been red hot at the plate as of late, hitting safely in 20 of his last 23 games. Over that span he has gone 46-for-104 (.442), with six home runs, 27 RBIs and 38 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 .369/.453/.631/1.066. He ranks tied for first in the sun bel in triples (4), second in hits (69), third in runs scored (61), sixth in average and seventh RBIs (48), and eighth in slugging.
 
TAKE IT TO THE BANKS
Banks Tolley has been seeing the ball well all season, slashing .371/.481/.737/1.218 with 18 home runs and 54 RBIs, starting in all 42 games this season. The Ole Miss transfer has hit safely in 36 of 42 games, including 21 multi-hit efforts. Tolley leads the Sun Belt in home runs, slugging, OPS and total bases, and ranks third in RBIs and fifth in hits. 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.
 
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 .344/.505/.584/1.089 and has tallied 53 hits, 35 walks, and been hit by 17 pitches – compared to just 27 strikeouts, reaching base safely in all 42 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 tied for second in the Sun Belt in doubles (17), third in on-base percentage, tied for fifth in walks and eighth in runs scored.
 
X MARKS THE SPOT
After being in-and-out of the lineup this season due to injury, Xavier Moronta has found his groove. The senior blasted a grand slam on April 28 to help the Mountaineers sweep Georgia State, as part of a career-high six-RBI effort. Over the course of his last seven games played, Moronta has tallied 14 hits and 19 RBIs. 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.
 
IT'S MILLER TIME
A late addition to the Mountaineers lineup against Wake Forest on Tuesday, Kameron Miller made the most of his opportunity, blasting two two-run home runs in a 10-9 loss to the 13^th-ranked Demon Deacons. In just seven starts this season Miller has showcased his power, hitting his first career home run against Marshall on March 29 (a 455-foot blast), and following it up with another home run as part of a career-high three-hit, six-RBI game on March 30. Miller is slugging .583 on the 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 15 times in 42 games. Boyd has now hit 32 career home runs which ties him for second place on the App State career home run list, despite playing just 83 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 mid-season 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.
 
WHAT A RELIEF
Senior right-hander Grey LaSpaluto is undefeated out of the Mountaineers bullpen this season, boasting a 7-0 record which is tied for the most wins in the Sun Belt this season. Over LaSpaluto's last 10 outings he has struck out 19 batters in 13.1 innings of work. The Mountaineers are 12-4-1 in games in which LaSpaluto pitches. He has struck out a career-high five batters three times this season, including in Sunday's victory at Georgia State.
 
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
App State has registered a .425 on-base percentage this season, in large part due to being hit by a lot of pitches. App State batters have been hit 102 times in 42 games, a mark that leads the Sun Belt and ranks fifth 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 12 times.
 
LEATHERMEN
Through 42 games this season, the App State defense has committed just 40 errors in 1,467 chances for a team fielding percentage of .973, which ranks fourth in the Sun Belt and 88th 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 week with an RPI of 76, 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 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

 
UP NEXT
App State will play its first Sun Belt series in Norfolk as the Mountaineers take on Old Dominion on the road next weekend in a three-game series. The Monarchs enter this weekend 11-10, right in the middle of a jumbled Sun Belt standings.