BOONE, N.C. – Following back-to-back 30-win seasons, App State baseball opens the 2025 campaign in Hickory, as the team faces Queens in a three-game series at L.P. Frans Stadium. First pitch on Friday is set for 3 p.m., with Saturday's matchup scheduled for 2 p.m. The series concludes on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be streamed on appstatesports.com.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
Following the best offensive season in program history and a second consecutive trip to the Sun Belt Tournament Semifinals, App State looks to continue its recent success in 2025. App State has added 17 newcomers to the roster this season, to go along with 21 returning players from last year's squad. The newcomers are highlighted by Division II All-American
Caleb Marks who joins the team from Trevecca Nazarene where he pitched for App State pitching coach
Jim Leggett for two seasons. Slugger
Juan Correa joins the lineup after spending the 2024 season with Charlotte. App State also returns starters
Joseph Zamora and
Braxton Church in the field as well as veteran arms in
Bradley Wilson,
Caleb Cross and
Collin Welch. App State was picked ninth in the Sun Belt Preseason Poll.
SCOUTING THE ROYALS
In Queens' second season at the Division I level last season, the Royals went 14-41 overall and 10-20 in A-SUN play, highlighted by a series win over Eastern Kentucky. Dillon Lewis led the way for the Royals at the plate, batting .371 with 22 home runs and 63 RBIs in 55 games before being selected by the New York Yankees in the 13
th round of the 2024 MLB Draft. Last month, projected closer Ryan Brown was named the ASUN Freshman of the Year by D1 Baseball. Queens was picked ninth in the ASUN Preseason Poll.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Queens have met six times since the Royals joined the Division I level in 2023. App State leads the all-time series 5-1, sweeping the two meetings last season by a combined score of 31-6. App State assistant coach Ross Steedley was the head coach of the Royals in 2023 when the two teams faced in Hickory to kick off Queens' inaugural D-1 season.
2024 RECAP
The 2024 App State baseball team posted 33 wins, the most for the program since 2012, and for the second consecutive year won 30 games and made it to the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals.
Along the way, App State shattered several individual and team records.
Banks Tolley was named a Second Team All-American by ABCA/Rawlings, becoming the first Mountaineer since Daniel Kassouf in 2012 to earn All-American honors. Tolley and
Austin St. Laurent were named All-Sun Belt honorees, and both were selected to the Southeast All-Region team. Tolley was named the Sun Belt's Newcomer of the Year, and St. Laurent was later drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 14th round of the MLB Draft.
App State finished with an RPI of 72, the best mark in
Kermit Smith's tenure, highlighted by a series win over No. 13 Coastal Carolina, which marked the first win over a top-15 program since the 2012 team took two of three from No. 7 LSU in Baton Rouge. The team posted 16 wins in Sun Belt play, winning six conference series for the second straight year. App State clinched a top-six seed in the Sun Belt tournament on a walk-off grand slam from
Banks Tolley in the final home series of the season against Georgia Southern. It capped a three-homer game for Tolley which tied the program record for a game. Tolley also set the single-season home run record with 26 home runs, while
CJ Boyd set the App State career home run record with 35.
WHERE THEY RANKED – 2024
| STAT |
VALUE |
Sun Belt Rank |
National Rank |
| Hit by pitch |
124 |
2nd |
6th |
| Home runs |
96 |
2nd |
38th |
| Runs |
484 |
3rd |
27th |
| Fielding percentage |
.977 |
1st |
44th |
| Batting average |
.296 |
4th |
63rd |
| On-base percentage |
.411 |
3rd |
32nd |
| Slugging percentage |
.508 |
1st |
39th |
The team set all-time records for home runs (96) and runs scored (484) and finished in the top-10 in App State history in hits, slugging, OPS and stolen bases. The pitching staff also recorded 446 strikeouts, the second-most in team history.
LEATHERMEN
App State led the Sun Belt in fielding percentage last season, boasting a .977 mark in the field, highlighted by 25 errorless games. The 2024 team compiled the second-best mark in App State program history, trailing only the 2020 team, which posted a .981 mark through 17 games before the season was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BOMBS AWAY
App State set a program record by hitting 96 home runs in 2024, eclipsing the previous record of 90 set by the 1986 team. App State finished the season second in the Sun Belt and 32
nd nationally in home runs-per-game with 1.75. App State has seen a major uptick in the power department the last two seasons, slugging 67 home runs in 2023 after just 29 the year prior.
Banks Tolley set the single-season program record with 26 home runs, while
CJ Boyd added 18 (eclipsing his previous single-season record of 17 in 2023), while
Austin St. Laurent added 14 dingers.
YEAR HOME RUNS GAMES HR/GM
2024 96 55 1.75
2023 67 55 1.23
2022 29 53 0.55
BEHIND THE DISH
Senior catcher
Braxton Church is the only Mountaineers' position player who has been on the field in each of the past three seasons. In his career Church has played in 87 games and made 59 starts. As the Mountaineers' primary catcher last season, Church hit a career-high seven home runs, while reaching base 88 times in 46 games (.404 OPB). The Wilkesboro, N.C. native grew up just half an hour from Boone and comes from a family of Mountaineers.
NATIONALLY RANKED
Second baseman
Joseph Zamora was named the 35
th-best player at his position by D1baseball.com heading into the year.
MANY HAPPY RETURNS
App State returns several key players who missed significant time with injury in 2024. Redshirt senior
Caleb Cross who missed the entire 2024 season due to injury returns to the rotation, along with starting shortstop
Jonathan Xuereb, who was limited to just three games in 2024 due to injury. Outfielder
Dillon Moquin made nine starts for the Mountaineers before having his season cut short due to injury.
SUPERB SUN BELT
The Sun Belt continues to be one of the top conferences in college baseball, ranking fifth in the nation in RPI in each of the past two seasons. Last year nine Sun Belt programs finished in the top-100 nationally in RPI with four teams making the NCAA tournament.
PROGRAM TRAJECTORY
- App State has recorded back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since 2012-13
- The Mountaineers have finished in the top-100 nationally in RPI three of the past five seasons
- App State has finished among the top-six in the Sun Belt conference standings three of the past four seasons
- App State is the only Sun Belt team to have won at least one game at each of the last four conference tournaments
UP NEXT
App State will travel to High Point on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. matchup with the Panthers on ESPN+. The Mountaineers will then return to Hickory next weekend for a three-game set against UMass Lowell.
