BOONE, N.C. – After dropping its first weekend series of the season, App State Baseball looks to bounce back on Tuesday, as the team travels to High Point to take on the Panthers in a midweek clash. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State is 1-2 on the season, dropping its opening weekend series to Queens. The App State offense scored 33 runs across the three games, belting five home runs and batting .300 as a team. The App State pitching staff was victimized by the big inning, as they surrendered at least four runs in a frame four times across the weekend. At the plate, Ole Miss transfer
John Kramer went 6-for-9 with four RBIs in his first action of the season, while Charlotte transfer
Juan Correa belted two home runs in the season opener on Friday.
Caleb Cross impressed in his return to the mound on Friday, tossing 4.1 innings and allowing just one run, while striking out four.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
High Point is off to a 4-0 start to the season after sweeping NJIT, outscoring the Highlanders 46-16, including a pair of run rule wins. Konni Durschlag and Landen Johnson each homered twice on the weekend for a Panther squad that crushed nine home runs as a team. The 4-0 start is the best for the Panthers since starting 4-0 in 2020. High Point is coming off an NCAA regional berth in 2024. The Panthers went 35-27 a season ago and 17-7 in Big South play on their way to a Big South tournament title. They also posted a walk-off win over Vanderbilt in an elimination game in the Clemson regional for their first NCAA Regional win and second SEC victory in program history. The Panthers were picked to repeat as the Big South champion in the 2025 preseason poll.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and High Point are meeting for the 61st time in program history. App State swept the two meetings last season, winning 7-1 on the road and 11-3 in Boone, in the second-highest attended home game in program history. App State has beaten the Panthers in six consecutive meetings and haven't lost a head-to-head matchup since 2014.
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 blasted five home runs in their first weekend of the season versus Queens, picking up right where they left off last season. 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
2025 5 3 1.67
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. Church went 5-for-13 with two doubles, four RBIs and six runs scored opening weekend.
NEWCOMER SUCCESS
App State newcomers wasted no time contributing for the Mountaineers on opening weekend. Charlotte
Juan Correa blasted a career-high two home runs in the season-opener on Friday, tallying a pair of multi-hit games. Ole Miss transfer
John Kramer registered two hits in each of the three games, including his first home run of the season on Sunday. Trevecca Nazarene transfer
Caleb Marks retired each of the first 12 hitters he faced in his start on Sunday.
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
The Mountaineers will return to Hickory this weekend for a three-game set against UMass Lowell at L.P. Frans Stadium. First pitch on Friday is slated for 3 p.m., with Saturday's contest scheduled for 2 p.m. The series will conclude on Sunday, with first pitch set for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be streamed on AppStateSports.com.
