BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball will play in Boone for the first time in 2025, as the team hosts Gardner-Webb in a three-game series at Smith Stadium. It's alumni weekend, highlighted by the fifth annual App State Baseball brunch, where Johnny Blankenship ('81) will deliver the keynote address. First pitch on Friday and Saturday is set for 3 p.m., with the series finale on Sunday slated for 1 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
All App State faculty and staff will receive complimentary admission to Friday's home opener by presenting a valid App Card at the gate.
Please note, due to construction, Bodenheimer Drive is currently closed between Rivers Street and Fieds Way. Fans traveling to Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium from Rivers Street must continue to Poplar Grove Road and use Fieds Way to connect to Bodenheimer Drive beyond the closure point. This route will provide access to the Greenwood Parking Lot (complimentary parking with shuttle service) and Smith Stadium Lot (VIP/Reserved single-game parking).
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the weekend 4-4 on the season after dropping a midweek contest on the road to ETSU. The Mountaineers are getting set for their first home games of the season at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium, where the team went 12-7 a season ago.
Joseph Zamora leads the team at the plate, batting .435 on the season, with 10 hits and nine RBIs in six games played. Charlotte transfer
Juan Correa has provided the thump offensively, blasting five home runs in his first eight games, driving in 12. On the Mound,
Caleb Cross leads the Mountaineers with a 0.93 ERA through two starts, while
Jordan Fisher locked down the first two saves of his career last weekend to sweep the series from UMass Lowell.
SCOUTING THE RUNNIN' BULLDOGS
Gardner-Webb enters the series 5-5 on the season, following a midweek loss to South Carolina in Columbia. Last season the Bulldogs posted a 22-31 record overall and went 9-15 in Big South play, finishing seventh in the Big South standings. This year, Gardner-Webb was picked to finish third in the conference and received a first place vote in the preseason poll. Outfielders Nick Capozzi and Lawson Knight and relief pitcher Devin Pressley were selected to the preseason All-Conference team. Dale Francis Jr. has led the Runnin' Bulldogs at the plate this season, batting .344 with two home runs and 12 RBIs. Jayden Stockton has impressed out of the bullpen with four scoreless outings to begin his season.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Gardner-Webb have faced off 53 times in a series that dates back to 1977. The Mountaineers lead the all-time series 31-22 including a series win in Boiling Springs to open last season, capped by an extra-inning win in the finale.
BOMBS AWAY
Highlighted by a four-homer game against High Point on Feb. 18, App State has continued its power surge over the past three seasons. 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 13 8 1.63
2024 96 55 1.75
2023 67 55 1.23
2022 29 53 0.55
CROSS 'EM UP
Caleb Cross enjoyed the best outing of his career on Friday, delivering 5.1 scoreless innings and striking out a career-high 10 batters against UMass Lowell to earn the victory in a 1-0 shutout for the Mountaineers. After missing the 2024 season due to injury, Cross has excelled in his first two outings in 2025, combining to go 1-0 with a 0.93 ERA (1 ER/9.2 IP) and 14 strikeouts. Cross ranks tied for fifth in the Sun Belt in strikeouts and tied for eighth in ERA through two outings. The redshirt senior right-hander joined the Mountaineers in 2022 as a transfer from UNC Asheville, reuniting with his brother Hayden who was a five-year catcher for App State. In Caleb's career on the mound, he has made 38 appearances and nine starts, earning a total of nine victories and posting a 5.60 career ERA. In 2022 he combined with Eli Ellington on a one-hitter against UT Arlington.
JUAN GONE
App State first baseman
Juan Correa has slugged five home runs through his first eight games, including a pair of two-homer games – against Queens and UMass Lowell. Last season with the Charlotte 49ers, Correa finished the campaign with 12 home runs in 55 games played, but never homered twice in the same contest. His 12 home runs were second on the 49ers and tied for 10
th in the conference.
1-0 SHUTOUT
App State's 1-0 shutout win over UMass Lowell on Friday marked the first 1-0 shutout for the Mountaineers since May 25, 2021, when App State earned the program's first Sun Belt Tournament victory with a 1-0 shutout over Texas State. The only other shutouts since then were a 10-0 win at ULM on April 23, 2022, and App State's 11-0 takedown of No. 7/8 Coastal Carolina on May 5, 2023. The 1-0 shutout marked just the seventh of its kind since the Mountaineers joined the Divison I ranks. Most notably, App State defeated No. 7 LSU 1-0 in 2012 as part of a series win in Baton Rouge, La.
SOME ZA DELIVERY
Senior second baseman
Joseph Zamora jumpstarted the Mountaineers' comeback effort on Sunday, belting a grand slam as part of a seven-run home fifth to take the lead. Through six games this season Zamora is batting .435 (10-for-23) with nine RBIs and five runs scored. Zamora ranked 12
th in the Sun Belt last season, batting .371 in conference play.
GONE FISHING
Redshirt junior right-hander
Jordan Fisher has been superb out of the Mountaineers bullpen to begin the season. Originally a walk-on in 2022, Fisher has ascended to pithing in high leverage spots this season and has picked up two saves through four scoreless outings. Fisher has struck out six, while walking just one, in 5.1 innings this season. Opponents are batting just .167 against him.
STRIKE THROWERS
App State's pitching staff has opened the 2025 season by consistently throwing strikes and getting ahead in counts. After issuing over six walks-per-nine innings in 2023, the Mountaineers trimmed that number to 5.4 walks-per-nine in 2024. So far in 2025, App State's walks-per-nine has plummeted to 4.2. App State has walked four batters or fewer four times this season.
FRESHMEN SUCCESS
App State freshmen
Tyler Lichtenberger and
Riley Luft have impressed at the plate in early-season action to begin their collegiate careers. Lichtenberger is batting .400 (10-for-25) with four RBIs and seven runs scored, while Luft also boasts a .400 average (6-for-15), with a pair of doubles in his first six games. Luft was named the second-best freshman prospect in the Sun Belt by Perfect Game, and the No. 255 freshman in the nation.
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.
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.
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
RPI BY YEAR (UNDER KERMIT SMITH)
2024 - 72
2023 - 88
2022 - 120
2021 - 167
2020 - 62 (SEASON CUT SHORT DUE TO COVID-19 AFTER 16 GAMES)
2019 - 189
2018 - 182
2017 - 183
UP NEXT
App State will host No. 13 Wake Forest at Smith Stadium on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
