BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball looks to continue its strong start to Sun Belt play, as the team travels to Statesboro, Ga. for a three-game series against the Georgia Southern Eagles. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m., with Saturday's game slated for 2 p.m. The series wraps up on Sunday, with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the series 11-9 on the season and 3-0 in Sun Belt play. App State fell 7-6 to Charlotte in a midweek contest on Tuesday, falling just short after rallying from down six runs in the ballgame. The Mountaineers opened Sun Belt play last week with a three-game sweep of Texas State in which the Mountaineers outscored the Bobcats 33-19, producing a run-rule win on Friday night and followed that up with a walk-off victory on Saturday. App State took advantage of a lot of free bases in the series, drawing 25 walks and 13 hit by pitch in three games. On the mound
Caleb Cross and
Everette Harris each worked into the sixth inning, while
Liam Best and
Jordan Fisher combined to strike out nine batters at the back end of the bullpen.
Tyler Lichtenberger leads the offense with a .409 batting average, while
Juan Correa paces App State in the power department with nine home runs and 23 RBIs.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Georgia Southern enters the series 11-9 on the season and 0-3 in Sun Belt play after being swept by No. 24 Coastal Carolina on opening weekend. The Eagles bounced back with a 5-4 victory over Kennesaw State on Tuesday on a Sean Smith go-ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Smith leads the Eagles at the plate, batting .466 with nine home runs and 23 RBIs in 20 games, while also going a perfect 4-for-4 in stealing bases. On the Brady Pendley leads the Eagles out of the bullpen, going 2-0 with a 1.77 ERA though six appearances, while holding opponents to a .219 batting average. The Eagles were picked fifth in the Sun Belt preseason poll, with outfielder Josh Tate named to the preseason All-Sun Belt team.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Georgia Southern have met 106 times, the most head-to-head meetings the Mountaineers have played against any current Sun Belt opponent. Georgia Southern took two of three games in Boone last season, but the Mountaineers won a thrilling season-opener on a walk-off home run from
Banks Tolley in the bottom of the 10th inning (his third home run of the game) to clinch a top-six seed in the Sun Belt tournament.
JUAN GONE
App State first baseman
Juan Correa hit his ninth home run of the season in last Friday's 15-4 victory over Texas State. The senior has now slugged nine home runs through his first 18 games, including a trio of two-homer games – against Queens, UMass Lowell and Wake Forest – to rank 15
th nationally in home runs. Correa also ranks among conference leaders in home runs (T-1st – 9), slugging (3
rd - .743), total bases (3
rd – 55), RBIs (4
th – 23) and OPS (8
th – 1.138). 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. Correa has hit safely in 15 of 17 games this season (in which he has recorded an official at-bat) including a ten-game hitting streak.
MOQUIN ABOARD
Redshirt sophomore
Dillon Moquin has been a superb table-setter for the Mountaineers since being elevated to the leadoff spot on March 8 against the College of Charleston. In six games as the leadoff hitter, Moquin has reached base 21 times (7 H, 6 BB, 8 HBP) and has now reached base safely in 16 consecutive games. Moquin is slashing .370/.577/.515/1.003 this season. His .577 on-base ranks fourth in the Sun Belt and 13th nationally, while his 12 HBP lead the league and are sixth most in the nation.
LICHTENBERGER LEADS THE WAY
Freshman shortstop
Tyler Lichtenberger was inserted into the starting lineup the second game of the season and hasn't looked back, reaching base safely in all 19 games played on the campaign. Lichtenberger is batting .409 with leads the team and ranks fifth in the Sun Belt, while he also ranks among league leaders in hits (T-6
th – 27), OBP (9
th - .488) and sac flies (T-6
th – 3).
BULLPEN BRAD
After serving as the Mountaineers' Friday night starter last season,
Bradley Wilson has found success coming out of the App State bullpen in 2025. The graduate student has allowed one earned run or fewer in 10 of his 11 outings this season. On March 7 at College of Charleston, Wilson threw the final five innings of the ballgame, conceding just one run, and followed that up with two scoreless innings on Tuesday against the 49ers. He boasts a 2.95 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 21.1 innings of work this season, with opponents hitting .241 against him.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Through 20 games this season, the App State offense has registered 49 doubles which ranks second in the Sun Belt and 15th nationally.
Braxton Church has already hit a career-high eight doubles this season, the fourth-most in the Sun Belt, while
Tyler Figueroa and
John Kramer have each added six doubles apiece.
Tyler Lichtenberger has also notched five doubles.
PATIENCE PAYS
After not working a single walk in 48 at-bats last season,
Kameron Miller has transformed himself into a very patient hitter in 2025. Miller has walked 17 times this season and 13 times in his last five games played, including a career-high four walks against Gardner-Webb on Feb. 28. As a team, App State has walked 105 times this season, which ranks fourth in the Sun Belt.
FOR THE GREATER GOOD
App State has hit 17 sacrifice flies this season which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 7
th in the country. Nine different players have hit at least one sac fly, with
Braxton Church's four sac flies leading the team. For comparison, App State finished 2024 with 25 sacrifice flies.
GONE FISHING
Redshirt junior
Jordan Fisher has acceded from a walk-on in 2022 to a high-leverage reliever this season. Fisher struck out the side with the bases loaded in the 11
th inning on Saturday to earn the win against Texas State and followed with two more strikeouts in the ninth inning on Sunday to secure the save. Fisher's four saves this season rank second in the Sun Belt and ranks 15
th nationally.
SOME ZA DELIVERY
Senior second baseman
Joseph Zamora helped the Mountaineers secure their first series win against Texas State with a walk-off single in the 11
th inning on Saturday. Through 18 games played this season Zamora is batting .324 with 16 RBIs and 18 runs scored. Zamora ranked 12
th in the Sun Belt last season, batting .371 in conference play.
BEST OF THE BEST
Redshirt junior
Liam Best has been a valuable addition to the App State bullpen this season. The transfer from State College of Florida has recorded a win and two saves and through nine outings, allowing one run or fewer in eight of nine appearances. Best helped the Mountaineers through extra-innings on Saturday, registering career-highs in innings pitched (3.0) and strikeouts (4), including striking out the side in the tenth inning. Best has struck out 14 batters in 12.2 innings this season.
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 dropped to 5.14. App State has walked four batters or fewer ten times through 16 games, including just two free passes last Tuesday against the 49ers.
1-0 SHUTOUT
App State's 1-0 shutout win over UMass Lowell on Feb. 21 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 Division I ranks. Most notably, App State defeated No. 7 LSU 1-0 in 2012 as part of a series win in Baton Rouge, La.
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. Currently, seven Sun Belt teams are ranked in the top-100, with Troy, Southern Miss and Coastal Carolina all ranked in the Top-25.
UP NEXT
App State will return home for a four-game homestand beginning on Tuesday against High Point at 6 p.m. at Smith Stadium. The Mountaineers will then host Old Dominion in a three-game series, Friday through Sunday. All four games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
