Mountaineers Host Eagles to Open 2025 Home Schedule

BOONE, N.C. - Opening up its 2025 home schedule and the newly constructed Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium, the App State Mountaineers will play host to the Georgia Southern Eagles this Friday-Sunday. App State will celebrate 25 years of softball in the High Country all weekend long, as well as its alumni.
 
The Mountaineers and Eagles have played each other 51 times before, making this one of the longest series with one team in program history. App State and Georgia Southern closed out the 2024 regular season in Boone.
 
The Matchup

• Who: App State (9-18, 0-3 SBC) vs. Georgia Southern (18-12, 2-1 SBC)
• Where: Boone, N.C. // Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium
• When: Friday, March 21 – Sunday, March 23

 
Tune In

• Live Stats: appstatesports.com

 
Last Time Out
In the team's first Sun Belt series of the season, the Sun Belt's preseason favorite Texas State Bobcats swept App State in San Marcos last weekend. The Mountaineers were bit by the big inning as they allowed the Bobcats to score four runs in the first inning on both Friday and Sunday. If it weren't for those two innings, the run differential between the two teams was just three runs.
 
Makayla McClain posted the best batting average on the team in San Marcos as she tallied five hits in 11 at-bats. She posted two multi-hit games and slugged a double that fell inches short of a three-run homer in the second inning of game 2. Grace Barrett also posted two multi-hit games, with hers coming on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Leah Gore hit App State's only home run of the weekend, shooting it the opposite way for her fifth home run of the year. Gore has hit at least one home run each of the past four weekends. Madison McIntyre and Macy Hamby joined Gore, Barrett and McClain with runs driven in against the Bobcats.
 
Leading Off
After spending the past 17 years at its on-campus home adjacent to the Sofield Indoor Facility, App State will debut its new stadium, which is located at the Appalachian 105 Lot on Mountaineer Ridge Drive in Boone. The facility will feature the program's first video board and an AstroTurf Diamond Series playing surface.
 
App State's new home sits on the site of the old Watauga High School campus, which moved to the east side of Boone in 2010. The Mountaineers played at the old Watauga High School softball field from 2003-07 before moving to their on-campus home.
 
The Mountaineers have played one of the toughest schedules in the Sun Belt this season as they have played against eight teams that have won at least 15 games this season. Four of those opponents have been ranked at one point this season (South Carolina, Georgia, Liberty and Auburn). According to the most recent RPI rankings, the Mountaineers' have the 54th-toughest schedule in the country.
 
Entering its home-opening weekend, App State sits at 49 Sun Belt wins in its program's history. With just one more win, the team will eclipse 50 Sun Belt wins. App State's 3-1 victory over Lehigh on Feb. 28 marked its 500th win in program history.
 
With the Mountaineers returning home for the first time in the 2025 season on Friday, the streak of 27 consecutive games played away from home to open the season will end. It was the longest streak of games played away from home to start a season for App State since 2007 (30 straight games).
 
Scouting the Mountaineers 
Of the 19 players on App State's roster, only eight are upperclassmen (42 percent). The Mountaineers returned just 35 percent of its hits, 19 percent of its homers and 34 percent of its RBI from a season ago. So far this season, App State has seen nine underclassmen start at least five games.
 
App State's core of freshmen and sophomores have thrived so far this season as underclassmen have combined to scorch 77 percent of its hits and driven home 80 percent of its RBI. App State underclassmen take up eight of the top 10 marks in hitting on the team entering play in Boone this weekend.
 
Additionally, all but three of App State's 19 home runs this season have come from underclassmen. Gore, Barrett, McIntyre and Taylor Chumbley have each hit at least three homers this season, which places them all in the top 40 of the Sun Belt. Gore's five homers are tied for 27th among all collegiate freshmen and is tied for 12th in the league as of Friday.
 
The Mountaineers enter the weekend with 43 doubles through 27 games, which is the third-most in the SBC and the 54th-most in the country. App State sees four players in the top 30 in the league in doubles entering the weekend in Barrett, Hamby, Julia Girk and Gore. Girk and Barrett have each slugged eight doubles this year, which places them in a tie for third in the league. Girk's eight doubles are tied for eighth place in the NCAA amongst freshmen.
 
The Mountaineer staff stressed discipline in the batter's box prior to the season and that has paid off through the first 27 games as App State has drawn 100 free passes (89 walks, 11 HBPs). Entering play on Friday, App State has drawn 3.3 walks per game. The Mountaineers have tallied three games this season with at least eight walks, which includes an 11-walk game against Miami (Ohio) on Feb. 14.
 
App State added speed to the roster this past offseason and that has paid off so far this year as the Mountaineers have stolen 22 bases on 23 attempts entering Friday. The Mountaineers stole just 19 bases all of last year and just 22 the year prior. App State has only been caught stealing one time this season, which is the fewest in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers see two players in the top 25 in the SBC in steals entering Friday in Girk (T-10th) and McClain (T-22nd). App State hasn't seen any player finish the season in the top 25 in the league in steals since 2022.
 
Entering the weekend, left-handed pitcher Sophie Moshos sits just seven strikeouts away from 400 for her collegiate career. 59 of those strikeouts have come at App State this season. Right-handed pitcher Sejal Neas, who became the eighth Mountaineer to eclipse 250 strikeouts on March 9, also sits on the precipice of several major milestones as she is 20 innings away from 400 for her career and one win away from 30 wins.
 
Series History 

• App State vs. Georgia Southern
  • Last Meeting: May 3, 2024
  • Record: 14-37
  • Trends:
    • This will be the second straight year that Georgia Southern will visit App State and the third time in the last four years.
    • The Eagles have won each of the last seven meetings with App State. The Mountaineers' last win against Georgia Southern came in 2022 in Boone.

 
Up Next
Following action with the Eagles, the Mountaineers will trek to Harrisonburg, Va., for a three-game set with the James Madison Dukes at Veterans Memorial Park starting next Friday. It will be App State's second trip to Harrisonburg in the past three years. First pitch on Friday is slated for 4 p.m. and all three games can be streamed on ESPN+.