BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball begins a four-game homestand on Tuesday by facing the High Point Panthers in the second game of a home-and-home series. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
It's Taco Tuesday at Smith Stadium, Featuring the La Monarca Food Truck. It's also Student Yosef Club Night and all SYC members will receive a complimentary hot dog and non-alcoholic beverage. Complimentary parking for Tuesday's contest is available in the Greenwood Parking Lot as well as in the Blue Ridge Parking deck with shuttle service provided to Smith Stadium. Limited parking spots are available for purchase (card only) in the Smith Stadium Parking Lot.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters Tuesday's matchup 11-12 on the season and 3-3 in Sun Belt play after being swept on the road by Georgia Southern last weekend. App State suffered a walk-off loss on Saturday despite
Kameron Miller and
Graham Smiley combining to hit four home runs, including two grand slams, and drive in 11 of App State's 13 runs in the contest.
Tyler Lichtenberger leads App State at the plate, batting .403 on the season, while
Juan Correa paces App State in the power department with nine home runs and 23 RBIs. On the mound,
Bradley Wilson boasts a 4.01 ERA across a team-best 13 outings so far this season.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
High Point enters Tuesday 17-7 on the season and 3-0 in Big South play. The Panthers dropped a non-conference series against Minnesota on the road last weekend, after sweeping Charleston Southern in the team's opening series of Big South play. Konni Durschlag leads the Panthers at the plate, batting .446 on the season with eight home runs and 20 RBIs, while four other Panthers are batting at least .340 on the year. Cord Butler has started each of the last three midweek contests for High Point and is 2-2 with a 6.19 ERA on the season. High Point is coming off the program's first NCAA regional berth in 2024. 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 62
nd time in program history. The Panthers won the first meeting of the season on Feb. 18 in High Point 13-7, scoring six runs in the first two innings of play. Prior to that, App State had won six consecutive head-to-head meetings, dating back to 2014.
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 22 games played on the campaign. Lichtenberger is batting .403 on the season with leads the team and ranks fourth in the Sun Belt, while he also ranks among league leaders in hits (T-8
th – 31), OBP (10
th - .484), triples (T-7
th – 2) and sac flies (T-7
th – 3). Lichtenberger is batting .529 in Sun Belt play.
BOMBS AWAY
Highlighted by a four-homer game against High Point on Feb. 18 and four more homers against Georgia Southern on March 22, 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.
YEAR HOME RUNS GAMES HR/GM
2025 23 23 1.00
2024 96 55 1.75
2023 67 55 1.23
2022 29 53 0.55
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Through 23 games this season, the App State offense has registered 53 doubles which ranks second in the Sun Belt and 24th nationally.
Braxton Church has already hit a career-high nine doubles this season, the fourth-most in the Sun Belt, while
Tyler Figueroa has added seven doubles
Tyler Lichtenberger and
John Kramer have each added six doubles apiece.
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 11 of his 13 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 4.01 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 24.2 innings of work this season, with opponents hitting .237 against him.
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 18 times this season and 14 times in his last six games played, including a career-high four walks against Gardner-Webb on Feb. 28. As a team, App State has walked 114 times this season, which ranks fifth in the Sun Belt.
JUAN GONE
App State first baseman
Juan Correa hit his ninth home run of the season in the March 14 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 22
nd nationally in home runs. Correa also ranks among conference leaders in home runs (T-1st – 9), slugging (3
rd - .743), OPS (7
th – 1.138) and RBIs (10
th – 23). 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.
FOR THE GREATER GOOD
App State has hit 17 sacrifice flies this season which ranks second in the Sun Belt and ranks 11
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.
GRAHAM SLAM
Redshirt sophomore
Graham Smiley has had a knack for the big moment in his career with the Mountaineers. Smiley blasted a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the ninth inning against Georgia Southern on Saturday, his third career grand slam in just 32 games played. This season Smiley has registered nine hits in 11 games with seven going for extra bases.
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 March 15. Through 21 games played this season Zamora is batting .310 with 16 RBIs and 20 runs scored. Zamora ranked 12
th in the Sun Belt last season, batting .371 in conference play.
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 5.05. App State has walked four batters or fewer 12 times through 23 games, including just one free pass against College of Charleston on March 8.
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, six Sun Belt teams are ranked in the top-100, with Troy and Southern Miss also ranked in the Top-25.
UP NEXT
App State will continue its homestand by hosting Old Dominion in a three-game series, Friday through Sunday. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+. Friday is Country Night, featuring a country music soundtrack and a camo App State Baseball hat for sale. Saturday is Black Saturday, and all fans are encouraged to wear black to the ballpark. Sunday is Greek Day featuring a pizza giveaway for students.
