BOONE, N.C. – Following a thrilling extra-inning win on Tuesday, App State continues its four-game homestand this weekend, as the team hosts Old Dominion in Sun Belt play. First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m., with Saturday's contest slated for 3 p.m. The series concludes on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. in the finale. 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.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the series 12-12 on the season and 3-3 in Sun Belt play after punctuating a comeback effort on Tuesday with a walk-off double from
Graham Smiley in the tenth inning to defeat High Point 11-10. App State fell behind 6-0 in the first inning and trailed by three runs entering the ninth, but came away with their third last-at-bat win in the last two weeks.
Tyler Lichtenberger leads App State at the plate, batting .407 on the season and .529 in Sun Belt play, while
Juan Correa paces App State in the power department with nine home runs and 25 RBIs. On the mound,
Bradley Wilson boasts a 4.01 ERA across a league-best 13 outings so far this season.
SCOUTING THE MONARCHS
Despite a 7-15 record on the season, Old Dominion has played an incredibly challenging schedule, having already faced seven ranked opponents this season, leading to the Monarchs being ranked 68
th nationally in RPI. Old Dominion is coming off a 12-7 loss at ETSU on Wednesday, in which the Buccaneers scored five runs in the fifth inning to pull away. Old Dominion opened conference play by dropping a series against No. 22 Southern Miss, but rebounded with a series win over Georgia State. Zach Leite leads the offense, batting .344 on the season, with six doubles and 15 RBIs. Kyle Edwards has stolen 13 bases this season, which is tied for second-most in the conference. Saturday starter Dylan Brown has been impressive on the mound, posting a 3.58 ERA and striking out 49 batters in 32.2 innings of work. Old Dominion was picked seventh in the Sun Belt preseason poll.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Old Dominion have met 11 times in program history and six times in the last two seasons since the Monarchs re-joined the conference. The Monarchs lead the all-time series 7-4. Last season the Mountaineers took two of three in Norfolk, highlighted by eight innings of one-run ball from
Dante Chirico on Saturday, in a game App State eventually won in extra innings. App State also took two of three in 2023 in Boone, including a run-rule walk-off win in the finale.
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 23 games played on the campaign. Lichtenberger is batting .407 on the season with leads the team and ranks third in the Sun Belt, while he also ranks among league leaders in hits (T-9
th – 33), OBP (9
th - .485), 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 24 24 1.00
2024 96 55 1.75
2023 67 55 1.23
2022 29 53 0.55
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Through 24 games this season, the App State offense has registered 57 doubles which ranks second in the Sun Belt and 17th 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 eight doubles, and
Tyler Lichtenberger has hit seven two-baggers.
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 a team-leading 18 times this season and 14 times in his last seven games played, including a career-high four walks against Gardner-Webb on Feb. 28. As a team, App State has walked 118 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 19 games, including a trio of two-homer games – against Queens, UMass Lowell and Wake Forest – to rank 28
th nationally in home runs, despite missing five games due to injury. Correa also ranks among conference leaders in home runs (T-1st – 9), slugging (3
rd - .737), OPS (5
th – 1.135) and RBIs (T-7
th – 25). 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 18 sacrifice flies this season which ranks second in the Sun Belt and ranks ninth in the country. Ten 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 belted the game-winning double in the bottom of the tenth inning to lift App State to an 11-10 win over high point on Tuesday. The redshirt sophomore also 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 10 hits in 12 games with eight going for extra bases.
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 March 15 to earn the win against Texas State and followed with two more strikeouts in the ninth inning the following day to secure the save. Fisher's four saves this season rank third in the Sun Belt and ranks 31
st nationally. He has struck out 20 batters in 13.1 innings good for a 13.5 K/9 rate. Fisher is tied with
Bradley Wilson for a league-high 13 appearances this season.
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 and hit a game-tying double in the ninth inning on Tuesday to force extra-innings. Through 22 games played this season Zamora is batting .311 with 18 RBIs and 21 runs scored. Zamora strikes out just 10% of plate appearances, which is the fifth-best rate in the conference.
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 5.11. App State has walked four batters or fewer 12 times through 24 games, including just one free pass against College of Charleson on March 8.
SUPERB SUN BELT
The Sun Belt continues to be one of the top conferences in college baseball. Coastal Carolina is currently ranked fourth in the nation in RPI, while Southern Miss and Troy are both ranked in the D1Baseball top-25. Currently six Sun Belt schools rank in the top-100 nationally. Last year the league finished with nine teams in the top-100 and four making the NCAA Tournament.
UP NEXT
App State hit the road for four games next week. App State will take on Western Carolina in a mid-week contest on Tuesday before traveling to ULM for a three-game weekend series. All four games will be broadcast on ESPN+
