BOONE, N.C. – Following back-to-back weekend series wins, App State Baseball will host No. 15 Wake Forest, Tuesday at Smith Stadium.
UPDATE (3/3): First pitch is set for 3 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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). Complimenarking is also available in the Blue Ridge Parking Deck with shuttle service provided to Smith Stadium.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the contest 6-5 on the season after taking two of three games from Gardner-Webb over the weekend. At the plate,
Tyler Lichtenberger leads the Mountaineers in batting at .395 on the season, while
Juan Correa has hit a team-best five home runs and driven in 13.
Cal Clark will make his first start of the season for the Mountaineers on Tuesday. The redshirt-sophomore has appeared in three games in relief this season and posted a 1-0 record and a 3.60 ERA, while holding opponents to a .176 batting average. App State's bullpen allowed just two runs across 4.2 innings in Sunday's victory over Gardner-Webb to claim the series.
SCOUTING THE DEMON DEACONS
Wake Forest enters the contest 10-3 on the season and ranked 15
th national by D1Baseball.com. The Demon Deacons are coming off a 2-2 weekend in which they split a pair of games with both Maryland and Princeton in Winston-Salem. Two years removed from the College World Series final, the Demon Deacons were picked to finish sixth in the ACC this season. Marek Houston leads the team at the plate, batting .420 with five home runs and 22 RBIs through 13 games. Freshman Chris Levonas will make his collegiate debut on the mound for the Demon Deacons. The team has worked to a 2.70 ERA so far this season.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Wake Forest will meet on the diamond for the 66th time in program history. Last season the 13th ranked Demon Deacons narrowly edged App State 10-9 in Shelby, N.C., despite two home runs from
Kameron Miller. The last time Wake Forest came to Boone in 2023, App State set the program's attendance record. The Mountaineers most recently beat Wake Forest on Feb. 26, 2020, topping the No. 24 Demon Deacons 11-9 in Winston-Salem. Since then, Wake Forest has won the last six games in the head-to-head series.
APP VS RANKED
App State looks to defeat a ranked program for the third consecutive season. In 2023, App State went to Conway and defeated No. 7/8 Coastal Carolina 11-0 behind Xander Hamilton's program-record 15 strikeouts. Last season in Boone, the Mountaineers took two of three from No. 13 Coastal Carolina, marking App State's first ranked home win since 2018 and the team's first series win over a top-15 program since taking two of three from No. 7 LSU in 2012.
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 14 11 1.27
2024 96 55 1.75
2023 67 55 1.23
2022 29 53 0.55
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 three saves and earned his first career victory on Sunday against Gardner-Webb. In six outings this season, Fisher has allowed just two runs in 7.2 innings or work and has struck out ten, while walking just one batter. Opponents are hitting just .222 against him.
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 two saves and through five outings has conceded just one run across six innings of work. Best has struck out seven while walking just two and is holding opponents to a .182 batting average.
JUAN GONE
App State first baseman
Juan Correa has slugged five home runs through his first 11 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. Correa's five home runs this season are tied for the most in the Sun Belt. He also ranks in the top-10 in the conference in runs scored (T-7
th – 13), RBIs (T-8
th – 13) and slugging (10
th - .694).
DOUBLE TROUBLE
App State catcher
Braxton Church has stormed out of the gate this season, tallying seven doubles in his first 11 games. The seven doubles for Church match his career high from 2024 when he doubled seven times in 46 games. The seven doubles are tied for second-most in the Sun Belt this season.
CROSS 'EM UP
Caleb Cross enjoyed the best outing of his career on Feb. 21, 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 three outings in 2025, combining to go 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA (4 ER/14.1 IP) and 17 strikeouts. 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.
SOME ZA DELIVERY
Senior second baseman
Joseph Zamora jumpstarted the Mountaineers' comeback effort on Feb. 23, belting a grand slam as part of a seven-run home fifth to take the lead. Through nine games this season Zamora is batting .394 with 10 RBIs and 11 runs scored. Zamora ranked 12
th in the Sun Belt last season, batting .371 in conference play. He currently ranks ninth in the league with a .535 on-base percentage and ninth in walks with 10.
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 4.5. App State has walked four batters or fewer seven 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 .395 (15-for-38) with 10 RBIs and 10 runs scored, while Luft also boasts a .321 average (9-for-28), with a pair of doubles and a triple in his first nine games. Luft was named the second-best freshman prospect in the Sun Belt by Perfect Game, and the No. 255 freshman in the nation.
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.
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. In the first RPI rankings of the 2025 season, five Sun Belt teams are ranked in the top-100.
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
UP NEXT
App State will travel to College of Charleston for a three-game weekend series. First pitch on Friday is set for 4 p.m. with Saturday's contest slated for 2 p.m. The series wraps up on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. in the finale. The games will be broadcast on FloSports.
