BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball continues its season-long seven-game road swing in Mobile, Ala., as the team gets set for a three-game weekend series against South Alabama. Friday's contest is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, with the middle game slated for 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. The series concludes on Sunday, with first pitch slated for 2 p.m. ET in the finale. The Mountaineers enter the weekend in a three-way tie for seventh place in the Sun Belt standings, with the top 10 teams in the conference making the tournament and the top six teams advancing to the double-elimination bracket.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State enters the series 21-26 on the season and 11-13 in Sun Belt play after being swept at No. 19 Coastal Carolina last weekend. App State leads the Sun Belt in doubles this season, while ranking second in sac flies and third in hits.
Tyler Lichtenberger paces the Mountaineers with a .353 average on the season, while
Juan Correa leads the way in the power department with 14 home runs and 50 RBIs on the campaign. On the mound, Friday night starter
Caleb Cross leads the Mountaineers with a 6-3 record and a 3.76 ERA as well as three complete games on the season.
SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
South Alabama opens the series with a record of 19-26 and 8-16 in Sun Belt play, currently two games back of a spot in the Conference Tournament. The Jaguars took one of three from No. 20 Troy last weekend and also won a game against a ranked Southern Miss team in Sun Belt play. However, the Jaguars have won just two of their eight Sun Belt series. Rhett Johnson paces the offense with a .342 average, while Kyle Morrison leads the way with eight home runs and 40 RBIs. The Jags starting rotation has combined to post a 4.15 ERA this season.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and South Alabama have squared off 25 times on the diamond in a series that dates back to 1973 – the beginning of App State's tenure as a Division I member. South Alabama leads the head-to-head series 17-8 but most recently App State won two of three games last season including a doubleheader sweep that was capped by a run-rule victory.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Through 47 games this season, the App State offense has registered 94 doubles which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 75th nationally.
Tyler Figueroa and
Braxton Church lead the way with 13 doubles apiece, while
Tyler Lichtenberger has also notched a dozen two-baggers. The record for doubles in a season is 168, set in 2007. Individually, David Rubinstein owns the program record with 30 doubles in 2007.
FOR THE GREATER GOOD
App State has hit 28 sacrifice flies this season which ranks second in the Sun Belt and 25th in the country. Eleven different players have hit at least one sac fly, with
Braxton Church's seven sac flies leading the team. For comparison, App State finished 2024 with 25 sacrifice flies.
KAM GOES BAM
App State sophomore
Kameron Miller has been on a tear at the plate, reaching base safely in 31 of his last 34 games, including an 11-game hitting streak during that span. Miller has belted 10 home runs this season including a 471-foot missile against Western Carolina on April 8, the longest measured for an App State player in the TrackMan Era (since 2019). Miller ranks among Sun Belt leaders in OPS (6
th – 1.048), on-base (6
th - .468), RBIs (T-7
th – 43), walks (8
th – 34) and home runs (10
th – 10). Miller has transformed himself into a complete hitter in 2025, working a team-leading 34 times this season after not walking once as a freshman.
CROSS EM UP
Redshirt senior
Caleb Cross has been exceptional as the Friday night starter for the Mountaineers this season. Cross is tied for third in the Sun Belt with six wins on the season and his 67.0 innings pitched are fifth most this year. Cross went through an extraordinary four-start stretch from March 28-April 18 where he went 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA (3 ER/33IP). Over that stretch, Cross threw seven no-hit innings against Old Dominion, an eight-inning complete game against ULM, a nine-inning shutout at Marshall and a nine-inning complete game vs James Madison.
Cross was named the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week on April 15 following his complete game shutout against Marshall on April 11. Cross joins
Caleb Marks (March 8 vs. College of Charleston) as Mountaineer pitchers who have thrown a nine-inning, complete-game shutout this season. It marks the first time since Sam Agnew-Wieland threw two complete-game shutouts for App State in 2013 that the Mountaineers have achieved the feat twice in the same year.
JUAN GONE
App State first baseman
Juan Correa hit his 14th home run of the season on Sunday against Coastal to move into a tie for ninth in a single season in program history. Correa ranks among league leaders in RBIs (3
rd – 50), home runs (T-6
th – 14) and slugging (8
th - .613). 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, something he has done three times this season (against Queens, UMass Lowell and Wake Forest). Correa has hit safely in 31 of 38 games this season (in which he has recorded an official at-bat) including a ten-game hitting streak during that span.
LICHTENBERGER LEADS THE WAY
Freshman shortstop
Tyler Lichtenberger was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List on April 18, a year-end honor presented to the top shortstop in college baseball. He joins Ryne Farber (TXST) as the only Sun Belt players to be named to the Watch List and he is the first Mountaineer to make the coveted list since Will Callaway in 2013.
Lichtenberger was inserted into the starting lineup the second game of the season and hasn't looked back, reaching base safely in 42 of 46 games played on the campaign and hit safely in 35 of those contests, including 22 multi-hit efforts. Lichtenberger ranks among Sun Belt leaders in batting (4
th - .353) and hits (T-5
th – 61).
BULLPEN BRAD
After serving as the Mountaineers' Friday night starter last season,
Bradley Wilson has found lots of success coming out of the App State bullpen in 2025. On March 29 against Old Dominion, Wilson threw a career-high 7.0 scoreless innings to earn the win in relief. He allowed just three base runners – all singles – and retired the final 17 batters of the ballgame. Wilson has thrown at least five innings in relief in four different outings this season. On April 17 against James Madison, he earned the win by going 6.1 innings in relief and allowing just two earned runs, while striking out seven. The graduate student has allowed two earned run or fewer in 14 of his 21 outings this season. He boasts a 4.55 ERA and has struck out 44 batters in 55.1 innings of work this season, with opponents hitting just .248 against him. He has also allowed just one home run 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 March 25 to force extra-innings against High Point. Through 42 games played this season Zamora is batting .325 with 33 RBIs and 35 runs scored. He also made No. 2 on SportsCenter's Top-10 countdown for his diving catch in foul territory on which he covered 109 feet in the April 11 win over Marshall.
SOUTHPAW SUCCESS
Left-hander
Reyn Watson has become an impactful piece of the Mountaineers bullpen during the back-half of the season. The transfer from Florida Southwestern State has given up just two earned runs across his last five outings (7.0 IP) while striking out six. On April 22 against ETSU, Watson retired all five batters faced, including three strikeouts.
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 4.7. App State has walked four batters or fewer 26 times through 47 games, including two walk-free games.
SUPERB SUN BELT
The Sun Belt continues to be one of the top conferences in college baseball. Troy, Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss are all ranked in this week's D1Baseball top-25, while 10 Sun Belt schools rank in the top-150 nationally in RPI. Last year the league finished with nine teams in the top-100, with four making the NCAA Tournament. The Sun Belt has sent four teams to NCAA Baseball Regionals in each of the past three seasons—including four to regional finals in 2024.
UP NEXT
App State will conclude the regular season by hosting Georgia State March 15-17 at Smith Stadium. First pitch on Thursday and Friday is set for 6 p.m. with the season finale slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday for Senior Day.
