BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball will face North Carolina A&T for two games and Southern Illinois for one in a weekend series that has been adjusted due to forecasted inclement weather. The Mountaineers will open the weekend in Boone on Friday at 2 p.m. against the Aggies and the two teams will then rematch in Hickory at 1 p.m. on Sunday. App State will close the weekend out against the Salukis on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Hickory.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State is 3-1 on the season following a midweek loss to Duke on Tuesday.
Nico Soul led off the game with a solo home run as part of a three-run first inning, but the Mountaineers were unable to fully take advantage of their opportunities, going 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position and stranding 13 men on base. App State opened its season with a weekend sweep over Canisius, outscoring the Golden Griffins 26-10 across the three-game series.
Kameron Miller led the offense with a pair of doubles as part of a 4-for-10 effort at the plate, while
Gage Peterson stuck out eight to earn the win in game two of the series to highlight the work on the mound. Miller and second baseman
Joseph Zamora were both selected to the Preseason All-Sun Belt team this season. App State has reached the Sun Belt tournament in five straight seasons, including a pair of 30-win campaigns in 2023 and 2024. Last season the offense ranked third in the league in batting average a season ago, trailing only NCAA tournament teams Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
North Carolina A&T is 1-3 on the season following a one-run loss to UNC Greensboro on Wednesday. The Aggies dropped their season-opening series to Northern Illinois last weekend. TJ Taylor leads the offense, batting .467 with four doubles in four games, while Cobie Cushing has impressed out of the bullpen, striking out four in 3.2 scoreless innings across a pair of outings. Last season the Aggies posted a 15-37 record and went 8-18 in CAA play. They were picked in a tie for last place in this year's CAA preseason poll. Taylor along with outfielder Bruce Wyche and relief pitcher Diego Barrett were named to the CAA preseason all-conference team.
SCOUTING THE SALUKIS
Southern Illinois is 1-2 on the year after dropping their opening series of the season to Oral Roberts last weekend in three low-scoring affairs. Kye Watson went 5-for-11 with two home runs to pace the offense in the first weekend of play. The Salukis are coming off a 37-win campaign in 2025 before falling to eventual College World Series qualifier Murray State in the conference tournament. The Salukis have won 30-plus games each of the last five seasons. App State assistant coach
Seth McLemore was the Salukis' hitting coach and recruiting coordinator last season. The Salukis were picked second in the Missouri Valley preseason poll and six players were named to the conference's preseason watch list.
SERIES HISTORY
App State has won 60 of the 69 all-time meetings with North Carolina A&T dating back to 1983. The teams most recently met in 2023 where the Mountaineers swept a three-game series, winning one game in High Point and two in Greensboro. The Mountaineers scored at least nine runs in all three games.
App State and Southern Illinois met for the first time in 2024 when App State took two of three games in Carbondale. After dropping the opener on Friday, the Mountaineers rebounded with an 8-1 win on Saturday and a 9-1 win on Sunday.
IT'S MILLER TIME
The conference's first team designated hitter last season,
Kameron Miller enters his junior campaign as one of the most complete hitters in the Sun Belt. Miller slashed .305/.461/.567 with seven doubles, 12 home runs and 50 RBIs in 47 starts for the Mountaineers. He reached base safely in 37 of his final 40 games of the season, which included an 11-game hitting streak during that span.
The Harrisburg, N.C., native finished the year ranked among the Sun Belt leaders in on-base percentage, OPS, walks and RBIs. After not drawing a single walk as a freshman, Miller developed a much more patient approach as a sophomore, drawing 41 walks on the season, including 27 free passes in 30 conference games, tied for the second-most in the league. Miller also set the program record for the longest home run in the TrackMan Era (since 2019) when he belted a 471-foot shot against Western Carolina on April 8. Miller has opened the season by going 5-for-13 with a pair of doubles and seven RBIs across the first week of the season.
ALL ABOUT SOUL
Freshman
Nico Soul belted his first collegiate home run over the batter's eye at Duke to lead off the ballgame. Soul was a three-time all-state selection at Marvin Ridge High School (N.C.) and was named the top impact freshman in the Sun Belt by D1Baseball leading into the season. Soul is 4-for-15 with a team-high six runs scored and has reached base safely in each of his first four games of the season.
SOME ZA DELIVERY
Graduate second baseman
Joseph Zamora has been a model of consistency in his first two seasons at App State. In 2025, the second baseman slashed .307/.397/.395 with 34 RBIs and 41 runs scored in 52 starts. The Miami, Fla., native had a flair for the dramatic in 2025. He blasted a grand slam as part of a seven-run fifth inning to help the Mountaineers overcome a six-run deficit in a win over UMass Lowell on Feb. 23, while also delivering a walk-off single in the 11th inning against Texas State on March 15 to help the Mountaineers sweep their opening series of Sun Belt play.
Zamora was also exceptional in the field, helping the Mountaineers turn 21 double plays and finishing the season with a fielding percentage of .969. Among his litany of web gems was a diving catch in foul territory at Marshall on April 11 that landed him the No. 2 spot on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays countdown. Zamora has reached base nine times and scored six runs through the first four games of the season.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Four App State Baseball players have garnered national recognition heading into the 2026 season.
Nico Soul was projected to be the No. 1 impact freshman in the Sun Belt,
Gage Peterson (31) and
Carter Stanford (48) were both projected as top 50 draft prospects within the conference, while
Tanner Nolan was ranked as the 153rd best starting pitcher across Division I baseball.
BASE THIEFS
App State was very aggressive opening weekend, stealing seven bases in eight tries against Canisius. The Mountaineers' offense has not been predicated on base stealing in recent years as the team went 35-for-48 across 54 games last season. Under
Kermit Smith, the Mountaineers most aggressive running seasons have been their winningest seasons as the team stole 73 bases in 2023 (30 wins) and 71 bases in 2024 (33 wins). App State is on pace to steal 95 bases this year. App State has stolen over 100 bases in a season just three times in program history.
GAS FROM GAGE
Right-handed pitcher
Gage Peterson impressed in his first start of the season for the Mountaineers. The JuCo transfer from Walters State gave up just one unearned run in four innings while striking out eight in game one of Saturday's doubleheader to earn the win against Canisius. Peterson posted an 11.98 K/9 across two seasons at the junior college level. He was one of three pitchers in the Sun Belt to strike out eight or more during the first weekend of play.
STRONG STABLE
App State's bullpen impressed in the opening week of play.
Nick DiRito struck out six in four innings of work, while
JJ Garcia also struck out four across two scoreless innings against Canisius.
Ethan Wilson and
Jordan Fisher each earned a save with a scoreless outing opening weekend.
Max Tramontana has fired three scoreless innings across two outings and
Logan Tibbett struck out five in 1.1 innings against Duke on Tuesday in his season-debut.
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers travel to ETSU on Tuesday for the first of their home-and-home series this season. First pitch from Thomas Stadium is set for 3 p.m. It will mark the 146th all-time meeting between the two programs.
