BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball is off to a 7-1 start to the season, trailing only the 2023 team which started 8-1 for the best start in the Sun Belt era. The team looks to continue its success on the road the weekend as the Mountaineers make the short trip to Boiling Springs to face off with Gardner-Webb in a three-game series. First pitch times are 6 p.m. on Friday, 3 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Friday and Sunday's matchups will be broadcast on ESPN+.
LAST TIME OUT
Nico Soul hit a game-tying home run in the fifth inning and
Drew DuPont followed with a go-ahead blast in the sixth, leading App State baseball to an 8-5 road victory over ETSU on Wednesday. The Bucs were also 6-1 entering the contest and were coming off an NCAA Regional Appearance in 2025. The back end of the bullpen impressed, not allowing a hit after the fifth inning.
Max Tramontana notched the win with his fourth straight scoreless outing to open the year.
Cal Clark followed with two scoreless innings and
Nick DiRito recorded a six-out save.
Riley Luft opened the scoring with a two-run home run, his second of the year.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State joins No. 12 Southern Miss atop the Sun Belt standings at 7-1 on the season. App State's lone loss came on the road at Duke on Feb. 17. The Mountaineers are led at the plate by
Steven Smith who is batting .500 (10-for-20), with three doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs in six games.
Drew DuPont,
Nico Soul and
Riley Luft also have two home runs apiece. App State is much improved on the mound so far this season, leading the Sun Belt in hits allowed per nine innings (6.72) and strikeouts per nine innings (12.5) through eight games.
Gage Peterson has not allowed an earned run through two starts (both wins), striking out 15.
Nick DiRito and
Max Tramontana also have double-digit strikeouts out of the bullpen.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Gardner-Webb is 6-3 on the season entering the weekend. The Bulldogs did not play a mid-week contest this week but played four games in each of their first two weeks, most recently splitting a two-game set with Farleigh Dickinson and taking two from Dartmouth at home last weekend. Alejandro Sanchez leads the offense with a .500 average (13-for-26) with four doubles and two triples in eight starts. Matt Ilgenfritz has hit three home runs and driven in a team-high 12 this year. Friday starter Oliver Ellison has gone 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA, while Sunday starter Reid Bertram is also 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA this year. Gardner-Webb was picked eighth out of nine teams in the Big South preseason poll. The Bulldogs were 17-36 overall and 6-18 in league play last season.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Gardner-Webb have met 56 times on the diamond in a series that dates back to 1977. App State leads the all-time series 33-23, including taking two of three from the Bulldogs last season in Boone/Hickory. App State won on Friday behind a four-RBI effort from
Kameron Miller, while
Dillon Moquin notched a 4-for-4 effort on Sunday. Dale Francis starred for the Bulldogs in their Saturday win, hitting for the home run cycle and finishing with a career-high 12 RBIs.
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.
CLASS OF THE CONFERENCE
Entering the weekend, App State leads the Sun Belt in strikeouts-per-nine innings with a rate of 12.5 K/9. The Mountaineers staff has fanned 93 batters in 67 innings of work, led by 16 strikeouts from
Nick DiRito and 15 strikeouts from
Gage Peterson. App State also leads the league in hits allowed per nine innings. App State owns a 4.57 ERA this season, substantially lower than their 7.03 ERA in 2025.
2-WAY STANDOUT
Steven Smith has impressed for the Mountaineers in the early season – both at the plate and on the mound. The transfer from Division III Emory and Henry is batting .500 (10-20) with two doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs. Smith hit his first home run of the season last Friday against North Carolina A&T and followed with a walk-off home run on Saturday in a run-rule win. He has also pitched for the Mountaineers this season tossing a pair of scoreless innings and earning his first win in Sunday's finale. He is the first two-way player for the Mountaineers since Andrew Terrell and Phillip Cole pitched and hit in 2021.
GAS FROM GAGE
Right-handed pitcher
Gage Peterson has been sensational for the Mountaineers through two starts. Peterson improved to 2-0 on Saturday with six scoreless innings, striking out seven in a win over North Carolina A&T. Peterson also fanned eight batters in four innings against Canisius the week prior. The JuCo transfer from Walters Peterson posted an 11.98 K/9 across two seasons at the junior college level. He joins Jesus Tovar (TXST) as the only two pitchers in the Sun Belt with a 2-0 record and a 0.00 ERA through two starts.
ALL ABOUT SOUL
Freshman
Nico Soul belted his first collegiate home run over the batter's eye Feb. 17 at Duke to lead off the ballgame and followed with a game-tying blast at ETSU on Tuesday. 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.
BASE THIEFS
App State was very aggressive start to the season, stealing 19 bases in 24 tries through eight games played. 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 128 bases this year. App State has stolen over 100 bases in a season just three times in program history, with their program-record 137 coming in 1974.
LEATHERMEN
Playing clean defense has been a staple of App State's success under head coach
Kermit Smith. Led by infield coach
Britt Johnson, App State has ranked among the top half of the Sun Belt in fielding percentage in four of the past five seasons, while six of the top 10 fielding percentage teams in program history have come during Smith's tenure. In conference play last season, the Mountaineers ranked second in the league in fielding percentage (.979) and posted 20 error-free games on the season overall, including seven straight to end the regular season. The Mountaineers have posted a .976 fielding percentage through eight games to begin 2026, a mark that ranks third in the Sun Belt.
NEWCOMERS LEAD
Transfers
Ethan Puig and
Drew DuPont have been valuable additions to the Mountaineers so far this season. Puig, a transfer from Miami, is batting .333 with 10 hits, including a double and a home run. DuPont, a JuCo transfer from Lake Land College is hitting .393 with two home runs and a team-best 12 RBIs.
FLAMIN' HOT DIRITO
Nick DiRito has led the Mountaineers bullpen this season highlighted by a pair of dominant long-relief outings. DiRito fanned six in four innings against Canisius on Feb. 13, allowing just one run and followed that up with a career-high seven strikeouts in four innings against North Carolina A&T on Friday to earn the save. Overall, the right-hander is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA and two saves. He has struck out 16 batters in 10 innings of work. DiRito is in his first year with the Mountaineers after transferring in from UMass Lowell.
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will return home to face No. 16 Wake Forest on Tuesday at 3 p.m. Fans will receive an App State bucket hat giveaway, while supplies last. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. The Demon Deacons are also 7-1 on the season, entering a weekend where they will face Loyola Marymount and Davidson.
