BOONE, N.C. – For the first time in program history, App State Baseball will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., to take on the 11th-ranked Southern Miss Golden Eagles in a three-game series. First pitch on Friday is set for 7 p.m. ET, with Saturday's contest slated for 3 p.m. The series wraps up on Sunday, with first pitch set for 2 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (12-11, 2-4) fell 3-2 to High Point in mid-week action on Tuesday. Despite 7.1 scoreless innings from the App State bullpen, the offense mustered just three hits in the game. The Mountaineers took last weekend's series from Old Dominion, recording its first two wins of Sun Belt play. The offense tallied 36 hits across the three games, scoring ten runs in each of the two wins.
Ethan Wilson was superb out of the bullpen, combining for 5.2 scoreless innings across two outings and earning the win in Sunday's rubber game.
Gage Peterson recorded at least six strikeouts for his sixth consecutive outing during Saturday's start. The Mountaineers as a team rank 32nd nationally in K/9 with a 10.5 rate and rank sixth nationally with 19 sac flies on the season. App State ranks third in the Sun Belt, averaging 7.8 runs per game this season.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Southern Miss (19-6, 3-3) is the 11th ranked team in the country in this week's top-25 poll and boasts the third-best RPI in the nation. The Golden Eagles have posted some impressive wins this season, defeating Oregon State, Baylor, Alabama, Mississippi State and Ole Miss in non-conference play. The Golen Eagles haven't had quite the same success the last two weeks, dropping their first series of Sun Belt play to Arkansas State and getting run-ruled by Mississippi State in Tuesday's midweek tilt. The Golden Eagles have belted 32 home runs this season, led by eight from Kyle Morrison and seven from Joey Urban. Grayden Harris has been the top starter for Southern Miss, striking out 40 and posting a 3.34 ERA in six starts. The Golden Eagles rank second in the Sun Belt in ERA and lead the league in fielding percentage.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Southern Miss first met in the 2023 Sun Belt tournament, when the Mountaineers beat the 16th-ranked Golden Eagles before falling in the rematch in the winner-take-all semifinal. After again falling to a ranked Southern Miss team in the 2024 tournament semifinals, the two teams met in the regular season for the first time last year, with the 22
nd-ranked Golden Eagles sweeping the three-game set in Boone.
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. The recognition has continued into the season, as
Jonathan Xuereb was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, given to the top shortstop in college baseball, on March 4 and Peterson was named to the National Pitcher of the Year Watch List on March 11.
GAS FROM GAGE
Right-handed pitcher
Gage Peterson has been sensational for the Mountaineers through six starts this season. He has struck out at least six batters in all six outings this season. Peterson fired seven scoreless innings, striking out nine, against No. 16 Coastal Carolina on March 21. It came on the heels of a career-high 11 strikeouts against Presbyterian the weekend prior. Peterson is 3-0 this season with a 1.35 ERA and has struck out 47 batters in 33.0 innings of work. Peterson leads the Sun Belt and ranks 20th nationally in ERA, while also ranking second in the league and 21
st in the nation in strikeouts. He has not allowed an earned run in four of his six outings. The JuCo transfer from Walters Peterson posted an 11.98 K/9 across two seasons at the junior college level and sits at 12.69 this season. Peterson was named to the National Pitcher of the Year Watch List on March 11.
FLAMIN' HOT DIRITO
After early-season dominance out of the bullpen,
Nick DiRito was moved into the Friday spot in the rotation, where he has started each of the last three weekends. DiRito has struck out 42 batters while walking just nine this season. His 4.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks eighth in the Sun Belt. The righty also owns a 14.00 K/9 rate on the year, which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 14
th nationally.
LED BY LUFT
Sophomore outfielder
Riley Luft has been on a surge for the Mountaineers, hitting safely in 11 of his last 12 games. Over that stretch, Luft is 15-for-44 (.341) with 18 RBIs, raising his average from .172 to .274 during that span. Luft played in 42 games as a freshman (starting 36) last season and has played and started 21 this season.
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 .363 (29-for-80) with eight doubles, three home runs and 19 RBIs. Smith hit his first home run of the season on Feb. 20 against North Carolina A&T and followed with a walk-off home run on Feb. 21 in a run-rule win. He has also pitched for the Mountaineers this season tossing 6.0 innings across five appearances. He is the first two-way player for the Mountaineers since Andrew Terrell and Phillip Cole pitched and hit in 2021.
BRINGING THE WIFF
App State pitching has struck out 230 batters this season, the third-most in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers staff owns a 10.5 K/9 rate this season, a major jump from the Mountaineers 7.7 K/9 rate from a season ago. The K/9 rate ranks second in the Sun Belt and 32nd nationally. App State has also lowed its team ERA from 7.03 in 2025 to 5.33 in 2026 under first-year pitching coach
Heath Blackmon.
FOR THE GREATER GOOD
App State leads the Sun Belt and ranks sixth in the country with 19 sacrifice flies this season, accounting for 12% of the team's RBIs. App State finished last season with 29 sac flies, a mark that ranked third in the Sun Belt and 59
th nationally.
SUPERB SUN BELT
The Sun Belt continues to be one of the top conferences in college baseball, and ranks fifth in the nation in conference RPI. Coastal Carolina was the College World Series runner-up a season ago, falling to LSU, while Southern Miss joined the Chanticleers in hosting a regional in 2025. The league sent four teams to regionals in 2022 through 2024 and has done so six times since 2000. Southern Miss is ranked 12th in this week's top-25 poll, with Coastal ranked 16th. Louisiana also joined this week's rankings at No. 25. Those three teams, along with Arkansas State, all rank in the top 30 nationally in RPI this season.
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers return home for four straight games, beginning with a midweek matchup against UNC Asheville on Tuesday. The Bulldogs are 13-12 on the season and 1-2 in Big South play, heading into a weekend series with USC Upstate. First pitch on Tuesday is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
