BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball will face the Presbyterian Blue Hose this weekend in the final non-conference series of the season. The series will open in Clinton, S.C. on Friday at 4 p.m. The Mountaineers will host the final two games of the set, Saturday at 1 p.m. in Hickory and Sunday at 1 p.m. in Boone. Saturday's game will be streamed at AppStateSports.com and Sunday's game will be available on ESPN+.
LAST TIME OUT
App State rallied from down 7-1 in the fourth inning to tie the score at 7-7 against No. 15 Wake Forest, but the Mountaineers came up just short, falling 9-8 with the tying and winning runs left on base in the ninth.
Nico Soul,
Ethan Puig and
Jalen Seward each homered in the six-run fourth, while the Mountaineers bullpen struck out 10 batters across the final five innings of play. The game was played in front of the fourth-largest crowd in Smith Stadium history.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (7-5) is looking to snap a four-game losing streak, with all four losses coming in the final at-bat of the ballgame and each by just a single run. The Mountaineers are led at the plate by
Drew DuPont, who is hitting .435 with three doubles, two home runs and 17 RBIs. He ranks among Sun Belt leaders in nearly every offensive category. Saturday starter
Gage Peterson is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA through three starts this season, striking out 21. He did not allow an earned run in his first 13 innings this season.
Nick DiRito will move into the Friday spot in the rotation following 24 strikeouts in 13.2 innings across his first four appearances out of the bullpen. App State ranks second in the Sun Belt and 26th nationally with 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings this season.
SCOUTING THE BLUE HOSE
Presbyterian (2-11) has dropped 11 consecutive games after defeating Akron in back-to-back games to open the season. Most recently the Blue Hose dropped a Tuesday contest to the College of Charleston, 6-3. They are led at the plate by Amman Dewberry who is batting .385 with three home runs and a team-best 18 RBIs. On the mound, redshirt sophomore Christian Charalambous has been the only mainstay in the rotation, going 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA. The Blue Hose were picked sixth out of nine teams in the Big South preseason poll. Redshirt sophomore pitcher Tyrell Williams was named to the league's preseason All-Conference team. Presbyterian finished the 2025 campaign 17-35 overall and 9-15 in league play, dropping the final 13 games of the season.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Presbyterian will meet for the first time on the diamond since 2011 when App State won 8-6 in a midweek contest in Boone. App State is 10-1 all-time against Presbyterian in a head-to-head series that dates back to 1966.
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 WAY THEY DREW IT UP
Outfielder
Drew DuPont has paced the Mountaineers at the plate this season. The transfer from Lake Land College has hits and RBIs in eight consecutive games. He tallied a five-hit game against Gardner-Webb on Friday, marking just the fourth five-hit game by a Mountaineer in the Sun Belt era (Austin St. Laurent (2), Luke Drumheller). DuPont ranks among league leaders in hits, AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, RBIs, triples and hit by pitch. DuPont also ranks as the toughest player to strike out in the Sun Belt, striking out just three times in 57 plate appearances.
FLAMIN' HOT DIRITO
Nick DiRito has been dominant out of the bullpen for the Mountaineers this season. He has struck out 24 batters in 13.2 innings of work this season to lead the Sun Belt with a 15.8 strikeout-per-nine inning rate and the most strikeouts by a reliever in all of college baseball. The UMass Lowell transfer has two saves on the season, ranking third in the league.
GAS FROM GAGE
Right-handed pitcher
Gage Peterson has been sensational for the Mountaineers through three starts. Peterson did not allow an earned run in his first 13 innings of the season, working to a 2-0 record and a 2.25 ERA. Peterson ranks tied for sixth in the Sun Belt with 21 strikeouts and tied for third with two wins. He has posted an 11.8 K/9 rate this season. The JuCo transfer from Walters Peterson posted an 11.98 K/9 across two seasons at the junior college level.
ALL ABOUT SOUL
Freshman
Nico Soul has homered in all three midweek contests this season. He 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 Feb. 24 at ETSU. Against Wake Forest on Wednesday, Soul tallied a three-hit game, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. He ignited the six-run fourth with a 446-foot home run to straight away center field. 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. He has posted a .923 OPS and driven in 10 runs in 11 games.
BRINGING THE WIFF
App State pitching has struck out 134 batters this season, the second-most in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers staff owns an 11.3 K/9 rate this season, a major jump from the Mountaineers 7.7 K/9 rate from a season ago.
BOMBS AWAY
App State's three home runs against Wake Forest on Wednesday marked the third game this season that the offense has left the park three times in one game. App State's improved offense the last several seasons has been tied to a big jump in power numbers at the plate. After hitting just 29 home runs in 2022, App Stat has hit at least 50 home runs in each of the past three seasons. This stretch has been highlighted by Banks Tolley setting the single-season program record with 26 home runs in 2024, while CJ Boyd set the App State career home run record with 35 – hitting 17 in 2023 and 18 in 2024.
YEAR HOME RUNS GAMES HR/GM
2026 13 12 1.08
2025 53 54 0.98
2024 96 55 1.75
2023 67 55 1.23
2022 29 53 0.55
XUEREB NAMED TO BROOKS WALLACE WATCH LIST
Redshirt junior shortstop
Jonathan Xuereb was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, which was announced by the College Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday. The year-end award is given to the top shortstop in college baseball. Xuereb is batting .353 (12-for-34) to begin the season, with three doubles and eight RBIs in eight starts. It marks the second consecutive season that a Mountaineer has garnered this recognition, after
Tyler Lichtenberger was named to the midseason watch list in 2025.
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will continue their homestand on Tuesday against Western Carolina at 6 p.m. at Smith Stadium. The Catamounts are coming off a thrilling upset win over No. 11 Georgia, highlighted by a go-ahead grand slam from Mason Holton in the top of the ninth to lead the team to their first ranked win since 2017. The Catamounts will head to Charlotte for a four-game weekend series where they will play two games against Radford and two against Charlotte.
