BOONE, N.C. – Following a weekend sweep over Presbyterian, App State Baseball will continue its homestand on Tuesday against Western Carolina, before opening Sun Belt play against No. 16 Coastal Carolina this weekend. Tuesday's matchup against the Catamounts is slated for 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
LAST TIME OUT
App State took all three games in the weekend series from Presbyterian, outscoring the Blue Hose 26-7 across the final two games, including a run-rule victory on Saturday.
Gage Peterson led the way on the mound on Saturday, recording a career-high 11 strikeouts, while
Joseph Zamora tallied nine hits on the weekend at the plate.
Jalen Seward homered on Sunday to cap a six-run second inning, one of three home runs in the ballgame for App State. The pitching staff posted a 1.44 ERA on the weekend.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (10-5) bounced back from a four-game losing skid with three consecutive wins to become one of seven Sun Belt teams to reach double-digit victories already this season.
Drew DuPont leads the Mountaineers at the plate. The transfer from Lake Land College is batting .393 with seven extra-base hits and a team-high 18 RBIs. As a team, the Mountaineers are batting .297 with 17 home runs in 15 games.
Logan Tibbett will make his first start of the season on Tuesday. The right-hander is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA on the season. He did not allow an earned run in two innings of work on Friday. The pitching staff has lowered its ERA to 4.72 on the season and has struck out 168 batters in 131.2 innings this season (11.4 K/9).
SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS
Western Carolina (10-6) dropped its weekend series, losing twice to Charlotte and splitting a two-game set with Radford. Last Tuesday, the Catamounts upset No. 11 Georgia as Mason Holton belted a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth inning. It marked the first ranked win for the Catamounts since 2017. Holton leads the team with 13 RBIs this season, while Jackson Lyda is batting .360 through 15 games. On the mound, the Catamounts hold a 4.76 ERA this season and have issued just 44 walks in 138 innings of work (2.9 BB/9). The Catamounts were picked to finish fifth out of eight teams in the SoCon preseason poll, while five Catamounts were named to a preseason all-league team.
SERIES HISTORY
In the Mountaineers most-played series all-time, App State and Western Carolina have squared off 160 times on the diamond, with the Catamounts holding a 93-66-1 advantage, dating back to 1955. The two teams split the home-and-home series last season, with Western winning 14-10 in Cullowhee on April 1 and the Mountaineers winning 7-6 in Boone on April 9.
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.
GAS FROM GAGE
Right-handed pitcher
Gage Peterson has been sensational for the Mountaineers through four starts this season. Peterson struck out a career-high 11 batters, while walking just two across six innings on Saturday. All three runs he allowed were unearned. Peterson is 3-0 this season with a 1.64 ERA and has struck out 32 batters in 22.0 innings of work. Each of those marks are among the top seven in the conference. Peterson owns a 13.09 K/9 rate this season, which leads the Sun Belt and ranks 53
rd in the nation. The JuCo transfer from Walters Peterson posted an 11.98 K/9 across two seasons at the junior college level. He did not allow an earned run in his first 13 innings of work this season and has given up just four earned runs total on the year.
THE WAY THEY DREW IT UP
Outfielder
Drew DuPont has paced the Mountaineers at the plate this season. The transfer from Lake Land College is slashing .393/.493/.625 with seven extra-base hits and 18 RBIs in 15 games. He registered an eight-game on-base streak from Feb. 20 – March 1, driving in a run in all eight games. DuPont 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).
FLAMIN' HOT DIRITO
After early-season dominance out of the bullpen,
Nick DiRito was moved into the Friday spot in the rotation last weekend. The UMass Lowell transfer struck out seven while walking just one and conceded just two earned runs over five innings. DiRito has struck out 31 batters while walking just five (6.2 K:BB) this season. The righty owns a 14.9 K/9 rate on the year.
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 owns a .938 OPS this season and leads the team with four home runs overall. A three-time all-state selection at Marvin Ridge High School (N.C.), Soul was named the top impact freshman in the Sun Belt by D1Baseball leading into the season.
ZAMORA'S SURGE
After a slow start to the season,
Joseph Zamora broke out with a big series against Presbyterian. The second baseman went 9-for-13, with a double, two triples, a home run, six RBIs and seven runs scored, raising his average from .250 to .351. The third-year Mountaineer was named the Sun Belt Conference's preseason all-league second baseman.
BRINGING THE WIFF
App State pitching has struck out 168 batters this season, the second-most in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers staff owns an 11.4 K/9 rate this season, a major jump from the Mountaineers 7.7 K/9 rate from a season ago.
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 has hits in all nine games played this season, batting .342 (13-for-38) to, with three doubles and eight RBIs. 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.
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 .375 (18-48) with five doubles, three home runs and 15 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 5.0 scoreless innings across four appearances. He is the first two-way player for the Mountaineers since Andrew Terrell and Phillip Cole pitched and hit in 2021.
SUPERB SUN BELT
The Sun Belt continues to be one of the top conferences in college baseball. Coastal Carolina was the College World Series runner-up a season ago, falling to LSU. 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 7th in this week's top-25 poll, with Coastal ranked 16th. The Golden Eagles rank as the top team in the nation in RPI, while the Sun Belt as a whole ranks sixth nationally.
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will open conference play by welcoming the 2025 national runners-up, Coastal Carolina, to Smith Stadium. The Chanticleers rank 16th in the country and are 9-6 on the season following a series win over East Carolina. The Chanticleers play No. 15 Wake Forest on Tuesday. The series will feature a 6 p.m. first pitch Friday, 3 p.m. first pitch Saturday and a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+.
