BOONE, N.C. – Following a run-rule victory over UNC Asheville on Tuesday, App State Baseball will continue its homestand with a three-game Sun Belt series against the Marshall Thundering Herd. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and the series wraps up with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday, with will be followed by the annual Smith Stadium Easter Egg hunt. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (14-13, 3-6) scored runs in each of its first four innings on Tuesday, capped by an eight-run fourth, en route to a 17-7 victory over UNC Asheville in eight innings. The Mountaineers set season-highs for runs and hits and tallied a season-high seven doubles, including each of their first six hits of the game. App State is led at the plate by
Steven Smith who is batting .380 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 21 RBIs.
Riley Luft and
Ethan Puig have also tallied 26 and 23 RBIs respectively.
Gage Peterson continues to lead the pitching staff with a 3-0 record and a league-best 1.42 ERA on the season. He will start on Saturday. The Mountaineers lead the Sun Belt in strikeouts per nine innings, boasting a 10.2 rate, good for 37
th nationally.
SCOUTING THE THUNDERING HERD
Marshall (13-14, 5-4) has lost six consecutive games, following a midweek setback against Ohio on Tuesday. The Herd won its first five games of league play against Georgia State and Georgia Southern and earned a notable non-conference victory over Virginia Tech in February. Evan Bottone paces the offense for Marshall, batting .392 with six home runs and 22 RBIs in 26 starts. Bryce Blevins, Drew Harlow and Kenyon Collins have been a fixture as the weekend rotation for the Herd and all three have a winning record so far this season. The Thundering Herd rank third in the Sun Belt in batting average and on-base percentage and fourth in slugging.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and Marshall have met 79 times in a head-to-head series that dates back to 1977. The Mountaineers lead the all-time series 48-31 and took two of three games in Huntington last season, culminating with an extra-inning victory in the rubber match.
Joseph Zamora made the SportsCenter top 10 countdown for his diving catch in foul territory during the series. App State is 6-3 against Marshall since the Herd joined the Sun Belt conference in 2023 – their first meeting on the diamond since 2018.
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 seven starts this season. He has struck out at least six batters in all seven outings and leads the Sun Belt with a 1.42 ERA, which ranks 19
th nationally. Peterson recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts against Presbyterian on March 7 and followed it up with seven scoreless innings and nine strikeouts against No. 16 Coastal Carolina on March 14. He has not allowed an earned run in four of his seven outings.
Peterson was named to the National Pitcher of the Year Watch List on March 11. The JuCo transfer from Walters Peterson posted an 11.98 K/9 across two seasons at the junior college level and sits at 12.82 this season. Peterson's 54 strikeouts on the year rank second in the Sun Belt and 26
th nationally. He also ranks 32
nd in the country allowing just 5.45 hits per nine innings. He is on pace to join Xander Hamilton (2023) as the only pitchers in program history with 100+ strikeouts in a season.
FLAMIN' HOT DIRITO
After early-season dominance out of the bullpen,
Nick DiRito was moved into the weekend rotation, where he has started each of the last four weekends. DiRito has struck out 47 batters while walking just 11 in 33.0 innings this season. His 4.27 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks ninth in the Sun Belt. The righty also owns a 12.82 K/9 rate on the year, which ranks second in the Sun Belt and ranks 29
th nationally. DiRito struck out 40 batters in 45.2 innings last season for UMass Lowell, including five strikeouts in three innings against App State when he faced the Mountaineers in Hickory last February.
LED BY LUFT
Sophomore outfielder
Riley Luft has been on a surge for the Mountaineers, hitting safely in 14 of his last 16 games. Over that stretch, Luft is 21-for-61 (.344) with 21 RBIs, raising his average from .172 to .289 during that span. Luft played in 42 games as a freshman (starting 36) last season and has played and started 24 this season. He went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored in Tuesday's win over UNC Asheville.
SIZZLING
Outfielder
Charlie Evans is riding an 11-game hitting streak (14-43, .326), raising his average from .250 to .295. Infielder
Ethan Puig has also hit safely in nine straight contests (16-39, .410, 13 RBI), bumping his season average from .243 to .315.
FOUR SCORE...
Jake Mummau had a career day at the plate on Tuesday for App State. The senior infielder went a perfect 4-for-4, including two doubles, drove in a pair of runs and scored three times in the Mountaineers 17-7 win over UNC Asheville. A transfer from Florida Gulf Coast, Mummau has started four of the past five games after missing a month of play due to illness.
BROOKS WALLACE WATCH
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 March 4. The year-end award is given to the top shortstop in college baseball. Xuereb hit safely in each of his first ten games played this season and has tallied six multi-hit games in 14 games played. It marks the second consecutive season that a Mountaineer has garnered this recognition.
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 II Emory and Henry is batting .380 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 21 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 260 batters this season, the third-most in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers staff owns a 10.2 K/9 rate this season, a major jump from the Mountaineers 7.7 K/9 rate from a season ago. The K/9 rate leads the Sun Belt and 37th nationally. App State has also lowered its team ERA from 7.03 in 2025 to 5.61 in 2026 under first-year pitching coach
Heath Blackmon.
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, boasting seven top-100 teams. 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 8th in this week's top-25 poll, with Coastal ranked 14th.
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers will play the second game of their home and home series against UNC Asheville on Tuesday, visiting the Bulldogs for a 5 p.m. first pitch. App State has won each of its last two meetings against UNC Asheville in walk-off fashion.
