BOONE, N.C. – App State Baseball goes for its third straight Sun Belt series win this weekend as the Mountaineers travel to Harrisonburg, Va. to square off with James Madison in a three-set series. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m., with Saturday's game getting underway at 4 p.m. The series concludes on Sunday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. in the finale. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (19-16, 7-8) has won five of its last seven games but is coming off a midweek setback against Western Carolina. During this most recent stretch, the Mountaineers are averaging more than 10 runs per contest. The offense has also tallied double digit hits in eight of the last nine games.
Steven Smith leads the offense with a league-best .395 average on the season, while the Mountaineers as a team are leading the Sun Belt batting .310 as a team to go along with a league-best .417 on-base percentage. On the mound, App State is averaging 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings, led by
Gage Peterson who has struck out at least six batters in all nine starts this season.
SCOUTING THE DUKES
James Madison (16-19, 6-9) has dropped four straight, falling to Richmond on Tuesday after being swept by Georgia State last weekend. However, the Dukes posted a win over Michigan State to open the month of March and won a series from ETSU which made the NCAA tournament a season ago, before sweeping Georgia Southern to open league play. The Dukes are led at the plate by Clay Thompson who is batting .347 with 14 doubles and four home runs on the season. Tyler Lutz has led the way on the mound, striking out 31 batters in 36.2 innings of work and posting a 4.42 ERA on the campaign.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and James Madison have faced off 11 times in a head-to-head series that dates back to 2001. The Dukes hold a narrow 6-5 lead in the all-time series but App State took two of three last season in Boone, highlighted by a complete game from
Caleb Cross to clinch the series.
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.
Steven Smith was awarded the Mid-Major Performance of the Week on April 7 after going 4-for-6 with two home runs and five runs scored – as well as pitching a scoreless inning – against UNC Asheville.
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 belted the first pitch of Tuesday's game against UNC Asheville over the left field fence for what began a career night at the plate. Smith finished with four hits (including a second home run and a double) and scored five runs. He also pitched a scoreless inning and earned D1Baseball's Mid Major Performance of the Day. Smith went on to tally eight hits in 14 at-bats on the week with eight RBIs and six runs scored. Smith now leads the Sun Belt in batting at .395 on the season and ranks among league leaders in OPS (1.076 - 6th), hits (49 - 8th) and doubles (13 - T-6th). He has hit safely in 16 of his last 17 games. The two-way player has also recorded five scoreless outings in six appearances on the mound. He is the first two-way player for the Mountaineers since Andrew Terrell and Phillip Cole pitched and hit in 2021.
TALK TO CHUCK
Outfielder
Charlie Evans is riding a 19-game hitting streak (.403) since March 10, raising his average from .250 to .367. Evans hit two triples in Saturday's game against ULM, becoming the first Mountaineer to triple twice in a contest since Isaac Harrow in 2009. His second triple on Saturday marked his 100th collegiate hit. Evans tripled again on Sunday and finished a home run shy of the cycle in the series finale. Evans made a highlight-reel catch on Sunday as well and ranks among the best outfielders in the nation in defensive runs saved.
GAS FROM GAGE
Right-handed pitcher
Gage Peterson has been sensational for the Mountaineers through nine starts this season. He has struck out at least six batters in all eight outings and leads the Sun Belt with a 2.34 ERA, which ranks 50th 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 reached double digit strikeouts again on Saturday in a no-decision against ULM.
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 12.78 this season. Peterson also ranks among league leaders in strikeouts (71 – 2
nd), opponent batting average (.179 – 2
nd), home runs allowed (1 – T-1), and wins (4 – T-8). Peterson's 71 strikeouts on the year rank second in the Sun Belt and 17
th nationally. He also ranks 19
th in the country allowing just 5.76 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 six weekends. DiRito has struck out 50 batters while walking just 13 in 45.0 innings this season. His 3.85 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks 11
th in the Sun Belt. 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 20 of his last 24 games. Over that stretch, Luft is batting .330 with 25 RBIs, raising his average from .172 to .293 during that span. Luft's improved play this season can be attributed to a more selective approach. He walked six times as a freshman in 42 games played and has already walked 18 times this season in 32 appearances.
JAKE RAKES
Jake Mummau had a career day at the plate on March 31 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. Mummau followed it up with a pair of three-hit efforts against Marshall in the opening weekend of April, to finish his week 10-for-15 with five RBIs. He has now hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, batting .441 during that stretch and hit his first home run of the season on Saturday against ULM.
PUIG IS CLUTCH
Ethan Puig lined a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning to lift App State to a last-at-bat win over Marshall, on April 3. Puig's single capped an 11-game hitting streak, in which the sophomore infielder tallied seven multi-hit efforts. He has now hit safely in 15 of his last 17 games batting .414 during that span and raising his average by 70 points on the season.
FACING NOLAN
Tanner Nolan improved to 3-0 on the season, earning the victory in the Mountaineers' rubber game win over ULM on Sunday. Nolan registered his first quality start of the season allowing just two earned runs in six innings of work. Nolan enjoyed a lengthy stretch of dominance during that outing, in which he retired 14 consecutive Warhawk batters. The transfer from Crowder College owns a perfect 16-0 record in three collegiate seasons.
WALK THIS WAY
Senior catcher
Tommy Walker enjoyed a career day at the plate last Tuesday. The Charlotte, N.C. native blasted a fourth-inning grand slam for his first collegiate home run en route to a 18-5 win over UNC Asheville. Walker finished the contest with a career-high five RBIs, matching
Kameron Miller for the most in a game this season. After tallying just one extra-base hit in his first three seasons, Walker has seen five of his ten hits this year go for extra bases (3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run).
BRINGING THE WIFF
App State pitching has struck out 312 batters this season, the fifth-most in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers staff owns a 9.3 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 fifth the Sun Belt and 67th nationally. App State has also lowered its team ERA from 7.03 in 2025 to 5.70 in 2026 under first-year pitching coach
Heath Blackmon.
WHAT A RELIEF
Redshirt senior
Jordan Fisher has been dialed in out of the bullpen of late, recording four straight scoreless outings, totaling seven innings of work. He earned his first victory of the season on April 3 against Marshall and has recorded two saves on the year. He has lowered his ERA to 3.97 on the season.
FOR THE GREATER GOOD
App State leads the Sun Belt and ranks second in the country with 31 sacrifice flies this season, accounting for 10.5% of the team's runs this year. App State has already eclipsed last year's total when the team finished the year with 29 sac flies. App State has also been much more small-ball oriented this year, registering 22 sacrifice bunts, double their 11 sacrifices from a year ago.
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-75 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 10th in this week's top-25 poll, with Coastal ranked 11th.
UP NEXT
App State will return home to host ETSU on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Buccaneers are 23-11 overall this season and 6-3 in league play heading into a weekend series versus The Citadel. The Mountaineers will look to sweep the home-and-home series after winning in Johnson City in February. Tuesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
