NEW ORLEANS – App State right-hander
Nick DiRito has been named the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week, following a dominant performance in the Mountaineers' victory over James Madison on April 17.
The redshirt junior fired a career-high eight scoreless innings and matched a personal best with eight strikeouts to earn the victory in a 10-0 tone-setting win for App State in the series opener.
DiRito allowed just three baserunners in the ballgame – a walk and two hits – and faced just two over the minimum. He retired 11 consecutive batters at one point in his start and did not allow a runner to reach third base until the seventh inning. DiRito threw 71 of his 104 pitches for strikes.
The Plymouth, Mass., native improved his record to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to 4.08 on the season. He ranks sixth in the Sun Belt with 58 strikeouts and ranks among league leaders in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.14 – ninth) and walks allowed per nine innings (2.38 – 10th).
DiRito is in his first year with the Mountaineers after transferring from UMass Lowell, where he went 5-0 with a 3.74 ERA and four saves a season ago. DiRito collected a pair of saves early in the season for the Mountaineers before being moved into the weekend rotation to begin the month of March.
DiRito will next pitch on Friday at 6 p.m. in the series opener against Georgia Southern. He is the first weekly award winner for the Mountaineers this season.
App State will begin its four-game homestand on Tuesday against ETSU at 6 p.m.
The 2026 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
