BOONE, N.C. – After claiming a series win over Marshall last weekend, App State Baseball will travel to Asheville on Tuesday to close out the home-and-home series against UNC Asheville. The Mountaineers defeated the Bulldogs in run rule fashion last week in Boone. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (16-14, 5-7) used a go-ahead eighth inning single from
Ethan Puig on Friday to even the series against Marshall and then won the rubber game 10-4 on Sunday behind seven quality innings from
Gage Peterson who improved to 4-0 on the season.
Steven Smith leads the Mountaineers at the plate batting .377 with a team-high 12 doubles. He has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games.
Charlie Evans has hit safely in 14 consecutive games, raising his average to .319 on the season.
Logan Tibbett will make his first start of the season for the Mountaineers on Tuesday. The right-hander has not allowed a run in three of his past four outings.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
UNC Asheville (15-17, 3-6) has already matched their 2025 win total under interim head coach Alex Raburn. The Bulldogs won eight of nine games during a stretch of play from late Feb. through early March. UNC Asheville salvaged the finale in their three-game series against UNC Asheville last weekend, winning the finale 12-9. The Bulldogs are led at the plate by Blaize Johnson who is batting .400 with 11 doubles, nine home runs and 37 RBIs through 32 games. On the mound, Drew Turner has been their most reliable arm this season and has been used in a variety of different roles this season, boasting a 3.83 ERA.
SERIES HISTORY
App State and UNC Asheville have faced off 71 times in program history in a series that dates back to 1985. The Mountaineers lead the head-to-head matchup 47-24 and have won each of the last two games in walk-off fashion. Last Tuesday, App State clinched an eight-inning run rule victory 17-7 and in 2024
Braxton Church hit a walk-off single with the bases loaded in the ninth to lift the Mountaineers to an 8-7 win in Boone.
GAS FROM GAGE
Right-handed pitcher
Gage Peterson has been sensational for the Mountaineers through eight starts this season. He has struck out at least six batters in all eight outings and leads the Sun Belt with a 1.60 ERA, which ranks 14
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 eight 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 12.20 this season. Peterson's 61 strikeouts on the year lead the Sun Belt and 27
th nationally. He also ranks 21
st in the country allowing just 5.40 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 five weekends. DiRito has struck out 49 batters while walking just 13 in 39.0 innings this season. His 3.77 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks 11 in the Sun Belt. The righty also owns a 11.31 K/9 rate on the year, which ranks fourth in the league. 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 17 of his last 19 games. Over that stretch, Luft is 25-for-75 (.333) with 22 RBIs, raising his average from .172 to .288 during that span. Luft played in 42 games as a freshman (starting 36) last season and has played and started 27 this season. He went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored in last Tuesday's win over UNC Asheville.
TALK TO CHUCK
Outfielder
Charlie Evans is riding a 14-game hitting streak (19-54, .352), raising his average from .250 to .319. 13 of his 16 runs scored this season have come during that span. Evans is also an elite defender and leads the country in defensive runs saved by a center fielder this season.
FOUR SCORE...
Jake Mummau had a career day at the plate last 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. Mummau followed it up with a pair of three-hit efforts against Marshall over the weekend, to finish his week 10-for-15 with five RBIs. A transfer from Florida Gulf Coast, Mummau has started four of the past eight games after missing a month of play due to illness.
PUIG IS CLUTCH
Ethan Puig lined a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning on Friday to lift App State to a last-at-bat win over Marshall, 5-4. Puig's single capped an 11-game hitting streak, in which the sophomore infielder tallied seven multi-hit efforts. He has raised his average from .243 to .314 since March 14.
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 .377 with 12 doubles, three home runs and 24 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 283 batters this season, the fifth-most in the Sun Belt. The Mountaineers staff owns a 9.7 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 fourth the Sun Belt and 53rd nationally. App State has also lowered its team ERA from 7.03 in 2025 to 5.45 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 three straight outings of two scoreless innings in relief. He earned his first victory of the season on Friday against Marshall and also has recorded two saves on the year. He has lowered his ERA to 4.35. Left-hander
Jake Beaty has also been strong this season and has not allowed an earned run in seven of his nine outings on the year. Beaty owns a 4.50 ERA on the season and opponents are hitting just .235 against the senior.
FOR THE GREATER GOOD
App State leads the Sun Belt and ranks seventh in the country with 23 sacrifice flies this season, accounting for 10% of the team's runs this year. App State finished last season with 29 sac flies, a mark that ranked third in the Sun Belt and 59
thnationally.
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 face ULM in a three-game series Friday through Sunday. The Warhawks, who were picked last in the 2026 preseason poll lead the league with a .310 batting average and sit in a tie for second place in the standings at 7-5 on the year.
