App State Baseball Faces No. 24 Coastal Carolina in Elimination Game

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – After falling by a run to Texas State on Wednesday, App State Baseball looks to bounce back as the team faces No. 24 Coastal Carolina in an elimination game on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and an audio stream will be available at AppStateSports.com and on the App State Athletics App.
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
App State (31-22, 17-13) has recorded 30 wins in a season for the third time in the last four years. Prior to this current stretch, App State had not won 30 games since 2013. The Mountaineers also won a program-record 17 Sun Belt games this season. App State leads the Sun Belt in batting average, on-base percentage, hits, runs scored and RBIs, while the pitching staff lowered its ERA by nearly two runs per game from a year ago. Nick DiRito will make the start for the Mountaineers on Thursday. The redshirt junior has logged five quality starts on the season and went 4-0 as a member of the rotation after beginning the season in the bullpen. At the plate, Riley Luft has reached base safely in 28 of his last 29 games, while Jalen Seward has homered in each of his last two games and recorded hits in ten straight contests.
 
SCOUTING THE CHANTICLEERS
Second seeded and 24^th ranked Coastal Carolina (36-20, 21-9) has lost seven of its last ten games after falling 12-11 to Louisiana in its tournament opener on Wednesday. One year removed from a runner-up finish in the College World Series, the Chanticleers led the Sun Belt standings for the majority of the year, before being leapfrogged by Southern Miss on the final day of the regular season. Coastal ranks 27th in RPI and third in non-conference strength of schedule this season, winning seven quad one games. Dean Mihos leads the Chanticleers at the plate with a .313 average on the season, while Rex Watson has belted 14 doubles, 12 home runs and has driven in 62 runs on the campaign. National Preseason Pitcher of the Year Cameron Flukey will make his sixth start of the season and fourth since returning from injury at the beginning of the month. He is 0-2 with a 4.86 ERA on the year.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Coastal leads the all-time series with App State 21-6, after the then-16^th-ranked Chanticleers swept the regular season series in Boone. All three games were incredibly competitive with App State leading or being tied in the eighth inning or later in all three contests. App State has faced Coastal Carolina once in postseason play, knocking the Chanticleers out of the 2024 Sun Belt tournament with a 6-3 win in an elimination game. Drew Holderbach broke a 3-3 tie in with a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning. 
 
APP STATE AT THE SUN BELT TOURNAMENT
 
Double Elimination Format (Play In)
5/21/19           Louisiana (#8)             L, 6-2
 
Pool Play Format
5/25/21           Texas State (West #6)             W, 1-0
5/27/21           Louisiana (West #1)                L, 7-2
 
Single Elimination Format
5/24/22           Little Rock (#8)                        W, 10-3
5/27/22           Georgia Southern (#2) L, 7-1
 
Double Elimination Format
5/24/23           Troy (#3)                                 L, 10-9 (10 inn)
5/25/23           James Madison (#7)                W, 8-7
5/26/23           Troy (#3)                                 W, 14-10
5/27/23           No. 16 Southern Miss. (#2)     W, 4-2
5/27/23           No. 16 Southern Miss. (#2)     L, 11-1
 
Double Elimination Format
5/22/24           Troy (#3)                                 L, 6-5
5/23/24           Coastal Carolina (#7)               W, 6-3
5/24/24           Troy (#3)                                 W, 10-6
5/25/24           No. 25 Southern Miss (#2)      L, 7-5
 
Double Elimination Format (Play In)
5/20/25           Texas State (#7)                      L, 3-0
 
Double Elimination Format
5/20/26           Texas State (#6)                      L, 6-5
 
IN PLAY, RUN(S)
App State leads the Sun Belt in runs scored this season with 427, and its 8.1 runs per game scoring average ranks 30^thnationally. A big reason behind the success has been the Mountaineers' ability to put the ball in play. App State ranks second to last in the Sun Belt in strikeouts (352) and first in hits (564). App State has also drawn 251 walks, resulting in a league-best .414 on-base percentage.
 
LED BY LUFT
Sophomore outfielder Riley Luft has been on a surge for the Mountaineers, reaching base in 28 of his last 29 games and hitting safely in 34 of his last 42. Over that stretch, Luft is batting .361 with 39 RBIs, raising his average from .172 to .321 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 27 times this season in 51 games. He also earned a spot on D1 Baseball's Top Defensive plays of the week for an outfield assist in which he threw out a runner at third base from right field on April 18 at JMU and gunned down another runner attempting to go first-to-third last weekend against Louisiana. He leads the Mountaineers with six outfield assists on the season.
 
FLAMIN' HOT DIRITO
After a dominant start to the season as part of the Mountaineers' bullpen where he recorded a pair of saves, Nick DiRito earned a spot in the starting rotation for the Mountaineers, starting each of the final 11 weeks of the season. DiRito ranks sixth in the Sun Belt with 85 strikeouts, the fifth-most in a single season in App State history. The UMass Lowell transfer also ranks sixth in innings pitched (76.0). He also ranks among league-leaders in both categories in conference play. DiRito was named the Sun Belt pitcher of the week following eight scoreless innings in a victory over James Madison on April 17 and followed it up with a seven-inning complete game against Georgia Southern on April 24. DiRito capped the regular season with a career-high 11 strikeouts at Georgia State on May 14 to earn the victory in the Mountaineers' 30^th win of the season. The righty has logged five quality starts on the season and went 4-0 as a member of the rotation.
 
TALK TO CHUCK
App State center fielder Charlie Evans has been elite both at the plate and in the field this season and was named to the All-Sun Belt second team on Monday. The senior from Levittown, Pa., ranks among league leaders in batting average (.365 – 5th) and triples (4 – T-3rd). He also recorded hits in 32 of his final 35 regular-season contests, including a 22-game hitting streak, the fifth-longest in App State program history. Evans is the league's leading hitter in conference play, batting .420 against Sun Belt foes while also ranking among league leaders in triples, hits, OPS, on-base percentage and runs scored. 
 
Evans hit two home runs during the Mountaineers' 10-0 win over James Madison on April 17 and tallied two triples in the April 11 game against ULM, becoming the first Mountaineer to triple twice in a contest since 2009. His second triple marked his 100th collegiate hit. Evans tripled again a day later and finished a home run shy of the cycle in the series finale. He has recorded 22 multi-hit games and nine multi-RBI games this season while leading the team with 10 stolen bases. Evans has also been an exceptional defender, ranking third nationally among center fielders with 12.12 defensive runs saved.
 
SLAMIN' SEWARD
Jalen Seward has come on strong down the stretch, hitting safely in each of his last 10 games. Over that span the Salt Lake CC transfer is batting .371 with home runs in each of his last two games, including a 413-foot blast against Texas State on Wednesday. Stretch it out further and Seward has hit safely in 15 of his last 18 games. The redshirt junior is batting .320 on the season and an eye-popping .513 against left-handed pitching.
 
WHAT A RELIEF
App State's bullpen has excelled as of late:

• RHP Jordan Fisher recorded his ninth career save on April 26 to tie him for eighth all-time. He did not allowed an earned run in six consecutive outings (10.1 IP) from March 10-April 26, and seven of his last eight outings have been scoreless.
• RHP Ethan Wilson has earned a win in relief in two of the last four weekends. He has allowed just four earned runs in last 18.1 innings pitched for a 1.96 ERA across his last 10 outings. 
• RHP Max Tramontana lowered his ERA to 2.61 with a career-high four scoreless innings and four strikeouts against Georgia State on Thursday to record his first career save. Across his last 12 outings, the righty has allowed just three earned runs in 22.1 innings (1.21 ERA). Among pitchers who have logged at least 35 innings this season, Tramontana ranks seventh in opponents' batting average (.189), sixth in WHIP (1.00) and eighth in ERA (2.61).
• LHP Jake Beaty recorded not allowed an earned run in 12 of his 16 appearances this season, pitching to a career-best 4.91 ERA. He earned his first career save with 1.1 scoreless innings vs ETSU on April 21. 

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 six top-60 teams and eight teams in the top 100. 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 eighth in this week's top-25 poll, with Coastal also ranked at No. 24.
 
UP NEXT
With a win, App State will face the loser of Thursday's game between Texas State and Louisiana on Friday at 4 p.m. ET. All Sun Belt tournament games will be streamed on ESPN+ with an audio broadcast also available at AppStateSports.com and on the App State Athletics app.