Appalachian State University baseball will get into the swing of things this weekend in its first true series against another team as it travels to Gardner-Webb.
The Mountaineers begin the weekend on Friday at 4 p.m. The series then shifts to 2 p.m. first pitches for Saturday and Sunday as the series closes out. The games on Friday and Saturday will be broadcast live on the Big South Network.
NOTING THIS WEEKEND’S SERIES
- Appalachian State baseball heads into Week 2 by going just two hours south to Gardner-Webb for a three-game series.
- Appalachian State is coming off its Opening Weekend tournament at UNC Wilmington where it went 1-3, earning new head coach Kermit Smith his first win against VMI, 3-1.
- Gardner-Webb opened its season in a four-game series against Canisius at home. The Bulldogs split the series 2-2, winning the last two games 6-5, 5-0.
- The Bulldogs are also coming off a midweek battle with North Carolina where they fell 11-1 in Chapel Hill.
- Appalachian State’s pitching staff comes off a solid opening tournament, with five throwers allowing fewer than two runs during their time.
- Aside from the season opener loss against VMI (11-5), Appalachian State battled in every game, with the final three games being decided by less than two runs.
- Appalachian State saved perhaps its best effort for last as it took then-No. 24 UNC Wilmington to the bottom of the ninth up two. The Seahawks would wind up winning on a walkoff single through the gap, but it showed the Mountaineers could keep with both offense (6-5) and pitching.
- On the weekend, three Mountaineers would up batting better than .200: freshman Calev Grubbs(.308), junior Drake Zupcic(.273) and Conner Leonard (.200). Grubbs finished 4-13, Zupcic 3-11 and Leonard 3-15.
- Appalachian State had only one ball travel to the yard on the weekend. Junior Tyler Strouptook a 1-0 pitch and jacked it over the center field fence as the leadoff batter of the fourth in the 3-1 win over VMI.
SERIES HISTORY
- Appalachian State and Gardner-Webb haven’t faced each other since 2014, but have played each other a whopping 38 times since 1977.
- Appalachian State owns a 22-16 record over the Runnin’ Bulldogs all-time, with the last time being a 10-6 loss in Boone.
- Appalachian State owns a 7-3 record over its last 10 face-offs dating back to 2007.
- Appalachian State’s first game ever at the Mountaineers’ Smith Stadium was against Gardner-Webb on April 10, App State won 6-1.
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