It’s been over six months since App State’s baseball team last played a game on Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium and the long-awaited day of their return is inching closer and closer.
The Mountaineers ended the 2024 season ranked sixth overall in the Sun Belt, with a record of 33-23-1 overall and 16-13-1 in conference play.
Heading into the new year, App State is led by ninth-year head coach Kermit Smith. Smith led the Black and Gold to their second consecutive 30-win season last year, a feat the program hadn’t accomplished in over a decade, while also being honored by App State’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes with the Influence Award last April.
The offseason is a time of change and heading into the 2025 season, this team is a mix of both returning talent and new faces.
While the team lost some talented players from last season including utility piece Austin St. Laurent, who was taken by the Seattle Mariners in the 14th round of the MLB draft, there is still star power going forward.
The Mountaineers can rest easy knowing there are some big returning hitters on the lineup, two of these being senior infielder Joseph Zamora and senior catcher Braxton Church.
Both were staples of the team last season with the two combining for 81 runs scored which totaled roughly 17% of the team’s runs during the 2024 season. The two also contributed 78 of the team’s 452 RBIs.
Sophomore first baseman Kameron Miller is also a force to be reckoned with at bat as he hit 5 home runs last season, two of which came against No. 13 ranked Wake Forest. This came a month after a 6-RBI game from him which tied the program-record in the Sun Belt era.
Senior players are the darlings of the fans it seems and there are a couple of players who fit that perfectly. Senior pitchers Caleb Marks and Cody Little are running it back for their final year and looking to be leaders both on the diamond and in the dugout. Little is returning for another year as a Mountaineer.
In Little’s 20 appearances last year, he struck out 36 batters while only walking 14. He shined in the Mountaineers’ matchup against Coastal Carolina where he came in as a relief pitcher for three innings and managed to get out of a bases loaded scenario in the seventh inning, propelling the team to a victory.
Marks is looking to shine in his first year wearing Black and Gold as he transferred to App State after being placed on the First Team D2CCA All-American Midwest Region and being named the G-MAC Conference Pitcher of the Year.
There will be plenty of new faces however as the Mountaineers were quite active in the transfer portal. One of the transfers is junior outfielder Xavier Lopez who, prior to being a Mountaineer, wore blue and grey as a Daytona State Falcon. In Lopez’s final year in Florida, he was named to the All-FCSAA team as well as the All-Citrus Conference with a stat line of 8 home runs, 46 RBIs and 24 walks while only being struck out 27 times. The former Falcon wasn’t just good with a bat though, as he also posted a .978 fielding percentage.
Lopez wasn’t the only intriguing transfer, as senior first baseman Juan Correa transferred from UNC-Charlotte. Prior to trading heavy traffic for the High Country, Correa was named to the 2024 AAC Academic All-Conference and totaled 12 homeruns and 32 RBIs.
He showed his power in Charlotte’s first in-conference matchup last year against University of Alabama Birmingham where the Florida native drove in 5 runs with a grand slam and a sacrifice fly. This game was followed by two more, during which Correa hit a home run in.
Incoming high school talent is always a high point for teams during the offseason, and the Mountaineers made sure to go out and get some. Two of these freshmen, infielder Tyler Lichtenberger and utility piece Riley Luft, grew up in the city of Boca Raton, Florida. The two teammates faced off in a close 4-3 matchup during April of their senior year where Luft came out on top.
The Black and Gold also have three freshmen entering the bullpen, Conner Barozzino, Mason Middleton and Luke Oblen. All three pitchers come out of high school with high-speed fastballs with Barozzino throwing high 80s, Middleton in the low 90s and Oblen slinging the rock in the mid 90s.
App State fans and students can look forward to seeing the mixture of both incoming new talent and returning veterans on opening day when the Black and Gold take the diamond against Queens University on Feb. 14 at 3 p.m. in LP Frans Stadium in Hickory.
