App State baseball continued their red-hot start to the season, handling business against North Carolina A&T State University at two different ballparks and surviving a late rally by Southern Illinois University with a walk-off win Sunday to improve to 6-1 on the season.
The Mountaineers welcomed the Aggies back to Boone Friday for the first time since App State won 18-9 in an exhibition game at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium in October 2025.
They wasted little time grabbing a lead, as junior outfielder Drew DuPont smacked a 2-run home run to center field in the second inning after junior designated hitter Kameron Miller singled to begin the inning.
Sophomore infielder Ethan Puig followed DuPont’s example, launching a long home run into the trees behind the left field wall for a 3-0 lead.
The Aggies homered in the third inning, but that was the only run Mountaineers junior left-handed pitcher Tanner Nolan allowed in his five innings of work.
The score remained 3-1 until the sixth inning, when sophomore utility player Riley Luft scored on a base hit by Puig. Graduate student infielder Steven Smith smashed a 2-run home run over the left field wall for App State’s third homer of the day, extending the lead to 6-1.
The Aggies plated a run in the top of the seventh, but App State responded with their third 3-run inning of the afternoon. Puig ripped a single to right field that scored Miller, and Steven Smith cracked a 2-RBI single to center field that brought in Puig and DuPont.
From there, the Mountaineers rode the arm of redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Nick DiRito, who tossed 4 scoreless innings in relief, to a 9-3 victory.
Both teams traveled to LP Frans Stadium in Hickory Saturday, where the Black and Gold battered the Aggies 10-0 in 7 innings.
App State broke through in the bottom of the third when freshman outfielder Nico Soul scored on a base hit by graduate student infielder Joseph Zamora. Zamora later scored on a single by redshirt junior infielder Jonathan Xuereb.
The Mountaineers tacked on a run in the fourth when Luft scored on an error by the Aggies’ second baseman, then added six more in the sixth. Senior outfielder Charlie Evans deposited a 2-RBI single into center field, then DuPont stepped up with the bases loaded and promptly cleared them with a 3-run double down the left field foul line. DuPont scored courtesy of an Aggies error, extending the lead to 9-0.
Junior right-handed pitcher Gage Peterson was excellent on the mound, allowing only 3 hits in 6 scoreless innings. Junior right-handed pitcher Logan Tibbett pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the seventh. Steven Smith later launched a home run to left center that triggered the run rule and clinched the victory for the Mountaineers.
App State concluded the weekend with a four-hour battle against Southern Illinois University Sunday in cold and windy conditions in Hickory. The Salukis worked 2 bases-loaded walks in the first to grab a 2-0 lead.
Puig cut the deficit in half in the third inning with an RBI double down the left field line that drove in Xuereb. Puig had multiple hits in each game across the weekend.
The Mountaineers grabbed the lead with 4 runs in the fifth inning. DuPont hit an RBI single to right field to tie the game, and Evans recorded an RBI groundout to take the lead. DuPont scored on a Salukis error with 2 outs, then Xuereb knocked an RBI single into right field to make it a 5-2 game.
Evans ripped a 2-run single to right in the home half of the sixth, and DuPont scored after a poor throw on a pickoff attempt of Evans wound up in right field, giving App State an 8-2 lead.
Southern Illinois rallied in the seventh with an RBI double and a 3-run home run that snuck over the right center field wall. The Salukis made it an 8-7 game in the eighth inning with an RBI single up the middle, but DuPont caught a line drive to end the threat.
The Salukis began the ninth by getting 2 runners on base against redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Jordan Fisher. Head coach Kermit Smith made the decision to go with Steven Smith, who was playing third base, to close out the game for the Mountaineers.
Steven Smith quickly got the first 2 outs of the ninth. However, Southern Illinois tied the game at 8 after he couldn’t cover first base in time for the third out.
Senior catcher Tommy Walker walked to start the bottom of the ninth. He was lifted for redshirt sophomore infielder Bret Clements, who advanced to third on an errant throw on a double play attempt.
With two outs in the inning, Zamora blooped one over the infield grass, where it fell out of reach of the third baseman. Clements sprinted home for the winning run, and the Mountaineers poured out of the dugout to celebrate Zamora’s walk-off hit and a 9-8 victory.
The Mountaineers travel to Johnson City, Tennessee to face East Tennessee State University Wednesday at 3 p.m.
