Home cooking

Since going 1-2 in a series against Troy in Boone, the Mountaineers have not been at home.

The April 5 series finale against Troy ended on a sour note in a 12-5 loss to the Trojans, and then the squad hit the road for a very tough stretch that featured stops at South Carolina, South Alabama and East Tennessee State, though the latter was rained out.

The road wasn’t too kind to App State as they were able to steal a win at South Alabama 6-5 in extra innings, but lost the other three games that were played on the road by a combined 24 runs.

Now, four of App State’s next five games are at home with a series against Georgia State before a single road game at Western Carolina before hosting the Catamounts the next day.

Close game confidence

As previously mentioned, App State wasn’t very close in a couple of its road matchups of late, but the extra innings win over Sun Belt foe South Alabama has to provide a little confidence boost to a team that has had trouble closing out games this season.

Previously, the Mountaineers were 0-6 in one-run games and were 0-2 when games required extra innings.

Closing out games is a key thing to learn. Perhaps the gutsy road win proves the Mountaineers are getting there.

Get started early

When the Mountaineers score early, good things happen. This is evident in the team’s 10-12 mark when scoring first.

App State has won only once when playing from behind, and that means there is little room for error.

The Mountaineers are 1-14 when the opponent scores first, including a 2-12 mark when the opponent scores in the first inning. The pitchers need to be able to settle in and hold the opponents down early – it just might make a difference for the Mountaineers.

STORY: Cory Spiers, Sports Editor
INFOGRAPHIC: Malik Rahili, Visual Managing Editor