Mountaineers Complete Weekend Sweep, Set to Host Duke

Riding the momentum of a seven game winning streak, Appalachian is off to one of the best starts in program history. After following up a 1-0 shutout win over LSU with a dominating 11-1 triumph to secure a series victory in Baton Rouge, the Mountaineers have continued their inspired play and have not lost since. The Apps concluded their season opening 7-game road trip with a 5-3 comeback victory in Greensboro over North Carolina A&T to return home with an impressive 5-2 overall record.

Upon arriving to Boone with some early buzz around the team, Appalachian overpowered the visiting Rider Broncs in a one-sided 4-game sweep. The Mountaineers outscored Rider by a cumulative score of 53-15 and sent them home winless for the weekend. While the Broncs have appeared in the NCAA Regionals in two of the past four seasons and are a traditionally strong baseball program, they were thoroughly dominated from the outset.

I was able to make it up for the Sunday finale and watched the Apps capitalize on nearly every Rider misstep on their way to a 15-4 romp to put the exclamation point on an already impressive series. The Mountaineers blew the game open with a 9-run 3rd inning, with 6 runs coming with two outs. The victory moved Appalachian to 9-2 overall and into the top 20 in the RPI. While it is certainly too early to put much value on computer rankings, it is a testament to the good work done thus far.

Next up on the schedule is the Duke Blue Devils, who pay a visit to Smith Stadium tomorrow, March 7 at 5:30PM. It marks the Devils' first visit to the High Country and to mark this event, Appalachian is encouraging all fans to bring any Duke hats, t-shirts or other apparel to the game, where they can be traded in for a free ASU t-shirt. Although it is Duke that plays in the baseball-rich Atlantic Coast Conference, they enter Wednesday's game coming off a 12-4 setback to Western Carolina while the Mountaineers are fresh off two days rest and not short on confidence.

The contest will feature an all-freshman pitching match-up as LHP Jeffrey Springs will face Duke freshman RHP Nick Piscotty. For those not able to make the trip up the mountain, the game will be available to watch or listen to online here. A win tomorrow would maintain the Mountaineers' perfect home record going into their 3-game series with Davidson this weekend to open up conference play.