Appalachian State University baseball continue its road trip to begin the season, having its first midweek contest against fifth-ranked South Carolina on Tuesday, Feb. 28

The Mountaineers and Gamecocks will square off at 4 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network +.

NOTING THIS TUESDAY'S SERIES

• Appalachian State baseball (4-3) will try to carry momentum from its three-game weekend sweep forward on Tuesday against No. 5 South Carolina (5-3). First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Founders Park in Columbia, S.C.

• Tuesday's contest marks the second time this season that Appalachian State faces a nationally ranked opponent. The Mountaineers squared off against No. 24 UNC Wilmington and narrowly lost in the bottom of the ninth, 6-5 in the opening-weekend Hughes Bros. Challenge.

• Appalachian State owns 12 wins over nationally ranked opponents since 2011, including three last year. Prior to 2011, the Mountaineers had not beaten a nationally ranked team in 29 years (see “Appalachian State Versus Ranked Teams” below).

• App State is making its fifth visit to South Carolina in the last six seasons. Despite some close calls (most notably a 6-4 loss to No. 4 USC in 2012 and a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the top-ranked Gamecocks in 2014), the Mountaineers have lost eight-straight games to South Carolina and are 1-13 all-time against the Gamecocks.

• Tuesday's pitching matchup features a pair of sophomores — Appalachian State's left-handed Bobby Hampton versus South Carolina's right-handed Graham Lawson.

• Hampton will see his second start after pitching extremely well during Opening Weekend against VMI (7.0 ip, 2 H, 0 R, 9 K).

• Lawson will be making his first start of his career after throwing 3.0 innings in the middle innings against Kansas State (3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K). South Carolina lost 6-5 after giving up four runs in the first inning.

• Appalachian State is coming off its first three-game sweep on the road since 2012 against Wofford. The Mountaineers have only had two three-game sweeps total since then (2014 - UNC Asheville; 2016 - Longwood).

• Entering last weekend, only three Mountaineers were betting better than .200. Exiting the weekend, three App State batters not hit better than .300: freshman Calev Grubbs (.346), junior Drake Zupcic (.333) and Brian Bauk (.318).

• Zupcic is coming off a particularly good weekend at bat, sending a ball yard in Game 1 and earning a triple in Game 2 against GWU.