BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State head coach
Kermit Smith on Wednesday announced the program's 2018 baseball schedule, which will bring high-profile teams to the High Country and feature a March 6 game against South Carolina at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte.
The Mountaineers are scheduled to play 56 regular season games in Smith's second year, and a 22-game home schedule includes visits from 2017 Super Regional qualifier Wake Forest (March 20), Louisiana (April 13-15) and 2016 national champion Coastal Carolina (May 17-19).
In addition to three-game conference tilts with the Chanticleers and Ragin' Cajuns, App State will also play host to Sun Belt foes Georgia Southern, Troy and Little Rock in Boone. The other nonconference teams appearing at Beaver Field will be Western Carolina, UNC Asheville, Gardner-Webb, North Carolina Central, North Carolina A&T and Radford.
During one 17-game stretch that covers most of April, there will be 13 home games for App State, which brings back experienced pitchers
Colin Schmid,
Luke Watts and
Reed Howell and has a different look with the arrival of many talented newcomers. In all, two-thirds of the Mountaineers' regular season games will be played in the state of North Carolina with visits to Charlotte, Greensboro, Wilmington, Asheville, Durham, Boiling Springs, Elon and Cullowhee.
"One of our goals with this year's schedule was to take our team to our alumni," Smith said. "We have such a strong fan base in different parts of the state, so we decided to take our show on the road. Beginning our schedule at Greensboro, Wilmington and Elon gives our fans an opportunity to come watch us play in state, and we get to play very good programs. We are also very excited about reestablishing a home and home with Western Carolina, a former SoCon rival. This is a schedule that our great fan base can really get excited about with 37 of our 56 contests being in state."
Season tickets for App State's 22-game home schedule are available at a cost of just $85 for adults, $75 for App State staff/faculty (limit of two) or senior citizens (limit of two) and $45 for youth (ages 3-12).
Season tickets can be purchased by clicking
HERE for the App State Ticket Central site, by calling the Appalachian State athletics ticket office at
(828) 262-2079 or by going to the ticket office, located at the Holmes Center, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.
App State opens the 2018 season at UNCG from Feb. 16-18, plays at UNCW from Feb. 23-25, visits Western Carolina on Feb. 27 and travels to Marshall for a series from March 2-4 before facing South Carolina in the Charlotte Knights' downtown, 10,200-seat Triple A stadium on March 6. With first pitch scheduled for shortly after 6 p.m. and Appalachian designated to be the home team, the Mountaineers will be participating in a game at BB&T Ballpark for the third straight year.
"We are very excited about hosting South Carolina at BB&T Ballpark," Smith said. "To get where we want to go, we must play the best programs in the country. This gives us a chance to do just that — and not only do it in a city that has a huge Appalachian State alumni base, but also do it while playing in one of the premier ballparks in professional baseball. Dan Rajkowski and his staff have rolled out the red carpet for us the past couple of years, and our guys really appreciate the hospitality."
A day after the Charlotte appearance, on March 7, App State will play its 2018 home opener against UNC Asheville at 5 p.m.
The Mountaineers hit the road again for games at Elon (March 9-11) and North Carolina Central (March 13 at the Durham Athletic Park) before starting Sun Belt play at Texas State with a series that runs from March 16-18.
Wake Forest, which needed a ninth-inning run to edge App State 5-4 in a tightly contested nonconference game at Beaver Field in 2017, returns to Boone for a Tuesday game with a 5 p.m. first pitch on March 20.
The Mountaineers play at UNC Asheville on March 21 before hosting their first Sun Belt home series against Georgia Southern from March 23-25.
After trips to Gardner-Webb (March 27), reigning Sun Belt tournament champion South Alabama (March 29-31) and Radford (April 3), App State will play eight of its next nine games at home. It hosts Troy (April 6-8) and plays North Carolina A&T at War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro on April 11 before welcoming Louisiana to Boone from April 13-15.
The Mountaineers will follow back-to-back home games against North Carolina Central (April 17) and Western Carolina (April 18) with a trip to ULM (April 20-22) before playing five more home games in a row. The last home-and-home series with Western Carolina occurred in 2015.
Trips to Beaver Field by Gardner-Webb (April 25), Little Rock (April 27-29) and North Carolina A&T (May 2) lead up to the final road swing of the regular season with games at UT Arlington (May 4-6) and Georgia State (May 11-13). App State plays its final nonconference game at home against Radford on May 15 and closes the regular season with its first Sun Belt home series against Coastal Carolina from May 17-19.
The Sun Belt Championships are scheduled for May 22-27 in Lafayette, La.
