BOONE, N.C. — Nineteen home games and 36 road contests that feature bouts against South Carolina, Wake Forest and the defending College World Series Champions Coastal Carolina highlight Appalachian State University baseball’s 2017 schedule, head coach Kermit Smith announced on Monday.
Appalachian State opens the 2017 slate at UNC Wilmington’s annual Hughes Bros. Challenge (Feb. 17-19) where the Mountaineers will play VMI, George Mason and the Seahawks over the four-day stretch. App State then heads to Boiling Springs for a series against Gardner-Webb before heading to face SEC foe, South Carolina, on Feb. 28 in Columbia.
Appalachian’s second tournament of the season comes at East Carolina in the LeClair Classic (March 3-5) where it will face St. John’s, Western Carolina and the host Pirates during the weekend.
The Black and Gold open their 20-game home schedule on March 7 and 14 when they host UNC Asheville and NC Central for midweek night games at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. The home slate also includes a three-game Sun Belt Conference series versus Texas State (March 24-26), UT Arlington (April 7-9), Georgia State (April 21-23), Arkansas State (April 28-30) and South Alabama (May 12-14).
The midweek portion of App State’s schedule is headlined by a visit from local rival Wake Forest on Tuesday, March 28. The Mountaineers also host UNC Asheville (March 7) and Radford (March 21) for non-conference contests at Smith Stadium.
There will also be two neutral-site midweek games as Appalachian State returns to BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte to face NC Central on Tuesday, March 14. The game marks the second-straight year the Mountaineers have appeared at the now four-year-old uptown home of the triple-A Charlotte Knights.
The Apps also make a trip to play Wake Forest at Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C. on Tuesday, May 16. Keeter Stadium has been the official home of the American Legion World Series since 2011. Built in 1976, the stadium and its field have undergone numerous renovations, the most recent being a 2013 $2.8 million upgrade.
In true road games, Appalachian has Sun Belt series at UL Lafayette (March 17-19), Little Rock (March 31-April 2), Georgia Southern (April 13-15), Troy (May 5-7) and closes out the regular season on the road against defending College World Series champs and Sun Belt Conference newcomer Coastal Carolina (May 18-20).
The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Tournament is set for May 23-28 in Statesboro, Ga.
2017 Appalachian State Baseball Schedule
