The most glaring of weaknesses is the lack on consistent pitching throughout an entire weekend series. You can’t ask for much more from Jamie Nunn on Friday nights. Nunn is 8-3 on the season, leading the conference in wins, and is fourth in total ERA. Nunn leads all SoCon pitchers in innings pitched. If there is a team MVP for the season award, Nunn is certainly worthy of that billing.

The real issues regarding the pitching staff, is the uncertainty in what kind of starts you are going to get from the Sam Agnew-Wieland and Jeffrey Srpings. Agnew-Wieland recorded back to back complete game shutouts over a month ago, but has been struggling since then. It was seemed to good to be be true, and Sam has currently returned back to earth. Springs has been a mess as well. With your third starter, you would like to think you can get more than four innings a game. Springs has started nine games this season, and appeared in relief on three occasions, and has only recorded 43.2 innings pitched. Springs and Agnew-Wieland have given up the exact same number of runs, unearned, yet Springs has pitched 22 fewer innings.

Another glaring sore spot with the pitching is that first year head coach Billy Jones has had a real difficulty in deciding when to pull a pitcher from a game. Jones has a tendency to allow a pitcher to work through the troubles that he created, or the defense creates for him. From a fan perspective, Jones is slow to make the change, where Chris Pollard, the previous head coach, was well known for a very quick decision to replace a pitcher. To experience one extreme to another has been frustrating for all parties involved.

Finally, a result of short appearances from your starters, a first year head coach, and an inexperienced bullpen is the number of runs surrendered, and how often those runs are scored. Your opponents are going to score, but limiting those opportunities is what decided the difference between a win and a loss. On too many occasions this season, most recently against East Tennessee State on Wednesday, Appalachian has given up five runs in a single inning to their opponent. It has happened eight times, and Appalachian’s record in those games is 0-7. The Mountaineers are 24-17 on the season, and if they could only manage to limit those five run innings, their record could would be much better. Imagine how different we would feel about this team if they could add a couple more wins, and take some of those losses away. Imagine being 27-14. That is not a lot to ask for.

This season is certainly not finished. There are ten games remaining, and getting to 30 wins will not be easy. That would require six wins against the top two teams in the conference in Elon and Western Carolina, a three games series against West Coast conference leader Gonzaga, and a single game against North Carolina, who has the best record in college baseball at 41-4. Despite an extra challenging end of the season, it might be what the Mountaineers need. They have been a team this season that has played up, or down, to its competition, and perhaps the tough schedule at the end of the regular season can propel this team to a deep run in the SoCon tournament.

What we saw was plenty of the pistol formation, using the tight end or H-back in the backfield along with a running back. The same base formation and play, with several options was used for the majority of the scrimmage. It was pretty obvious that the players were being force-fed the concept of the offense. There was plenty of zone blocking. That concept still remains a very effective way to run the football and a major part of what Appalachian does. The tight end or H-back, which we will refer to as the “trigger” was used just like any other back in the backfield. The offense remains one based on reading the defense. The triggger either picked up a blitzer, helped the line, or read the defense and went out for a short pass, by reading the coverage.

Another base play used was almost like a quarterback sweep option, where the option was a nearly lateral pass to a running back or wide receiver to the sideline if a running lane did not exist for the sweep. This was a play that was fairly successful for the offense. When the quarterback runs down the line, it brings all the attention on him running, and sucks in the safety or outside linebacker to middle of the field. When that closed up, a quick sidearm pass to a receiver made it very difficult for the defense to recover. The play puts the defensive back on an island, where he is forced to make a one-on-one tackle in open space to keep the offense behind the chains. Defensive backs make fewer tackles than any other defender on the field, which gives all the advantage to the offense. Just like how quick ball movement creates open shots in basketball, quick ball movement creates open running lanes in football.

Appalachian worked the Georgia Southern pitching staff for fifteen hits. Jaylin Davis led the way with four hits and three RBI while Will Callaway added two hits and five RBI. Noah Holnes drove in the other Mountaineer run, giving the 3-4-5 hitters all of Appalachian’s RBI on the day. Josh Wilson and Taylor Thurber finished off the game allowing only two hits.

After twenty-two combined hits on Friday, App and Southern combined for only seven on Saturday afternoon in front of a record crowd at Beaver Field. Sam Agnew-Wieland gave the record crowd a show, allowing only two hits, while throwing a second complete game shutout in a week. Sam has been given several nicknames, from “Hyphen” to “Hacksaw”. The nickname of the week is Hacksaw, or Hack for short. Hack only needed 102 pitches, throwing 69 for strikes to complete the shutout.

Fortunately, for Appalachian, Hack was on fire when the Appalachian offense took a day off. The Mountaineers only had five hits, but made the most of them, scoring two runs. Will Callaway continued his hot streak with three hits. If there is one negative about Hack going nine innings, is that the Mountaineers young pitching staff is kept off the field to experience game situations.

Speaking of the young and inexperienced pitching staff, they showed their true colors in a back and forth game in which Appalachian was going for the sweep. Jeffrey Springs continues to have trouble making it deep in games, as he was able to get through 4.1  innings with his 86 pitches. Taylor Thurber came on for his usual long Sunday relief spot, but also struggled, giving up four hits in his two innings. Josh Wilson held the lead, striking out four of the five batters he faced before handing the ball over to Rob Marcello for the save with a two run lead. Marcello faced four batters. He hit one of them with a pitch and gave up three hits. Marcello was not able to retire a batter, which led to his second blown save of the season. The previous blown save came against Cornell, when Marcello gave up five runs in the top of the ninth.

From this point on, Appalachian would hit the road for a nine game stretch, including two SoCon series at UNCG and The Citadel. Greensboro is 4-8 in conference play while The Citadel is 6-6. A couple of series wins would be good for the Mountaineers, but however they came, four conference wins are needed in this stretch.

Against UNC-Asheville on Tuesday night, the Mountaineers pounded out fourteen hits, but left thirteen runners on base before eventually rallying for a 6-3 win over the Bulldogs. Chad Farmer got the start, and he has been sharing a very similar look to his outings as Springs has this season. Getting four or five innings this season from either one has been a blessing, but it comes with its adventures. Farmer was rolling along into the third inning before giving up a three run home run. The home run was all the runs Farmer allowed in his 4.1 innings while he struck out five batters. Tyler Moore would allow the tying run to come to the plate for Asheville in the ninth inning before giving way to Josh Wilson, who got the final out and his first save of the season.

The Mountaineers are now 18-10 on the season, and 8-6 in SoCon play. The remaining conference schedule is a combined 39-33 in league play, but the heavy hitters have to come to Boone while the weaker opponents are on the road. Prior to the season, we thought an 18-12 conference record was where this team would finish, and that seems to be on target for now. Considering three road conference series were played in the first half of the conference season, that number could inflate. Keep in mind, the cancelled game at College of Charleston will have huge implications on the conference tournament seeding. Currently, the top seven teams in the conference standings are separated by only three games.

In game one of the series, the Mountaineers ran into a veteran pitcher from Wofford in Brandon Yarusi who won his first game of the season pitching the full nine innings. Yarusi used 120 pitches to strike out nine Mountaineers, while only walking one batter and giving up only four hits.

Jamie Nunn was moving along nicely until the fifth inning on Friday night. Nunn walked three batters in the inning. Wofford would record four hits, three singles and a double en route to scoring five runs in the frame. The five run inning has hurt the Mountaineers all season long, and this one would eventually do the Mountaineers in. Nunn fell to 5-2 while his ERA jumped up to 3.45 on the season.

In game two, Sam Agnew-Wieland countered Yarusi with a complete game of his own. The Hyphen struck out ten batters, yielding only five hits and walking only two. Along with sending ten Wofford batters straight from the batters box to the dugout, Wieland also forced twelve groundouts and only three fly balls. The infield did a great job behind him, completing the game without an error while also converting two double plays.

Game three was the typical rubber match as both teams combined for eleven of the games thirteen runs during the second, third and fourth innings. Appalachian edged Wofford in the bottom of the ninth with a walkoff win to take game 7-6, and the series two games to one.

Appalachian recorded ten hits on Sunday afternoon and eleven on Saturday, which led to both of their wins. When the bats are creating opportunities and giving their pitchers leads, this team can be successful. When this team struggles is when they fall behind on the scoreboard and start pressing. It is obvious that Appalachian is missing Alex Leach right now, he continues to work back into the lineup from his concussion he suffered in Georgia. Even though Leach has been out of the lineup, Appalachian has managed to stay in the SoCon race.

Six teams are separated by only 2.5 games with Georgia Southern leading the conference at 9-3. Elon comes in second at 10-5, having played one more series than the rest of the conference. Charleston sits at 7-4, while Western Carolina comes in at 7-5, followed by Appalachian at 6-5. The Mountaineers and Charleston have played one less game as their rubber match was cancelled due to rain last weekend. Georgia Southern visits Boone this weekend after losing a series to Greensboro last weekend. The Eagles also face a midweek test on the road at Jacksonville before making their way back to the mountain this weekend. The Eagles could be road weary, and this a big spot for Appalachian. In the meantime, Appalachian will hit the road to Richmond for a game against Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday. The Colonels have lost seven in a row and are 5-18 on the season.

Once conference season began in full force, Appalachian knew it would be in a dog fight for top seed in the conference tourney with two other teams. Appalachian opened January with three conference wins over Wofford, Elon and UNCG. Then the Mountaineers starting showing signs of what the theme of the season would end up being. When Appalachian plays their best, they can be pretty decent, and when they play their worst, it can be really bad. The problem, was that there was a big gap between the good App team and the bad one.

The western road swing began with an overtime collapse at Chattanooga. Appalachian held a big lead late in the game and allowed the Mocs to force overtime and eventually win. That was followed by a close loss at Samford to a very hot shooting team. That was followed by another game against Georgia Southern where the Mountaineers let a big lead evaporate, but was able to pull out the win in overtime. The next two games were losses to Davidson who was superior to Appalachian in the regular season, and Charleston, where Applachian lost another lead and gave way to the Cougars.

For the rest of the season, the Mountaineers beat everyone they should have, and lost to the same type of teams. Appalachian beat Georgia Southern again in overtime, blew another lead on the road at Elon before dropping a game to The Citadel at home where the Mountaineers were totally out of it from a mental standpoint.

However, the season came down to the last weekend, with a chance to win the four seed in the conference tournament with two wins. Appalachian snuffed out a double overtime win over Samford and then played their best game of the season in the home finale over Chattanooga.

In the conference tournament, Appalachian handled Furman, who upset Samford in the 5/12 game and gave Davidson a good scare in the semifinals. Davidson went on to win the conference tournament as Appalachian said farewell to Nathan Healy and Jamaal Trice.

The Mountaineers finished 15-16 on the season, winning ten home games, and losing eleven on the road. Jason Capel has basically been assured he will fill out his first coaching contract, but will need to earn a second contract next season. He will be a lame duck coach unless Charlie Cobb grants him a short extension just to ensure an easier path on the recruiting trail.

Healy was the biggest surprise of the season. The former walk-on turned himself into an all-conference player and defensive player of the year. Healy led the team in scoring (14.5), rebounding (7.7), steals (59), and blocks (45). Healy played more minutes, hit more field goals and three pointers, and shot better from the free throw line than any other player on the team.

Jamaal Trice was sick for most of the season from various ailments. Despite that, Trice hit 35 three pointers, shooting 41% from behind the arc, and averaged seven points per game. Trice started seven games and was instrumental to the team down the stretch in the last couple weeks of the season.

The future appears to be bright, but potentially thin in the post, based on what our eyes have seen thus far. Next season’s starting lineup should include Mike Neal, Tab Hamilton, Jay Canty, Tevin Baskin and Micheal Obacha. The Mountaineers used a very short bench all season long, so there is not much tape on freshman Rantavious Gilbert, Frank Eaves or Bennet Rutherford. Brian Okam may not return to school as he has enough credits to graduate, and fell out of favor with Capel after a certain free throw he attempted. Chris Burgess will provide a solid backup to Mike Neal, as he improved more than any other player on the team throughout the season.

The question marks will be whether or not a sophomore or incoming freshman will be able to garner significant playing time. The backcourt is quite crowded, with three more guards committed for the fall, and one forward. Mike Kobani may have the best chance as he is 6’7″ and 250 pounds. Rantavious Gilbert has a great chance to get playing time with his length and potential to be a great defender. Until November, many questions will be answered regarding the direction of the program, from a potential head coach extension to conference realignment.

Jamie Nunn has been solid all season, but Jeffrey Springs and Sam Agnew-Wieland have been erratic, combining for six appearances that have lasted fewer than five innings, compared to only three starts going six innings or more. Both of their earned run averages are well over 5.00, but somehow have managed a 4-2 combined record. They have also combined to hit nine batters and have given up five runs on three occasions. Before conference play, at least one of them has to get their act together for Appalachian to contend in conference play.

Cornell has played eight games thus far this season, going 4-4 against non baseball powers. The Big Red have been a team that has played a lot of small ball this season. Cornell has yet to register a triple or a home run and only fourteen of their sixty-two hits are for doubles. Appalachian has already registered  52 extra base hits, including 16 home runs and 33 doubles. The big key in this game will be the pitching. Appalachian always swing the bat well at home and usually puts up plenty of runs, but will it be enough to back up the damage that Springs and Agnew-Wieland will give up? Cornell’s pitchers have not pitched a lot this season, having only played eight games and Beaver Field offers a differnt dynamic for any opposing team.

First pitch for the Saturday’s doubleheader is set for 1pm, while the third game of the series will also get started at 1pm on Sunday.

Appalachian and Charleston played a really close game until the final few minutes when Appalachian’s pressure finally got to Charleston. Appalachian was in control for much of the game, but could never really extend their lead in the first half. Charleston led by a point on one occasion, but Appalachian quickly regained the lead. For much of the game, the Mountaineers led by just under ten points as Charleston hung around as long as they could.

The Cougars were still in the game with 2:09 remaining, as they only trailed by six points. The Mountaineers would finish the game on a 8-0 run to mark the final tally at 74-60. Six of those eight points came at the free throw line via Maryah Sydnor and Anna Freeman. Bria Huffman hit a basket as well in that final run by the Mountaineers.

Anna led all scorers with 23 points and added ten rebounds. Maryah Sydnor scored 17 points and added a half dozen rebounds. Raven Gary added 14 points, six rebouns and four assists. Courtney Freeman chipped in eleven points. Three Mountaineers, Sydnor, Anna, and Courtney accumulated twelve of the nineteen Appalachian fouls as all three were called for four. Charleston threw up another twenty three point attempts, and were mostly unsuccessful, hitting only five of them. The Cougars attempted 28 more shots than Appalachian, and the Mountaineers turned the ball over 13 more times than their opponent.

Appalachian gave up 20 offensive rebounds to Charleston, and must clean that up if they want to beat Chattanooga. The Mocs pounded Appalachian just eight days ago at home. The key to beating the Mocs is playing good perimeter defense and getting in the face of the Mocs three point shooters. Appalachian must also be very aware of Chattanooga’s post players, and do everything they can to limit the Mocs to one shot on the offensive end. Appalachian and Chattanooga will face off at noon on Sunday.

(We made the tough decision and attended the men’s game on Saturday)

Men:

Appalachian jumped all over a tired Furman team in the first half and never looked back. Appalachian used a 7-0 run the jump out to an 18-7 lead early in the first half. Moments later, a 10-2 run by Appalachian up by seventeen points, a lead they would two more times in the first half before heading to the locker room with a fourteen point halftime lead. Appalachian used active hands on the defensive end, something we had not seen all year long. Their hands were in the passing lanes on the wings, and once the ball was tipped, the Mountaineers were off and running for easy fast break points.

Furman cut the lead to five points at 38-33 early in the second half, but Appalachian once again answered with a huge run, another 7-0 run, that put that back up by double digits with 16:17 to play in the game. Furman would once again cut the lead back down to single digits at 47-40, before Appalachian finally put the Paladins away. Over the next 5:23 of game time, the Mountaineers went on a 19-5 run that gave them the Mountaineers their biggest lead of the game with just over eight minutes to play.

Furman responded with a 10-0 run, but it was too little too late for the Paladins. Tevin Baskin put a bow on the game as Furman went up for a breakaway dunk with 13 seconds left and Baskin emphatically blocked it away to preserve a 74-60 final margin.

In the earlier meeting against Furman, Appalachian had very balanced scoring, as four players scored 14 points. Scoring was very balanced against Furman in the tournament as no player scored more than 13 points. Nathan Healy and Jay Canty scored 13 as Jamaal Trice added twelve points to round out the Mountaineer double figure scorers. Baskin and Tab Hamilton added nine points each while Michael Obacha scored eight points and led the team with seven rebounds.

Next up for the Mountaineers is Davidson, who blistered Georgia Southern with three pointers, nailing ten in the first half, and thirteen for the game. Five Wildcats scored in double figures in the 86-59 win. Davidson handled Appalachian in both meeting this season, so this game will be a tall task for the Mountaineers. Most consider Appalachian the weakest of the four top seeds and predicted they would make an early exit in the tournament. Davidson and Appalachian have never met in the semifinals before and Appalachian is 1-3 all time against the Wildcats in the tournament. Davidson has easily brought the most fans to the tournament, but hopefully a 6pm start will bring a few more Mountaineers to Asheville.

Furman won their eighth game of the season last night while getting several players back from injury. Stephen Croone came back from a foot injury, playing in only his second game back from injury and scored eleven of Furman’s 55 points. Croone drilled the Mountaineers for twenty points in their only meeting earlier this year in Boone. Charlie Reddick scored eight points and grabbed ten rebounds in a game where the Paladins outrebounded the Bulldogs 34-24. Furman also had a big game from Bobby Austin who scored seventeen points in 34 minutes.

Appalachian must regroup and focus after an emotional week of basketball last week. The Mountaineers were able to win two games in order to clinch the bye. Furman may have gained some confidence last night, but will have to play after less than a day of rest. The only meeting between the two schools earlier this year featured another one of Appalachian’s games where they blew a big lead and had to hold on late. Appalachian had an 18 point lead in the first half before eventually allowing Furman to cut the lead to one point late in the game. March is not the time for loss of focus and Appalachian must keep its down and grind this win out before worrying about who they may play tomorrow.

We are still waiting on Vegas to chime in on this game. This usually happens where we cannot find a line for tournament games until right before tipoff. Considering other high profile games that are being played across the country, it is very possible that we do not see a line in this game at all. We will keep checking until game time. Our guess is the Mountaineers are favored by 5.5 points, but that could be generous. It is possible this line could be as high as 7 points.

11:25 UPDATE: Appalachian has opened as 6 point favorite. This is what we were expecting. We will keep waiting for movement before we make a pick.

Charleston is a team that can beat you several different ways and have been a roll in the last couple weeks. The Cougars have won three straight since losing to Appalachian on February 20th, and have done so in somewhat convincing fashion. Charleston handled Wofford by nine points, Western Carolina by twelve points and Furman by twelve points. Prior to the loss to Appalachian, Charleston beat Samford by one at home and Davidson on the road by three points. If you look back further, Charleston has won eight of their last eleven games.

The key for Charleston has been a change in offensive philosophy the last few games. Against Appalachian, Charleston put up 23 three point attempts, and have only put up 22 threes in their last three games combined. The Cougars have driven to the basket more, and although they are not a good free throw shooting team, more attempts at the line in game action will improve those statistics.

This game is a dangerous one for the women, and basically they all are in the tournament. The road will not get easier for the Mountaineers and playing one game in Kimmel Arena will make things different for all teams involved. This could be the final game for several seniors, who have been instrumental in turning this program around in the last four seasons, and I expect an effort worthy of the fear of wearing that jersey for the final time.