By Matt Present. HICKORY, N.C. — Kameron Miller took a hit, then delivered a game-changing one.

Struck hard in the side by a fouled-off liner toward the home dugout while he was standing in the on-deck circle Feb. 13, Miller went to the plate moments later and delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie as App State won 5-2 against Canisius in the 2026 season opener at L.P. Frans Stadium.

Due to the weekend weather forecast, the three-game series is now scheduled to conclude Saturday with a doubleheader that starts at noon.

Tanner Nolan, Nick DiRito (win) and Ethan Wilson (save) allowed a combined five hits while striking out 11 batters in a low-scoring opener with strong pitching and defense from the Mountaineers.

Miller’s single through the left side to break the 1-all tie scored Nico Soul and Ethan Puig. Joseph Zamora fouled out in an eventful plate appearance before that, as Miller was hit by a foul ball off the left-handed-hitting Zamora’s bat with runners on first and second, before they advanced later in the at-bat on strong reads of a pitch in the dirt.

“That has never happened to me before,” Miller said of being hit by a foul ball like that. “I’ve only ever seen it on video. It was actually my roommate, Joseph Zamora, who did it. A little payback — I hit him in the head with a bat the other day, so fair enough.

“Knowing what the main goal is, I got to come up in a big spot and help the guys out.”

Canisius added one run in the seventh, but DiRito closed out a strong, four-inning effort out of the bullpen before giving way to Wilson for the final two innings. The Mountaineers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, scoring on RBI singles from Puig and right fielder Drew DuPont, who had made a difficult running catch near the fence in foul territory in the top half of the frame.

Wilson, a Belmont Abbey transfer, pitched a perfect ninth and retired six of the seven batters he faced, ending the game with a strikeout.

Nolan, a left-handed Crowder College transfer, started on the mound and allowed one run in three innings. DiRito, a UMass Lowell transfer who played against App State in L.P. Frans Stadium last year and struck out the side in the ninth inning of a 1-0 loss to the Mountaineers, gave up one run on four hits while striking out six batters over his four innings with his new team.

“Just limiting damage, when a guy gets on, not staying away from what our end goal is and not letting up runs,” DiRito said.

After retiring the side in order to begin the game, Nolan allowed a leadoff double off the wall in the second. A walk put two on, and it appeared the bases would be loaded via a hit by pitch, but umpires gathered and determined that the batter leaned into it.

Instead of the bases being loaded with nobody out, Nolan struck out that batter and followed a sacrifice bunt with another strikeout.

An inning later, Canisius got on the board with a two-out rally, as a hit batter and walk loaded the bases before another hit batter pushed across the game’s first run, but Nolan limited the damage by striking out the next batter looking on a 3-2 breaking ball.

DiRito struck out three batters in a scoreless fourth. Canisius led off the fifth with a double and had runners at the corners with one away, but DiRito fanned the next batter and induced a groundout to end the threat.

App State tied the score in the fifth, when Jake Mummau scored on Brooks Wright’s sacrifice fly, then took its first lead in the sixth. Soul and Puig reached via a hit by pitch (prompting a pitching change) and a walk to set the stage for Miller’s one-out delivery into left field.

The insurance runs in the eighth occurred after Tank Yaghoubi drew a leadoff walk and reached second, with his hustle down the line impacting the focus and execution on the speedy Soul’s grounder toward the second baseman positioned near the bag.

A misplay of the grounder put two runners on, Puig singled in the next at-bat to drive in Yaghoubi, and a groundout was followed by an intentional walk to Miller to load the bases. DuPont’s single through the right side brought in Soul for the final run.

Soul scored twice, and seven different Mountaineers had one hit apiece.

McClain in Rare Air

To put into context what McClain did in the first game of the doubleheader, only 13 Major League Baseball players have hit two grand slams in a game — ever, in all of professional baseball history.

McClain finished 2-2 against the Lions (0-1) with a career-best eight RBIs and reached base six times across the doubleheader.

In the two complete games on Feb. 13, App State (7-0) outscored its two foes, 21-1, while tallying 19 hits. McClain and Julia Girk paced the Mountaineers with four hits apiece for the doubleheader, while Leah Gore posted a three-RBI contest against Fairfield (2-3), and Madison McIntyre and Dakota Daniel both drove home two runs across the doubleheader.

In addition to the offense, Camryn Fisher bounced back well from her rough outing on Feb. 12 against UNCG to pick up two wins on Friday. She pitched every inning of the doubleheader and allowed just one run and five hits. Fisher now sits at 4-0 on the season, which puts her in a tie for first place in the Sun Belt Conference.

Up Next

By Bret Strelow. DAVIDSON, N.C. — Remaining unbeaten in SoCon duals, App State Wrestling started its final road swing of the regular season by taking nine of 10 matches in a 38-3 victory at Davidson on Friday night.

The first-place Mountaineers (9-5, 6-0) wrestle again Sunday at preseason favorite Chattanooga, which is 8-5 overall and 5-1 in SoCon duals, with the lone league setback being a 19-18 loss to The Citadel in a showdown decided by tiebreaking criteria. An 18-all tie in that dual was broken by the fact that the only pin of the night belonged to The Citadel, which fell to 4-1 in the league via a 23-13 loss at App State.

With two SoCon duals left on App State’s schedule, the outcome Sunday in Chattanooga could play a big role in determining if there is one outright champion or co-champions in the regular season race.

App State wrestled seven of its 10 primary starters at Davidson, and redshirt senior Joe Zovistoski earned the first dual win of his career with a 9-4 decision against Josh Lange at 174 pounds.

Making his third career dual appearance after being named a NWCA Scholar All-American last year, Zovistoski took a 3-1 lead by recording a takedown late in the second period and finishing the period on top. Lange followed Zovistoski’s escape to open the third with a tying takedown, but Zovistoski responded with a tiebreaking escape and sealed the match on a takedown shortly thereafter.

Joe Fongaro, a Rutgers transfer in his first year at App State, made his SoCon dual debut and earned his second dual win of the season at 141 pounds, while Kai O’Dell improved to 3-0 in his career as a dual starter.

App State built a 22-0 lead through four matches thanks to two forfeits (at 197 and 125) and a pair of tech falls (from heavyweight Stephan Monchery and Jarvis Little at 133) before Fongaro fired in immediately and recorded a takedown less than five seconds into his 5-0 shutout of Marley Washington.

Davidson’s only victory came in a showdown of 149-pound wrestlers with 5-0 league records. Anderson Heap recorded an overtime takedown against Kaden Keiser to prevail 4-1.

A second-period takedown was the difference in O’Dell’s 4-2 decision against Anwar Alli at 157, and Anthony Conetta won an 8-4 decision against Bryce Griffin in the next match at 164. Tomas Brooker followed Zovistoski’s victory with a major decision in the final match.

App State’s 2025-26 season is presented by Hungry Howie’s and Penn Station.

App State 38, Davidson 3

197: Logan Eller (APP) won by forfeit
285: Stephan Monchery (APP) def. DJ Spring II (DC), 22-4 tech fall
125: Cooper Foster (APP) won by forfeit
133: #31 Jarvis Little (APP) def. Luke Passarelli (DC), 18-2 tech fall
141: Joe Fongaro (APP) def. Marley Washington (DC), 5-0 dec.
149: Anderson Heap (DC) def. #29 Kaden Keiser (APP), 4-1 dec. (SV)
157: Kai O’Dell (APP) def. Anwar Alli (DC), 4-2 dec.
165: Anthony Conetta (APP) def. Bryce Griffin (DC), 8-4 dec.
174: Joe Zovistoski (APP) def. Josh Lange (DC), 9-4 dec.
184: #22 Tomas Brooker (APP) def. Cody Kirk (DC), 11-1 maj. dec.

By Layne McNary. KENNESAW, Ga. — The App State tennis team took down Kennesaw State 5-2 on the road Saturday, securing its third consecutive win.

The Mountaineers (3-2) rallied after conceding the doubles point early in the match. Courts 1 through 4 picked up the points needed to clinch the victory, with Allegra Hodson’s match the only one requiring a third set. Ruby Broadbent earned the fifth point of the day for App State, winning back-to-back sets after dropping the first.

How It Happened

App State opened the match by dropping doubles matches on courts 1 and 3. The duo of Naledi Manyube and Sreenidhi Balaji led 5-3 before Kennesaw State (0-3) clinched the point.

Trailing 1-0 heading into singles play, the Mountaineers remained resilient. Savannah Dada-Mascoll, ranked No. 6, won the first singles match for App State in straight sets, dominating at No. 1 with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Despite a loss on Court 6, Manyube completed a straight-set win at No. 2, winning 6-4, 6-2 to tie the score at 2-2. Taya Powell gave the Mountaineers their first lead of the day after a 6-2, 6-4 win on Court 3, putting App State one point away from the overall victory.

Hodson clinched the dual from Court 4 in a three-set battle. After splitting the first two sets, she pulled away in the third to win 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, securing the decisive fourth point. Broadbent finished the day at No. 5, earning her third singles win of the season to cap the comeback, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Up Next

The Mountaineers remain in Georgia to face Mercer on Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Copelan Tennis Complex in Macon, Ga.