Perry's Previews: Royals Host App State

(Uptown Charlotte, NC) -- The second of five collegiate baseball games at Truist Field has the Queens University Royals hosting the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Wednesday, March 29.

Queens, led by head coach Ross Steedley, made their Division I baseball debut this season, facing head coach Kermit Smith and App State in a three-game series to open the year. The Mountaineers swept the series, so the Royals will look to enact revenge in Uptown at Truist Field.

ROYALS TO SEE
The Royals were scheduled to make their Truist Field debut in 2020 before games were cancelled due to the pandemic. Now, they are making their debut and doing it at the Division I level.

The team currently sits at 3-17 but earned their first-ever Division I win, going on to win back-to-back games.

Utility players Dillon Lewis and Riley Cheek have been running the offense for the Royals this season.

Lewis, a sophomore from Charlotte, NC, has been a power bat in the lineup with four home runs and 16 RBI while batting .234 and getting 13 free passes.

Cheek leads Queens in runs scored with 22 while batting .392 with 15 RBI, 12 walks and a team-best five home runs.

Two pitchers have stood out on the mound for the Royals, Daniel Bagwell and Marshall Pile.

Pile, the right-handed freshman in seven games this season, has pitched 16.1 innings going 1-0 with a 2.76 ERA and 17 strikeouts.

Bagwell shined in his start against East Carolina on March 7 in Atrium Health Ballpark, home of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers.

In his start, he threw 8.2 innings, striking out seven batters and only giving up two runs to #12 ranked ECU. Look for him to build off that performance when he's under the big lights in Truist Field, taking on the Mountaineers.

MOUNTAINEER STANDOUTS
App State jumped out to an impressive 7-1 start before reaching their current 11-8 record. Now, they look to return to their early season success going into Uptown Charlotte for this matchup with the Royals.

Offensively, the Mountaineers have been raking at the plate, with catcher Hayden Cross and infielder Luke Drumheller spearheading the dynamic offense.

Cross, the senior from Sanford, NC, leads the team in batting average at .373 while also leading App State in RBI with 22 and scoring 23 runs with eight doubles and nine walks.

Drumheller, a senior, is batting .333 on the year with 20 runs scored along with 13 RBI, one home run and eight walks.

Right-handed pitchers Collin Welch and Xander Hamilton have been formidable on the mound for App State.

Welch, a Spring Lake, NC native sophomore, has a team-best 0.82 ERA over three appearances, throwing 11 innings with seven strikeouts.

Junior Hamilton from Raleigh, NC, has had the most success on the bump for App State with a 3-1 record in 27.1 innings in five games with a team-best 35 strikeouts while posting a 5.27 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP.

TICKETS
To see the collegiate stars of today and potential future Charlotte Knights, you can get tickets at CharlotteKnights.com or by calling 704-274-8282.