UGA/App. State Baseball Preview, Featuring Yosef's Cabin.

1) If Bulldog fans know the name of only one Mountaineer baseballer, who should it be and why? Jamie Nunn (pitcher): Appearing in 23 games (only starting six) last season as a freshman, Nunn carried a 5-0 record and 1.5 ERA into the final week of the season. He seems to have run out of gas towards the end of the year, and ended up 5-2 with a 4.24 ERA. But the entire body of work was enough for him to be named to the freshman All-American team by College Baseball Newspaper. He's off to a great start this year with a 3-1 record and 2.00 ERA (his only loss being a 7-inning outing in which he only gave up two earned runs, but was only given one run of support by the Mountaineer batters).

2) How would you describe Appalachian State's style of play? Aggressive. Having lost a lot of the power at the plate from last year's squad--including the single season home run record holder and National College Baseball Writers 1st-team All-American Daniel Kassouf--we're forced into more of a balanced approach. We still have some power in our batting lineup, but we can't rely solely on it. In only 12 games this season, our team has tallied 14 home runs. We have also attempted 38 STOLEN BASES, succeeding 29 times thanks to Hector Crespo who broke the career stolen bases school record last week. Expect our baserunners to wreak havoc on the nerves of the Diamond Dawg pitchers and catchers.

3) What is the outllook for Appalachian State in the SoCon this year? Are there expectations among the fanbase for bigger things than conference competition? Appalachian State is coming off our best baseball season ever—a season in which we beat 15th-ranked Virginia, 23rd-ranked Oklahoma, 7th-ranked LSU... twice, and were one win away from advancing to our very first Super Regional. After beating the Sooners in the Regional opener, we were swept by them in a double header, in which we left 21 runners stranded and allowed nine two-out runs. The way the season ended left a sour taste in mouths. The players and fans are itching for more, and this year's team is capable of delivering.

4) Convince me that Boone is a better college town than Athens in 50 words or less. I dare you. 66% of Boone’s population is between the ages of 18 and 24, with a median age of 21, which allows us to shut down the streets, party in library when terrorists die. We parade our goalposts around town and drop it off at the chancellor's house for some road-wins while the cops sit and watch. We love our alcohol and moonshine (do y'all know what that is?) so much that our University has it's own fermentation sciences degree. And most importantly, our women are just as diehard about our athletic teams as we are! (editor's note: That was way more than 50, but none of the words was "patchouli", so I'm giving points for effort.)

Again, thanks to Yosef's Cabin for their kind cooperation. Be sure to check out the 'Dawgs tonight as they take on another tough nonconference opponent