BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State University baseball scored six runs in the first inning and never looked back on its way to a 10-6 win over The Citadel on Friday afternoon at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

Appalachian (6-8, 1-5 SoCon) fired out of the gates with its first seven batters recording hits en route to taking a 6-0 lead before The Citadel could record an out. Rand Smith and Wes Hobson led off the game with back-to-back singles, followed by a three-run home run by Isaac Harrow. After the blast, consecutive singles by David Towarnicky and Chris Alessandria preceded an RBI double by Nick DeRose and two-run single by Jeremy Dowdy that made it 6-0. The Citadel wiggled out of the inning thanks to a strikeout/throw-out double play followed by another strikeout.

The Bulldogs chipped away at the Mountaineer lead with a run in the third, two in the fourth and one more in the fifth that cut the deficit to 6-4. However, that would be as close as the visitors would get, as the Apps answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth and three in the seventh to stretch the advantage to 10-4.

Towarnicky was the catalyst of both scoring stanzas, as he led off the fifth with a triple and scored on an Alessandria sacrifice fly and closed the ASU scoring with a two-run blast in the seventh. The junior first baseman was just a double shy of hitting for the cycle and finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs. Smith chipped in with three hits of his own and Harrow drove in four runs.

The Citadel (6-7, 2-2 SoCon) scored two unearned runs off ASU closer Zach Quate in the ninth inning to account for the final margin. Bryan Altman and Sonny Meade led The Citadel offensively with two hits apiece.

All-conference pitcher Matt Andress shook off a slow start to his junior campaign by tossing six solid innings to earn his first win of the season. The right-hander scattered six hits over six innings, allowing four runs (three earned) while striking out four. Bulldog starter Wes Wrenn surrendered seven runs on 11 hits in six innings to fall to 1-1 on the year.

The two teams continue their three-game Southern Conference series on Saturday at 2 p.m.