ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Appalachian State University baseball pounded out 18 hits and benefited from five UNC Asheville errors in a 17-7 win over UNCA on Tuesday evening at McCormick Field.

The victory was the fourth in five games and seventh in a row over UNC Asheville for Appalachian (10-15).

Four of the Mountaineers' first five hits went for extra bases, but they trailed 4-3 after five innings. However, the Apps put five runs on the board in the top of the sixth ? all unearned, thanks to a pair of Bulldog errors in the frame ? to grab an 8-4 lead. ASU took advantage of the UNCA miscues with five hits in the stanza, the biggest of which was a two-out, opposite-field two-run homer by Rand Smith.

UNC Asheville (5-22) trimmed the Appalachian advantage to 8-6 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh, but ASU ended any hopes of a UNCA comeback with nine runs in the top of the ninth. Appalachian banged out seven hits in the nine-run ninth, capped by a grand slam by Chris Alessandria.

Once again, it was the top of the order that provided the lion's share of the damage for the Mountaineers. The Apps' first four hitters ? Smith, Wes Hobson, Isaac Harrow and David Towarnicky ? combined for 12 of the club's 18 hits. Hobson led the way with a 4-for-6 effort that included two doubles and a pair of RBI and Harrow and Towarnicky added three hits each. Alessandria drove in four runs with the ninth-inning blast and Smith and Jason Wallace chipped in with three RBI apiece.

Chris Patterson upped his record to 2-1 by squelching UNCA's rally in the seventh. The right-hander allowed a hit in a scoreless inning of work, which included a huge double-play ball to get ASU out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.

Appalachian has now scored in double-figures in three of its past four games after doing so only three times in the first 21 ballgames of the year. ASU will look to match a season-best three-game winning streak when it hosts High Point on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.