MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. ? Nick DeRose homered and drove in two runs to lead Appalachian State University baseball to a 6-4 victory over College of Charleston on Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point Park. With its 15th triumph in 18 games, Appalachian won the weekend series over perennial Southern Conference power Charleston, two games to one.

Appalachian (21-17, 10-12 SoCon) took the lead for good on DeRose's second homer of the year in the fourth inning, a solo shot to left center field that gave ASU a 3-2 advantage.

The senior shortstop added his second RBI of the afternoon with a sacrifice fly in the fifth that capped a three-run inning for the Mountaineers and stretched the advantage to 6-2.

College of Charleston (23-15, 11-10 SoCon) put single tallies on the board in the sixth and eighth innings, but ASU closer Zach Quate struck out the final two batters of the game to seal the win and pick up his school-record ninth save of the season. Quate registered three strikeouts in two innings of work in surpassing the eight saves registered by Matt Wood in 2001 and 2002 for the ASU single-season record.

Starting pitcher Aubrey Edens (4-2) battled through some early control issues to surrender just three runs in 5.1 innings and earn his team-high-tying fourth win of the year.

Despite not figuring in the decision, the star of the day on the mound was reliever Nick Daniels, who retired all five batters he faced to bridge the gap from Edens to Quate.

Seven of the nine batters in ASU's starting order had at least one hit, led by DeRose (2-for-3), Wes Hobson (2-for-4 with an RBI double) and David Towarnicky (2-for-5 with a double). Rand Smith continued to add to his school-record hitting streak with a single that stretched his run of consecutive games with a base hit to 27.

Charleston managed 11 hits but only one went for extra bases, a quirky double by Cole Rekar in the eighth that appeared to be caught by Smith in center field but was ruled to have bounced off the wall before it settled in his glove. However, the play wound up being a wash as Rekar passed teammate Matt Mansilla on the base paths, which forced Mansilla out.

In all, Appalachian limited CofC's high-powered offense to just two extra-base hits and no home runs in three games.

The Mountaineers look to remain hot when they host North Carolina A&T on Tuesday at 6 p.m.