KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Appalachian State University baseball overcame a disastrous first inning to top Tennessee, 9-7, on Tuesday evening at blustery Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Appalachian (14-16) trailed 5-0 after one inning but outscored Tennessee (12-20) 9-2 the rest of the way to claim its first win over UT in 19 years.

ASU completed the monumental comeback with three runs in the top of the eighth. Jerod Faggart got the eighth-inning rally started with a solo home run to left center field that knotted the score at 7-7.

Later in the stanza, following back-to-back two-out singles by Wes Hobson and Isaac Harrow, Vols pitcher Stephen McCray walked three batters in a row, the final two of which forced in runs to give the Mountaineers their first lead of the game at 9-7.

Things got interesting in the bottom of the ninth when ASU closer Zach Quate walked two of the inning's first three batters to bring UT's Cody Hawn, who was 4-for-4 to that point with two doubles and a homer, to the plate. However, Quate got Hawn to fly out to left field and induced a fly ball to center by Cody Brown to seal the victory.

A series of miscues in the first inning made it necessary for Appalachian to dig out of the  large hole. Tennessee's Zach Osborne led off the game by reaching base on an error by ASU shortstop Zack Briggs and advanced to second on a passed ball. The next batter also grounded to Briggs, who threw to third base to cut down Osborne but ASU botched the rundown and despite seemingly being out of the baseline, Osborne made it back to second base safely.

Following a walk and an RBI groundout, Hawn provided the big blow with a three-run home run to left that made it 4-0. The Vols added another unearned run on RBI single by Matt Ramsey to stretch the advantage to 5-0.

The Mountaineers began to chip away at the deficit in the third inning when they scored three times without the benefit of a hit to cut the UT lead to 5-3. Harrow drove in the Apps' first run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Chris Alessandria followed with a bases-loaded walk push another run across. Nick DeRose closed out the third-inning scoring with an RBI groundout to second base.

Appalachian tied the score at 5-5 with two more runs in the top of the fourth, courtesy of an RBI single by Hobson and a run-scoring error committed at second base by UT's Brown.

Tennessee regained the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth but ASU made it 7-6 in the fifth on an RBI single by Faggart, setting up the late-inning heroics.

Making the comeback possible was a stellar effort turned in by the ASU relief combo of Nick Daniels, Chris Patterson and Quate. The trio combined to limit the Vols to just three hits over 5.1 scoreless innings to close out the ballgame.

Patterson retired seven of the eight batters he faced in 2.1 innings to earn the win and move to 3-1 on the season while Quate allowed only one hit in two innings of work for his fourth save.

Faggart led the Apps offensively, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored. Hobson chipped in with a 3-for-5 effort and Rand Smith went 2-for-5 to stretch his hitting streak to 19 games, the longest by a Mountaineer since 2005.

Winners of eight of their last 10, the Mountaineers return to action this weekend when they open a five-game homestand with a three-game series versus Southern Conference-newcomer Samford. The set opens on Friday at 7 p.m. at ASU's Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.