HICKORY, N.C. - Freshman Tyler Zupcic had three hits and seniors Jerod Faggart and Wes Hobson drove in two runs apiece to lead Appalachian State University baseball to a 8-6 win over Rider on Sunday afternoon at L.P. Frans Stadium.

With the victory, Appalachian completed a three-game weekend sweep of Rider and moved to 9-0 on the year, extending its school record for most consecutive wins to start a season. ASU also matched its longest winning streak at any point in a season since it won 11-straight games in 1996 (the Mountaineers also had a nine-game winning streak from April 18-30 of last year).

Appalachian scored in each of the first four innings on Sunday and led 8-4 after back-to-back RBI doubles from Jeremy Dowdy and Hobson in the sixth.

Rider (4-3) scored a run in the seventh and made it interesting in the ninth when it strung together three-straight two-out hits to cut the deficit to 8-6 with the tying run on first base. However, with closer Chris Patterson unavailable after pitching 2.1 innings over the first two games of the weekend, ASU's David Port induced a comebacker to end the game and earn his first career save.

Mountaineer starter Ryan Arrowood allowed 10 hits over his five innings of work but earned the win to move to 3-0 on the season. The sophomore has now won 16-consecutive decisions since losing his collegiate debut more than a year ago, including his 12-0 record last summer for the Coastal Plain League's Forest City Owls.

Three ASU relievers limited the Broncs, who had 15 hits on the afternoon, to just one earned run over the final four innings of the ballgame.

Zupcic, who was 3-for-4 at the plate, scored two of the Mountaineers' eight runs. Dowdy and Doug Jones also scored two runs each.

Appalachian takes its unblemished record on a grueling five-game road trip beginning Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Presbyterian. Following the contest at PC, ASU travels to Auburn for a 7:30 p.m. matchup on Wednesday, followed by a three-game weekend series at defending Southern Conference Tournament champion Georgia Southern.