BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University baseball fell, 15-5, to College of Charleston in the opener of a three-game Southern Conference series on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. The second game of Saturday's doubleheader was rained out. The game will be made up as part a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. at Smith Stadium.

Charleston's Cole Rakar hit for the cycle on Saturday, going 4-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored. Rakar had a bunt single in the first inning, a double in the second, an RBI triple in the third and completed C of C's first cycle in three years with a three-run homer in the seventh. Ben Lasater was the last Cougar to hit for the cycle on April 1, 2007 at Wofford.

Rakar's big day highlighted an offensive onslaught for College of Charleston (37-14, 20-8 SoCon), which racked up 19 hits as a team in the win. The Cougars did the lion's share of the damage in just four innings, scoring four in the first, five in the second, two in the fifth and three in the seventh en route to their 14th victory in 16 games.

Appalachian (32-13-1, 11-12-1 SoCon) banged out 12 hits of its own in the loss. Wes Hobson led the 12-hit attack with three doubles in a 3-for-4, two-RBI, three-run performance. Jerod Faggart, Jeremy Dowdy and David Towarnicky chipped in with two hits apiece.

Despite being hit by hard comebackers on three separate occasions, Charleston starting pitcher David Peterson worked five innings to move to 8-3 on the season. ASU starter Matt Andress surrendered nine runs on 10 hits in 2.2 innings — his shortest outing of the season — to fall to 8-3.