CHARLESTON, S.C. — College of Charleston scored two runs in the bottom of the 11th inning, including an unearned tally for the game-winner, to deal Appalachian State University baseball a heart-breaking 12-11 loss in the opening game of the 2010 Southern Conference Tournament on Wednesday morning at Riley Park.

With the loss, Appalachian (35-17-1) will No. third-seeded Georgia Southern, an 11-4 loser to No. 6 Western Carolina on Wednesday, in an elimination game on Thursday at 9 a.m. Charleston (42-15) plays WCU in a winners' bracket game on Thursday at 5 or 9 p.m.

ASU came back from a 7-2 deficit to take leads of 8-7, 10-8 and 11-10 but squandered all three advantages in the late stages of the gut-wrenching defeat.

The Mountaineers faced the five-run deficit after five innings but rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth and three in the top of the seventh to take an 8-7 lead.

After the Cougars scored an unearned run to knot the score at 8-8 in the bottom of the seventh, Appalachian took a 10-8 advantage on back-to-back RBI singles by David Towarnicky and Jeremy Dowdy in the top of the eighth.

With first-team all-conference closer Chris Patterson on the mound, ASU's two-run lead remained intact until the bottom of the ninth. College of Charleston pinch-hitter Justin Brewer sliced the two-run advantage in half when he led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run and four batters later, Cole Rakar slapped an RBI single into left field to send the game to extra innings.

The game went to the 11th, where the Mountaineers took another lead, this time on freshman Hector Crespo's RBI double past a drawn-in infield and down the left field line that made it 11-10.

However, Charleston would rally again in the bottom of the 11th. Aided by a leadoff 10-pitch walk by Brewer and an error by Towarnicky, the Cougars scored twice, capped by the game-winning, unearned run on an RBI single to right field by Rob Kral.

As close as seventh-seeded Appalachian came to pulling upset over College of Charleston, the tournament No. 2 seed and one of the nation's hottest teams coming in, mistakes and missed opportunities plagued ASU throughout the four-hour-and-five-minute affair. Two Mountaineer errors led to two of the Cougars' five late-inning runs being unearned and the Apps stranded 13 base-runners in the loss.

Patterson, who led the SoCon with a school-record 13 saves this season and had surrendered only two leads all year, surrendered the leads in the ninth and 11th and suffered the loss to fall to 3-3.

Crespo led Appalachian offensively, going 4-for-7 with a double, home run and three RBI. Chris Alessandria drove in four runs with a 2-for-4 effort.

Charleston's Owen Brittle allowed one run in 3.2 innings of relief to move to 1-1. Mountaineer killer Jose Rodriguez went 4-for-5 at the plate to pace the Cougars.