CHARLESTON, S.C. — Chris Trappy hit a pinch-hit, walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning to propel Appalachian State University baseball to a thrilling 3-2 Southern Conference tournament win over Western Carolina on Saturday morning at Riley Park.

With the victory, seventh-seeded Appalachian (38-17-1) forced a second game with No. 6 Western Carolina (36-20-1) on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. with the winner advancing to Sunday's SoCon Tournament championship game.

Making only his 29th at-bat of the season and second in four SoCon Tournament games this week, Trappy belted an 0-1 slider from WCU reliever Jason Sullivan (4-3) deep to the gap in left center field to easily bring Jack Myers home from second base with the winning run.

Myers started the game-winning rally by leading off the bottom of the ninth with a perfectly placed drag bunt up the third-base line. One pitch after Myers' leadoff bunt hit, Chris Alessandria moved him to second base with a sacrifice bunt to set up Trappy's heroics.

Trappy swung and missed on a first-pitch slider from Sullivan but, anticipating another slider from the WCU right-hander, drove the pitch to the deepest part of spacious Riley Park. The ball landed on the warning track and took one hop off the wall as Myers scored the winning run. The Mountaineers mobbed Myers at home plate before quickly moving the celebration to the infield where they raucously congratulated Trappy.

Trappy's hit ended a pitchers' duel for the ages between freshmen Nathan Hyatt of ASU and Taylor Sandefur of WCU.

Hyatt gave the Mountaineers a third-consecutive top-notch start on the mound, allowing only five hits while matching a career high with nine strikeouts over seven strong innings. Both runs surrendered by the right-handed rookie were unearned following a two-out error by ASU shortstop Doug Jones in the second inning.

Sandefur was nearly as impressive, scattering six hits and allowing two runs over 7.1 innings before giving way to Sullivan with one out in the eighth.

ASU closer Chris Patterson rebounded from a rough outing in Wednesday's 12-11 loss to College of Charleston to work a scoreless ninth inning and earn his fourth win of the season.

Myers and Wes Hobson led ASU's eight-hit effort with two apiece.