BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University baseball's season-long string of unfortunate luck in close ballgames continued on Saturday afternoon with a 6-4 loss to Texas State at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

After failing in two attempts to get a sacrifice bunt down, Texas State's Cedric Vallieres belted what proved to be the game-winning two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning. The defeat dropped Appalachian State (5-13, 0-5 Sun Belt) to 1-8 in games decided by two runs or less this season. Four of the Mountaineers' five Sun Belt losses have been by two runs or fewer.

Appalachian State fell into a 4-0 hole on Saturday but erased the deficit with one swing when Michael Pierson hit the Mountaineers' first grand slam of the season to knot the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Pierson's blast into Texas State's bullpen beyond the right-field wall was Appalachian's only hit of the inning, as Bobcat starting pitcher Scott Crist loaded the bases by hitting two batters and walking another.  

The score remained 4-4 until the ninth when Texas State's Cory Geisler led off with a single off Appalachian State reliever Taylor Thurber. Vallieres followed and showed bunt on four-straight pitches, taking one strike and fouling off another.   

With the count at 2-2, Texas State's coaches called off the sacrifice and Vallieres was rewarded for the failed bunt attempts by hammering the next pitch over the left-field wall for the go-ahead two-run homer.

In the bottom of the ninth, Dillon Dobson singled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate. However, Texas State's Blake Whitter induced two-straight groundouts end the ballgame.

Dobson and Noah Holmes led the Mountaineers with two hits apiece. Thurber (2-4) suffered another tough-luck loss despite allowing only four hits over five innings out of the bullpen.  

The first four batters in Texas State's order — Geisler, Vallieres, David Paiz and Granger Studdard — combined for eight of the Bobcats' 11 hits and four RBI. Whitter (2-0) worked 2.1 innings of one-hit relief to pick up the win.

Appalachian State looks to snap an eight-game losing streak on Sunday when it closes the three-game Sun Belt Conference series versus Texas State. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Smith Stadium.