BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University baseball surrendered three unearned runs, including what turned out to be the game-winner in the top of the 12th inning, in a 4-3 loss to first-place Georgia State on Friday evening at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

The heartbreaking defeat was Appalachian State's seventh one-run loss of the season. The Mountaineers (11-27, 4-15 Sun Belt) also fell to 4-13 in games decided by two runs or less, including a tough-luck 2-9 mark in Sun Belt Conference play.

With the score knotted at 2-2 in the top of the 12th inning, Georgia State (23-15, 12-3 Sun Belt) took a 3-2 lead on Justin Jones' one-out RBI single off the left-field wall.

Appalachian State reliever Dallas DeVrieze entered the game following Jones' single with two runners on base. After DeVrieze walked the first batter he faced to load the bases, Mountaineer catcher Zach Hummel, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the 10th, gave up a passed ball that allowed Georgia State to extend its lead to 4-2.

The Panthers' fourth run remained unearned when DeVrieze struck out Matt Rose and Joey Roach (.328 and .360 hitters coming into the evening, respectively) to end the inning.

The unearned run in the top of the 12th proved to be costly in the bottom of the frame when the Mountaineers strung together three hits — capped by a two-out RBI single by Michael Pierson — to plate a run. However, instead of driving in the tying run, Pierson's third hit of the game only cut the Mountaineers' deficit to 4-3. App State's next batter, cleanup hitter Matt Brill, struck out looking to end the contest with the potential equalizer on second base.

Before the game went to extra innings, it was a classic Friday night pitchers' duel between Appalachian State's Taylor Thurber and Georgia State's Nathan Bates.

Both clubs' aces were spectacular, with Thurber escaping big jams in the third and sixth innings and Bates not allowing a hit from the second to the sixth, and the game went into the eighth still knotted at 0-0.

Thurber appeared to wiggle his way out of another tough spot in the top of the eighth when he induced a routine groundball with the bases loaded and two outs. However, freshman shortstop Carson Jones' throw was in the turf and skipped past senior first baseman Noah Holmes, which allowed the first two runs of the game to cross the plate.

The Mountaineers battled back from the 2-0 deficit by stringing together four-straight two-out hits in the bottom of the eighth. Dillon Dobson started the rally with a line-drive double to right field. Pierson followed with a looping double down the left-field line that scored Dobson and made it 2-1. Brill capped the comeback with a hard single to right that drove in Pierson to pull the Mountaineers even and ultimately send the game to extra innings.

Despite their incredible performances, neither Thurber (9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K) nor Bates (7.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 6 K) figured in the decision. Kevin Burgee (3-1) allowed one run over four innings to pick up the win for GSU while Caleb McCann (1-2) was charged with two runs (one earned) in one-third of an inning to suffer the loss.

Offensively, Dobson and Pierson had three hits apiece and Brill and Holmes chipped in with two each to pace Appalachian State's 12-hit attack.

Georgia State's top two hitters, Rose and Roach, combined to go 0-for-12 but Jones and David Levy each had three hits for the Panthers.

The teams resume their three-game Sun Belt series on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Smith Stadium.