BLACKSBURG, Va. – Appalachian State University baseball traveled to Virginia to take on Virginia Tech on Tuesday for the first of two mid-week road games this week. The Hokies (21-24, 9-14 ACC) were fueled by a five-run fourth inning and went of to defeat The Mountaineers (13-32, 5-18 Sun Belt), 13-4.

With the game tied at 1-1 after the second inning, The Mountaineers hit two solo home runs to take a 3-1 lead over the Hokies. Michael Pierson launched the first pitch he saw over the right field wall, for his seventh home run of the year. Two batters later the designated hitter, Matt Brill, hit his second homer in as many games to give the Apps a two-run lead.

The Hokies would start to pull away in the third and fourth innings, scoring three runs in the third and tacking on five runs in the fourth to open up a 9-3 advantage. Mountaineer starting pitcher, Blake Burkett, gave way to Ryan Ross after pitching three innings and giving up five earned runs and walking five. Burkett suffered the loss and fell to 0-2 on the season.

In all, the Mountaineer pitching staff hit season-highs in walks (10) and hit batters (4), and tied a season-high in wild pitches (4). The Mountaineers' offense also struggled, leaving 14 men on base and going 0-for-5 with the bases loaded.

The Apps tried to rally in top of the seventh inning with Noah Holmes, Brill, and Drake Zupcic all hitting singles to load the bases, but Carson Jones lined out to the shortstop to end the inning. The Mountaineers added a run in the ninth when Zupcic drew a bases-loaded walk, but the game ended two batters later with Hamel grounding out to first base.

Appalachian will be back in action tomorrow to face ETSU in Johnson City, Tenn. to make up a game that was originally schedule for April 19 but was postponed due to rain. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.