KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After facing a five-run deficit going into the final inning, Appalachian State University baseball brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth but the Mountaineers' rally fell short in a 7-5 loss to Tennessee on Tuesday evening at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The loss was Appalachian State's fourth-straight by two runs or less. The Mountaineers' last four defeats have come by a total of just six runs.

App State outhit Tennessee, 11-7, on Tuesday night but was doomed by its pitchers issuing nine walks. Four of the seven UT runners that scored reached base on free passes.

The walks proved to be especially costly in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the Mountaineers trailing just 4-2, relief pitcher Dallas DeVrieze retired Tennessee's first two batters of the stanza but walked Nick Senzel and surrendered an infield single to cleanup hitter Vincent Jackson. DeVrieze was lifted in favor of Travis Holden, who walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. Two pitches later, UT's second designated hitter of the evening, Matt Waldren, slapped a hit just inside the first base bag, down the right field line and into the corner. The two-out, bases-clearing triple gave the Vols a commanding 7-2 lead.

The score remained 7-2 until the top of the ninth when Appalachian State (8-25) loaded the bases on singles by Tyler Stroup, Colin Schmid and pinch-hitter Grayson Atwood. Freshman Tanner Mann-Fix came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and lined a double into the left-center field gap, bringing home all three baserunners and cutting the deficit to 7-5.

However, representing the tying run at the plate, Matt Vernon popped up to second base to end the ballgame.

Schmid went 3-for-4 and Mann-Fix and Stroup both finished 2-for-4 to pace Appalachian State's 11-hit attack. Mann-Fix's three RBI matched a career high while Stroup's sixth-inning run-scoring single gave him 12 RBI in the last eight games.

Starting pitcher Seth Hardin surrendered only four hits in five innings of work but walked five and allowed four runs to suffer the loss and fall to 1-5.

Jackson, Waldren and Benito Santiago had two hits apiece for Tennessee (19-14).

Appalachian State returns to Sun Belt Conference action and begins a four-game homestand this weekend with a three-game series versus nationally ranked South Alabama (26-8, 15-0 Sun Belt). Game times are set for 6 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at App State's Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

Note: Two scoring changes were made by the home scorer following the game. In the fifth inning, Tennessee's double steal was changed to a stolen base and an E2, making UT's fifth-inning run unearned. In the ninth inning, Stroup's leadoff single was changed to an E4, making all three of App State's ninth-inning runs unearned.