Box Score BOONE, N.C. — Drake Zupcic capped Appalachian State University baseball's rally from a late four-run deficit with a walkoff single that lifted the Mountaineers to an 8-7 triumph over Little Rock on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

Appalachian State (7-20, 2-9 Sun Belt) scored three runs in the seventh inning, one in the eighth and one in the ninth to complete the improbable comeback from a 7-3 seventh-inning deficit. The win snapped a six-game winning streak in Sun Belt Conference games for Little Rock (13-13, 6-5 Sun Belt) and was only the Trojans' second defeat in their last nine games overall.

Saturday's game seemed destined for extra innings when Little Rock reliever Cody McGill (0-2) easily retired the Mountaineers' first two batters in the bottom of the ninth inning. However, Conner Leonard kickstarted the winning rally with a two-out double off the wall in left center field.

Zupcic, who entered the game in the top of the ninth inning when Brian Bauk moved from right field to pitcher, fell into a 1-2 hole against McGill but battled back to make it a full count. In the process, Jason Curtis, who pinch-ran for Leonard at second base, moved to third on a wild pitch.

Zupcic ripped the 3-2 pitch from McGill up the middle. Little Rock second baseman Hayden Martin dove to his right to keep the ball in the infield but by the time he got to his feet and made the throw to first, Zupcic had easily reached base while Curtis crossed home plate with the winning run.

The rally started in earnest in the bottom of the seventh when App State cut the Trojans' 7-3 lead to 7-6 on an RBI single by Matt Vernon and a two-run base hit by Tyler Stroup.

Appalachian drew even in the eighth when Vernon was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs.

Bauk (1-0) earned the first win of his career by sitting Little Rock down in order in the top of the ninth.

Zupcic's walkoff winner aside, Leonard and Stroup played the hero roles for the Mountaineers on Saturday. Leonard went a season-best 3-for-5 with leadoff hits in the crucial eighth and ninth innings while Stroup drove in three of App State's eight runs. Stroup also made perhaps the biggest play of the game when he gunned down a runner at the plate from left field to keep the Trojans from tacking on any more runs in the seventh.

Appalachian State goes for its first Sun Belt series victory of the season on Sunday when the clubs play the rubber match of their three-game set at Smith Stadium. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.