Box Score DECATUR, Ga. — Grayson Atwood hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning and Matt Vernon drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI double in the ninth to lift Appalachian State University baseball to a 6-5 victory over Georgia State on Saturday afternoon at the GSU Baseball Complex.

With the win, Appalachian State (11-28, 6-14 Sun Belt) rebounded from a 10-0 loss on Friday night and evened the three-game Sun Belt Conference series with Georgia State (17-21, 6-11 Sun Belt) at a game apiece. The rubber match is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Mountaineers trailed, 4-2, going into the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs and freshman Tanner Mann-Fix on first base, Atwood blasted a 2-1 pitch from GSU reliever Clayton Payne (1-1) over the wall in left-center field to pull App State even at 4-4.

With the score still knotted at 4-4 in the top of the ninth, Chandler Seagle drew a four-pitch leadoff walk and Jason Curtis was hit by an 0-2 pitch to bring Vernon to the plate with runners on first and second. As he has been apt to do in recent weeks, Vernon delivered a clutch hit with a hot-shot down the left field line. Seagle came home with the go-ahead run and moved Curtis all the way to third on Vernon's RBI double.

Two pitches later, Curtis scored what proved to be a critical run when he came home on a wild pitch to extend the Mountaineers' lead to 6-4.

Curtis' run loomed large in the bottom of the ninth when Georgia State cut App State's advantage to 6-5 on a one-out RBI single by Jaylen Woullard.

However, Woullard got greedy a couple of pitches later and tried to move into scoring position on a pitch that skipped just a few feet away from Seagle behind the plate. The Mountaineers' strong-armed sophomore catcher quickly pounced on the loose ball and easily gunned down Woullard for the second out.

After an error brought the winning run to the plate once again, Appalachian State first baseman Conner Leonard knocked down a vicious line drive by GSU's Joey Roach and calmly tossed the ball to pitcher Brian Bauk, who beat Roach to the bag for the final out.

Appalachian State managed only four hits in Saturday's ballgame but three of them went for extra bases, including Atwood's home run in the eighth and Vernon's double in the ninth. The homer was Atwood's second of the season.

Reed Howell was the Mountaineers' hero on the mound, as he earned his team-leading fourth win of the season with 2.2 innings of hitless relief. Bauk battled through the shaky ninth to record his fourth save.