Box Score BOONE, N.C. — After a 19-and-a-half-hour fog delay, Appalachian State University baseball exploded for nine runs in three at-bats on Friday and defeated Longwood, 9-2, at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

The opener of the three-game weekend series began on Thursday evening at Smith Stadium and was suspended due to heavy fog with Longwood leading, 1-0, in the top of the sixth inning.

When play resumed on Friday, Appalachian State promptly turned the 1-0 deficit into a commanding 5-1 advantage when it scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Mountaineers went on to plate three more runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to cruise to the victory.

Matt Vernon hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, singled and scored in the seventh and had an RBI single in the eighth to lead the Mountaineers' late-inning outburst. He finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Grayson Atwood added an RBI double in the sixth and launched a towering three-run homer in the seventh while Chandler Seagle had a two-out, two-run double in the sixth to account for the rest of the Mountaineers' scoring. Atwood finished 2-for-4 with a career-high four RBI and Seagle went 2-for-4 with two RBI.

While Appalachian State's offense erupted on Friday afternoon, right-handed sophomore Luke Watts made sure the scoring stood up by limiting Longwood to one unearned run on two hits over the final four innings of the ballgame. Watts (1-1) earned the first win of his career with his four stanzas of nearly flawless relief.

Game 2 of the series, which was scheduled to be played on Friday evening, was postponed due to rain. The Mountaineers and Lancers will wrap up their three-game series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Smith Stadium.