Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University baseball closed the 2016 season in grand style on Saturday with a doubleheader sweep over 30-win Longwood at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. Appalachian State won the opener of the twinbill, 3-2, and won the nightcap, 8-6.

With Saturday's victories, Appalachian State (18-36) swept a season-ending three-game series from Longwood (30-25).

For the fifth time this season, Saturday's first triumph came in walkoff fashion for the Mountaineers. In a game scheduled for seven innings, Longwood scored once in the sixth and once in the seventh to send the contest to extra frames knotted at 2-2.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the eighth, junior Matt Vernon ripped a 1-0 fastball from Longwood reliever Michael Catlin into the left-center field gap. The blast one-hopped the wall and senior Caleb McCann easily scored the winning run from third base on what officially went down as a long RBI single.

Vernon's walkoff single was Appalachian State's first hit since the second inning and the only Mountaineers' third of the game. Vernon had two of App State's three hits, as he also opened the scoring with his team-leading eighth home run of the season in the second.

The Mountaineers came out on top for the second time this season when recording only three hits (they also had three in a 5-4 win at UL Monroe on March 25) and scored the winning run in their final at-bat for the ninth time on the campaign.

The nightcap appeared to be a laugher when App State took a commanding 8-3 lead into the top of the ninth inning. However, Longwood plated three runs in the ninth and had the tying run in scoring position when freshman Stephen Schoch induced a soft liner to McCann at second base to end the game.

The story of the nightcap was freshman starting pitcher Colin Schmid, who worked a career-high eight innings in the win. The southpaw scattered seven hits, struck out five and surrendered just two earned runs over 112 pitches to earn the victory.

Offensively, Appalachian State recorded only seven hits in the nightcap but drew 12 walks and struck out just three times. Tyler Stroup finished 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI while Vernon and Brian Bauk drove in two runs apiece.

With 14 freshmen and 10 sophomores on its roster, Appalachian State went 13-17 over its final 30 games of the season and finished the campaign with more overall wins (18), conference wins (9), overall series wins (4) and conference series wins (3) than it did in its inaugural season in the ultra-competitive Sun Belt Conference in 2015. The Mountaineers also notched the most regular-season victories over nationally ranked teams in school history (3).

App State could return as many as 25 letterwinners, including eight starters and its entire pitching rotation, to the roster in 2017.