BOONE, N.C. – The Gardner-Webb (5-6) saw its comeback bid fall short on Friday afternoon at Appalachian State (5-4), falling by the final of 12-7 inside Smith Stadium.

Junior Merik Carter went 4-for-4 at the dish with two RBIs and a run scored while redshirt senior Dale Francis Jr. blasted his team-leading third homerun of the season while also collecting a pair of RBIs and two runs scored.

After both teams went scoreless over the first two innings, App State broke through with two runs in the bottom half of the third following run-scoring plays by Tyler Figueroa and John Kramer.

However, the Runnin' Bulldogs took their first lead of the game with a three-run top of the fourth. Back-to-back hits by Francis and redshirt senior Garrett Macias started the frame before redshirt sophomore Matt Ilgenfritz doubled to left center, scoring a run. Carter followed that up with a double of his own and two runs batted in.

The Mountaineers evened the contest at 4-4 with a single run in the bottom of the fourth but blew the game open with six runs on five hits in the home half of the fifth. That lead grew to 11-3 in the bottom of the sixth as the Mountaineers picked up a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kameron Miller before capitalizing on a failed pickoff attempt.

Gardner-Webb picked up four of those runs back in the seventh and eighth innings as Francis supplied the power with a two-run shot while a pair of unearned runs crossed the plate in the latter of the two innings, trimming the deficit to 11-7.

App State tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and the Runnin' Bulldogs stranded the bases loaded in the ninth for the final score of 12-7.

The two teams will be back in action tomorrow afternoon with game two of the three-game set. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.