GREENSBORO — Appalachian State thought it finally produced the winning runs in the top of the ninth inning when Chris Alessandria hit a grand slam.

It gave the Mountaineers a seemingly safe three-run lead. However, UNCG rallied for three runs in the bottom half of the inning, meaning that Wes Hobson’s RBI single in the top of the 10th inning turned out to be the game-winner in the Mountaineers’ 9-8 victory in the third game of the weekend series.

Alessandria’s grand slam was the third for the Mountaineers in as two days. Isaac Harrow blasted one and followed with a base-clearing triple the following inning, and Jerod Faggart hit another grand slam in Appalachian State’s 19-4 win Saturday just before a rainstorm hit the Triad area. On Friday, Appalachian State loaded the bases in the ninth inning, but could not push any runners across and lost 3-1.

“I was really proud of our guys,” Mountaineers coach Chris Pollard said of game three. “We really didn’t play well early. It wasn’t anything specific. We just didn't play great, but I thought we showed a lot of character to be down and to come back and get that big (rally).”

The Mountaineers (30-18, 15-13 SoCon) are through with their Southern Conference schedule and will play four games this week to get ready for the SoCon Tournament, which is the following week.

Alessandria stepped to the plate with no outs and the Mountaineers trailing 5-4. He took a 1-1 pitch from UNCG closer Rob Gilliam and drove it over the right-field fence to give the Mountaineers a 8-5 lead.

“We had a guy on third and with the situation, I was trying to get the ball up to get a sac fly and move him in,” Alessandria said. “I got a fastball out over the plate and I took my hands to it and hit it out.”

Usually that type of lead is safe in the hands of Appalachian State closer Zach Quate, who took a 0.54 ERA into the game and had already set the Spartans (17-28, 5-20) down in order in the eighth.

However, UNC Greensboro rallied for three runs to tie the game 8-8 and send it into an extra inning.

Because of a substitution situation involving moving designated hitter Jerod Faggart to catcher and a pinch hitter for catcher Jeremy Dowdy, Quate had to bat for the first time since he arrived at Appalachian State in the top of the ninth if he wanted to stay in the game.

Quate ended up striking out, and then struggled to find his rhythm in the bottom half of the inning. In the 10th, Quate preserved the win by allowing just one two-out single to Corey Overholtzer, who reached base six times even though he had just two hits.

“I think having Quate having to go to the plate having to hit really kind of changed his rhythm,” Pollard said. “To ask a guy to do something he hasn’t done in four years and he got up there and everybody was hooting and hollering and all of a sudden you’ve got to go out and pitch behind that and I think he lost his rhythm for a little bit there and he had to fight to get it back. Credit Greensboro, they did a good job taking advantage of it.”

Hobson got him the win by driving in Faggart, who walked to start the inning.

“We really don’t get down on ourselves, because we know what we can do offensively,” Mountaineers centerfielder Rand Smith said.

\“We don’t ever really press when we’re down because we know what we can do. We got runners on and we knew that somebody was going to come through and get the big hit.”

Loading the bases was commonplace for the Mountaineers. In the first game, Appalachian State loaded the bases in the ninth after struggling to score runs all game. However, UNCG closer Rob GIlliam struck out Smith and Hobson in order to end the Mountaineers’ threat.

Harrow wasn’t so forgiving. His grand slam in the third inning gave Appalachian State a 4-0 lead. HIs three-run triple in the next inning pushed that lead to 8-0. It was the second time this season he had driven in seven runs in one game and he pushed his school record total to 72. He needs 15 RBIs in the Mountaineers’ next seven games to break the SoCon record.

Rand Smith, who belted a lead-off home run in the first game to provide the Mountaineers with their only run, added a 5-for-7 performance Saturday with another home run and a double. Smith also scored four runs.