GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Tyler Zupcic drove in a pair of runs and No. 1 seed Appalachian State took full advantage of poor defensive play by No. 8 seed Furman to down the Paladins, 7-5, in Southern Conference Baseball  Tournament first round action Wednesday evening at Fluor Field.

Appalachian State (39-14) used five walks, a hit batsman, and three errors to plate six unearned runs to secure the win and advance into Thursday's second round, where it will play at 8:00 p.m. against the winner of Wednesday's late game between Samford and Western Carolina.

Furman (26-30) will play the loser of the Samford/Western Carolina contest at 1:00 p.m. Thursday.

"We gave up one earned run, that says it all," said Furman head coach Ron Smith.  "We didn't play the defense we needed to play to beat a team like Appalachian State.  We're capable of playing better defense and fully expect to do so tomorrow."

The Paladins grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first after Will Owens stroked a leadoff double into the right center field gap, advanced to third on a ground out, and came home on a Paul Nitto ground out.

Appalachian State knotted the game at 1-1 in its first at bat when Tyler Zupic drew a one-out walk and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Daniel Kassouf.

It remained tied until the fourth when the Mountaineers combined an error with two hits, two walks, and a hit batsman to score four unearned runs.  Zupcic's two-run single to left field off Paladin starting pitcher Bobby Lyne highlighted the frame and gave ASU a 5-1 lead.

Furman clawed back with a three-run sixth that included a RBI single by Taylor Johnson and two-run single by Will Muzika that cut the Mountaineers' lead to 5-4.

Two errors by Paladin shortstop Hunter Burton in the bottom of the sixth led to two more Mountaineer runs.  After Hector Crespo drew a leadoff walk, Burton misplayed Zupcic's potential double play grounder.  Two batters later Daniel Kassouf's sacrifice fly scored Crespo, and Tyler Tewell followed with another deep fly that drove home Zupcic for a 7-4 lead.

The Paladins tallied an unearned run in the seventh off Mountaineer starting pitcher Ryan Arrowood, but saw its chance to draw closer end when a Muzika line drive to center was grabbed by a sliding Zupcic to end the inning.

ASU reliever Ryne Frankoff retired the Paladins in order in the eighth, and Nathan Hyatt worked around a Mountaineer error in the ninth to finish the game and secure his 15th save of the campaign.

Arrowood (10-0) remaining perfect on the season in earning the victory.  The loss was charged to Lyne (6-6).

Appalachian State posted a 10-8 advantage in hits, with Trey Holmes and Will Callaway collecting two hits apiece for the Mountaineers.  Furman was led by Owens, who went 3-for-5 and scored two runs, and Johnson, who had two hits, including his team leading 19th double, in four at bats.