The Peacock (3-6) baseball team held a 4-2 lead late in Thursday's game over the University of Missouri-St. Louis (8-1) in Clearwater behind a strong outing from starting pitcher
Zach Carstens, but the Tritons rallied with a run in the eighth and two more in the ninth to walk off with a 5-4 win.
The Tritons scored a run in the first inning, but the Peacocks got back on top 2-1 with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning.
Colton Janssen singled to open the inning and moved to third when
Mitch Moser singled with one out. A
Jake Stenberg hit chased Janssen across the plate and sent Moser to third, where he scored on a ground out by
Jordan Kearns. A
Cody Booker double gave the Peacocks runners on second and third with two outs, but a final out ended the threat.
Three UMSL singles in the third inning tied the game at 2-2, but Carstens was able to settle down shutting out the Tritons from the fourth through the seventh innings.
In the top of the seventh, Kearns was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a Booker sac bunt. After an UMSL error, the Peacocks had runners on second and third with one out.
Jacob Greco knocked one run in with a sac fly to rightfield and a second error on the infield allowed the second run to score giving UIU a 4-2 lead.
Missouri-St. Louis cut the gap in half to 4-3 with a run in the eighth fueled by three walks and a hit. The damage could have been worse, but the Peacocks left three Tritons on the bases.
In the ninth, the Tritons opened with a single and sac bunt to put a runner in scoring position with one out. After a fielding error, the Peacocks faced runners on the corners still needing two outs to earn the win and snap their five-game skid. A double scored both runners and gave Missouri-St. Louis the walkoff win, 5-4.
Carstens took a no-decision after throwing 7 innings and allowing just 2 runs on 10 hits. Zachary Cain allowed the run in the eighth before
Tanner Poor came in to get the final two outs of the inning.
Ross Kulick (0-1) made his first appearance on the mound for UIU this season in the ninth and gave up the two runs, one was unearned, on two hits.
Janssen and Moser each had a pair of hits, while Booker,
Alex George, Stenberg and Kearns were the only other players to get a hit for Upper Iowa.
The team will face Rockhurst University on Friday at 2 p.m. (ET) in Clearwater and wrap up their spring trip against Mansfield on Saturday at 10 a.m. (ET).
