ST. LOUIS, MO. – Freshman
Matt Foster delivered a two-out, bases loaded, two-run single up the middle to give the University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team a 5-4 win over McKendree on Tuesday afternoon in a nonconference game.
The Tritons scored the final three runs on the game en route to the win, improving to 21-10 overall. The Bearcats slip to 12-20.
Foster's heroics came after UMSL recorded two hits on McKendree closer Matt Henning, including a lead-off single from senior
Jose Ortiz and a one-out double from senior
Justin Busekrus. Junior
Tanner Hudson was then intentionally walked to load the bases. The Bearcats got Ortiz out at home on a fielder's choice, but Foster drove in Busekrus and Hudson for the tying and winning runs.
The Tritons outhit Mckendree, 12-10, with senior
Dominic Orlando going 4-for-4 at the plate. Foster finished with three hits, while Ortiz and Busekrus added two each.
The Bearcats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, scoring on a solo home run in the second inning before a two-out RBI single in the third inning.
The Tritons got on the board in the fifth inning on a RBI single from Orlando that scored pinch runner
Brendan Riesmeyer. Riesmeyer was running for junior
Jake Daily, who ended up on second base after a passed ball strikeout followed by a throwing error by the Bearcats catcher.
McKendree extended its lead to 4-1 in the seventh, before UMSL pulled within 4-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Ortiz drove in Orlando, while a two-out bobble by McKendree's shortstop allowed another run to come home.
Senior
Austin Simokaitis picked up the win on the mound in two-thirds of an inning, coming in with one out in the top of the ninth with a runner on first and retired the two batters he faced.
Junior
Jordan Tharp went five and two thirds of an inning in the start, allowing three runs on eight hits. He also struck out four and walked two.
UMSL continues its homestand this weekend, welcoming Rockhurst on Saturday and Sunday for a four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series.
