ST. LOUIS, MO. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team was sparked by a five-run fifth inning en route to an 11-3 nonconference victory at Mckendree on Wednesday afternoon. The Tritons scored nine unanswered runs to end the game and finished with 15 hits.
 
The Tritons sent all nine batters to the plate in the fifth frame in which they turned a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 advantage and received RBIs from senior Jose Ortiz, and freshmen Tom DeCero and Matt Foster.
 
UMSL then tacked on another two runs in the sixth as senior Justin Busekrus drove in two on his single through the left side, while an error in the seventh made it eight unanswered runs. Then in the ninth, Ortiz and junior Jake Beckwith drove in a run each.
 
The Tritons improve to 26-20 overall and will wrap up the season this weekend in a four-game GLVC series at Drury, which begins Friday afternoon. McKendree slips to 14-31.
 
UMSL took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning on junior Tanner Hudson's solo home run before McKendree evened the score in the second and took a 3-1 lead in the third.
 
Ortiz finished with three hits, two RBI and two runs scored, while senior Dominic Orlando also recorded three hits, including two doubles. Busekrus added two hits and two RBI. 

Junior Jordan Tharp improved to 3-1 on the season with the win. He allowed the three runs on eight hits, while striking out three and walking three in five and one thirds of an inning before giving way to junior Zach Lindsay, who tossed two and one-thirds scoreless innings. Junior Andrew Bicklein closed out the game with one and one thirds scoreless innings.