ST. LOUIS, MO. - The University of Missouri-St. Louis Baseball team completed a comeback win against the visiting Upper Iowa Peacocks on Friday afternoon for their Home Opener. After falling behind 3-0 early on, the Tritons settled in behind strong performances on the mound. Junior Nick Torres started on the bump for the Tritons, throwing seven innings, allowing three runs on just three hits, while walking one and hitting one. Redshirt Senior Christian Thrasher followed suit, throwing a scoreless eighth inning en route to earning his first collegiate win as a Triton. Freshman Dylan Wobbe came in for the ninth and shut the door, sending the Peacocks down in order with three quick outs to close the game.
The Peacocks got on the board in the first inning as the leadoff hitter, Grushkin, walked, then stole second and advanced to third on a deep fly ball out. He would come around to score on an error, when a ball hit deep to third base couldn't be handled on the next play. In the bottom of the first, the Tritons responded as Brandon Olion recorded one of his four hits on the day to lead off, then advanced to third on a base hit by Carson Holin. But a botched baserunning play led to Olion getting picked off at third base, and the Tritons went quietly the rest of the half inning.
The Peacocks would respond with two more runs in the third inning. After giving up the three runs in the first three innings, though, Torres settled in, allowing only one hit in his last four frames of work. Head Coach Cory Wahl was "...very proud of the way the players handled some adversity early in the game. We had multiple players come up with big plays and at bats throughout the game."
The Tritons' bats came alive in the fifth inning, recording four consecutive hits to start the inning, highlighted by a single through the right side from Olion that drove in two runs, making it a one-run ball game.
In the sixth inning, Sophomore Mitch Green wanted in on the offensive push and tied up the game with a long home run to left field, his first of the year. The Tritons pitching kept the Peacock's bats at bay, allowing only two hits in the final three innings, and gave the offense the opportunity to complete the comeback. In the 8th inning, Head Coach Cory Wahl pinch ran the speedy Isaac Powers for Matt DiMemmo, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Powers advanced to third on a double by Logan Mantz, and would eventually score the go-ahead run via a sacrifice fly off the bat of Clayton Stephens. Wobbe then turned in a clean inning, shutting the Peacocks down in order in the 9th inning, en route to his first collegiate save.
Thrasher earned the win, his first as a Triton, while Olion finished with four of the Tritons twelve, and while also driving in two runs.
The Tritons improve to 1-4 overall, and return to action tomorrow with a double-header against visiting University of Minnesota-Duluth. First pitch is at 12:00 p.m.
