Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Written by Jim Powers

St. Louis - Maryville University used a great pitching performance to defeat Truman State in the first game of a doubleheader 5-3 but let a comeback bid in game two fall just short 4-3 in eight innings against the Bulldogs on Friday afternoon at Weber Field in St. Louis.

The Saints opened game one with a bang in the second inning. Sean Murphy started the frame with a single and then advanced to third on a Corey Gall base hit to put runners at the corners with no one out. Tyler Omlid earned his third run batted in on the year with a ground out to the shortstop to drive in Murphy, while Nate Steffler drove in Gall with an RBI single to give Maryville a 2-0 lead.

Truman State would cut the lead in half in the fifth after Zak Larkin drew a two out walk, and after a stolen base, Larkin scored on a Corban Williams single to cut the deficit to 2-1. The Bulldogs would then tie the game in the top half of the seventh Kyle Smith singled and moved over to second on a Wayne Fones sacrifice bunt. Smith then scored on a throwing error to knot the game at 2-2.

Maryville would then get the lead right back in the home half of the seventh when Kyle Kinyon and Mitch Carriger both singled with one out to start the bottom of the inning. Both Saints scored on a fielding error with two outs to give Maryville a 4-2 advantage. The Saints would add an insurance run in the eighth after Omlid drilled a triple down the right field line to score Murphy to give the home team a 5-2 lead. Truman State plated one more run in the ninth on a Will Nader ground out to the first baseman that scored Blake Deaton from third to make the count 5-3.

Brandon Sarkissian threw a gem on the day scattering eight hits on the afternoon, while walking only four Bulldog batters and striking out nine to improve his record to 3-2 on the season. It was also Sarkissian's third complete game in four starts for the Saints. Kinyon was the leader of the Saints offence as the catcher went 2-of-3. Truman State's Mark Roberts suffered the loss for Truman State while dropping to 2-2 on the year.

Truman started the night cap with run in the top of the first as Larkin singled and advanced to second on a stolen base and then moved up to third on a wild pitch. He then scored on a Paul Trenhaile groundout to the shortstop to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead.

Maryville would tie the game up in the second as Mike Wilkerson started the frame with a double and scored on a Steffler two-out single to make the score 1-1.
The Bulldogs would regain the lead in the forth as Chris Zrostlik hit a two out double and scored when Dave Gambino stroked a single in to centerfield to give Truman State a 2-1 lead.

Maryville would grab the lead once again in the back and forth affair with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Steffler opened the frame with a single and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Kinyon. Then with two outs, Kaleb DePew singled to put runners at second and third with Troy Payton coming to the plate. Payton laid down a bunt and found himself safe at third after a throwing error scored both Steffler and DePew to give the Saints a 3-2 lead.

Truman State would plate a run in the seventh on a Larkin RBI single that would score Deaton to knot the game up at 3-3, but the Saints would have a chance in the bottom of the inning as they had bases loaded but a Gall slicing line drive would by tracked down by a diving Williams to force extra innings. The Bulldogs would score the winning run in the top of the eighth after Zrostick doubled and advanced to third on an error with one out. Tyler Hill would come in to pinch run and would score on a Gambino double to give Truman the win.

Cody Gardner would earn the victory for the Bulldogs and improve to 3-4 on the season while Omlid would suffer the loss to drop to 3-2 on the year.
Maryville (14-16, 10-10) and Truman State (14-18, 9-11) will go back at it in the second weekend doubleheader at Weber Field with game one starting at Noon Saturday.