St. Louis - The Maryville baseball team began its series against Truman State with two wins in drastically different ways. The Saints won a 14-7 slugfest in game one and used a Yoonjae Nam walk-off hit to take game two 4-3.
 
The Saints pushed across two runs in the first to grab the early lead. Mitch Carriger walked and took second on Troy Payton's sac bunt. Zack Ruckman followed with a single, and Sean Murphy worked a walk to load the bases. Louis Niemerg drew another walk to force in the game's first run. Tyler Catlett lifted a sac fly to bring home another run for a 2-0 edge. Maryville hung four runs in the bottom of the second. Again with the bases loaded, Payton had a sac fly to right field, and Ruckman's single plated two more runs for a 5-0 lead. Niemerg's RBI single brought Murphy in as the Saints' lead grew to half-a-dozen. Truman cut the Maryville lead in half with three runs in the top of the third. Garrett Taylor tripled to start the third inning and scored on Dalton Schumer's sacrifice fly for a 7-3 advantage.
 
Truman scored an unearned run in the sixth but the Saints answered with Niemerg's RBI single. The Saints broke the game open in the bottom of the seventh as Payton had two RBIs on a single, and Ruckman also plated two runs with a double. Niemerg drove in his fourth run of the game with a single to cap the seventh inning. Payton's sac fly in the eighth plated his fourth RBI and ended the scoring explosion. Tyler Omlid gave up just three hits and the four runs he allowed were all unearned.
 
In game two, the teams traded single runs before Truman State took the lead with a run in the top of the sixth to set up the late inning drama. Murphy singled and eventually reached third on a Truman error. Niemerg delivered again with an RBI single for a 1-0 Saints lead. The Bulldogs tied the game in the top of the third but Maryville answered in the fourth. Ruckman singled and stole second. Catlett lashed a double for a 2-1 lead. Truman again tied the game in the fifth and took a 3-2 in the sixth inning.
 
Catlett started the winning rally in the bottom of the seventh with a double. Omlid followed with a single. Pinch hitter Daniel Covert put down a sac bunt that scored Catlett and pushed Omlid to second. Nam entered the game as a pinch hitter, and he delivered in the clutch with the game-winning hit. Justin Laffleur worked five outs to record the win on the mound.
 
The Saints improve to 13-16 overall and are 4-6 in the GLVC. Truman State is now 12-19 overall and also 4-6 in the league. The teams will close out the series with a doubleheader Sunday starting at Noon at Missouri Baptist University.