ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Davenport baseball team got back on the diamond after a few days off during their spring break trip on Thursday. The Panthers led for most of the game, but Missouri-St. Louis scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to come away with an 8-7 win over DU. The Panthers had their six-game win streak snapped (6-2) while the Tritons snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 3-5 overall.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Davenport and Missouri-St. Louis battled back-and-forth scoring runs early with a 5-3 lead in favor of DU after three innings. DU scored twice in the first, once in the second and two more times in the third. UMSL scored once in the first and two more times in the second.

Max Swan for DU and Josh Shoemaker for UMSL got the starts on the mound. Each guy hung in there and gave their team a chance to win. Swan would last four innings while Shoemaker went two innings before handing it over to the bullpen. 

Travis Harvey gave the Panthers momentum in the first with a two-run dinger to right center which scored Nolan Bryant. The Panthers added a run in the second for a 3-1 lead. Hunter Ruhstorfer walked with one out and Bryant delivered a two-out RBI double to center and was thrown out at third trying to stretch into a triple.

UMSL tied it at 3-3 in the bottom of the second on three hits and left a pair on base. DU got the lead right back in the top of the third. Jacob Buchberger drew a walk and then Ben Leuthauser entered on the mound for the Tritons. Harvey greeted him with a RBI double down the left field line for a 4-3 lead. Kamrin Markwardt then singled Harvey home with one out for a 5-3 lead.

Noah Marcoux had a RBI single in the fifth to increase the lead to 6-3. Swan gave up a leadoff home run to start the bottom of the fifth and then a double before Joseph Drury entered on the bump. Drury left the bases loaded to keep the lead at 6-4.

Roman Trujillo doubled to right center to start the sixth and later scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Ruhstorfer. UMSL would score the game's last four runs for the comeback win. Drury gave up a run in the seventh and then handed the ball to Ricky Clark in the eighth. Clark however could not make it out of the inning recording two outs, but giving up three runs.

DU had a chance to tie or take the lead in the ninth. Bryant walked to lead off and Marcoux walked with two outs. Both runners moved into scoring position with a balk, but a ground out from Markwardt ended the game.

BY THE NUMBERS
Clark took the loss for DU (0-1) while Dylan Hoelscher got the win (1-0) and Austin Forney got the save in the ninth. Harvey finished 3-for-5 with three RBI. Bryant went 3-for-4 with a walk, run and RBI. Davenport left eight on base and committed the only error of the game. Marcoux went 2-for-3 with two walks.

UP NEXT
The Panthers will stay in St. Louis and start a four-game weekend series with Maryville University. The Saints are 5-4 overall and just split four games against Minnesota State-Mankato.