UTPB Baseball out-lasted #15 St. Edward's Friday afternoon, scoring with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in the Heartland Conference opener for both teams to knock off the Hilltoppers 2-1. St. Edward's came back in the second game of the afternoon with a decisive 7-1 victory.

St. Edward's scored the first run of the day in the top of the third, getting a fly ball to center field with the bases loaded to score a run on a sac fly, but it left two other runners stranded when the Falcons got out of the inning on a ground out to second.

UTPB evened the score in its half of the third, tying the game when Colin Kowal led off the inning with a base hit and Neil Madsen drove him home with a double.

Neither team scored over the next five innings, but both teams failed to capitalize on chances late in the game. UTPB stranded a pair in the bottom of the eighth after the first two batters of the inning reached base, and the Hilltoppers left a pair on in the top of the ninth.

The Falcons broke through with the game-winner in the bottom of nine, starting when Daniel Andrade drew a walk after the first two batters of the inning struck out. He advanced to second on a failed pick off attempt that was thrown away, and scored when the third out of the inning on a ground ball to short was thrown away at first to seal the 2-1 victory.

Brad Paramapoonya improved to 3-0 on the season in throwing a scoreless ninth inning. Kyle Romstadt threw the seventh and eighth innings without giving up a run, and Andrew Grifol allowed just one run off of five hits and a pair of walks in getting the start.

Brannon Easterling took the loss for St. Edward's, throwing innings 8.2 and giving up two runs, one earned, off of nine hits and two walks. He struck out nine batters.

UTPB grabbed the lead in the bottom of the second when Trey Cochran started the inning with a home run.

The Hilltoppers took over possession of the lead with two runs off a pair of hits in the third and ran off to a 6-1 lead with four more runs and six hits in the top of the fourth before scoring the final run of the game in the top of the seventh.

The two teams return to the diamond Saturday afternoon to decide the three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.