UTPB baseball earned a pair of victories in different ways Friday afternoon, taking a 10-4 victory that was never in question before scoring three runs in the top of the ninth for an 8-6 come-from-behind win against Texas A&M International at Jorge Haynes Field in Laredo.

Andrew Grifol paced the UTPB offense with six RBI out of the leadoff position in the batting order, and drove in his first two on a double to left center to score Colin Kowal and Travis Sims in the top of the third for a 2-0 lead.

After Michael Resnick scored on an error in the top of the fourth, the Falcons doubled their lead with three more runs in the fifth. Trey Cochran doubled with Sims and Neil Madsen on base to score both, and later came home on a Ty Morgan single.

Leading 6-1 in the sixth, Grifol came up with the bases packed and drove home everyone with a grand slam, his third homer of the season, for a nine-run advantage.

Ethan Blucher improved to 4-3 with the win, throwing five innings of one-run ball in his fifth start and 14th appearance of the season. 

Sims tallied season-highs in runs scored and hits with three of each to lead the Falcons in both stats.

The Falcons faced a tougher test in game two despite once again taking the first lead of the game. UTPB went ahead 2-0 after the top of the first when Grifol scored on a wild pitch and Resnick grounded out to score Madsen, but a pair of base hits by the Dustdevils drove home three runs to help TAMIU to its first lead of the night.
 
With the score remaining the same over the next four innings, the Falcons tied the contest in the top of the sixth when Ryne Head scored on a two-out error to even the game at 3-3. Madsen and Cochran came through with run-scoring hits in the team's next time to the plate in the seventh to go back on top 5-3.

Texas A&M international rallied for its own three-run inning in the bottom of the eighth on four hits and a two-run double with two outs in the inning.

The Falcons stepped up in their final time up at the plate in the top of the ninth, tying the game behind an RBI single by Ryan Arrick and taking a 7-6 lead when Head grounded out to short to score Resnick. A base hit by David Lee drove home Arrick for the final run of the night and an 8-6 lead.

Brad Paramapoonya earned the win for UTPB having recorded the final out of the eighth inning. He shut down the Dustdevils in order in the ninth to improve to 6-1 on the season.

UTPB looks to earn the series sweep Saturday afternoon in the third and final game of the weekend when the teams return to action at 1 p.m. in Laredo.