TOWSON, Md.  ? After being held to one run on just four hits through seven innings, the Tiger bats (7-6) came to life in the final two innings as they staged another dramatic late-game rally and extended their winning to five with a 5-4 victory over the University of Maryland Baltimore County (1-4) at John B. Schuerholz Park on Wednesday afternoon.

After scoring three runs in the eighth inning to tie the game, the Tigers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. An RBI single to rightfield by junior Steve Yarsinsky drove in the game-winning run, giving the Tigers their fourth straight come-from-behind win. The 5-4 victory was the Tigers' fifth victory in seven one-run games this season.

 “Even though I'm glad we're winning, I wish we didn't have so many close games,” said Towson Coach Mike Gottlieb, whose team has overcome a 2-6 start. “I keep telling our guys that it's OK to win by five or six runs sometimes.

 “But, the good news is we found a way to win once again. Plus, our bullpen kept us in the game to give us a chance to come back. We went to our bullpen in the fifth inning and all three pitchers we used shut them out.”

With the victory, the Tigers have now beaten UMBC ten times in a row. Towson has not lost to UMBC since dropping a 9-6 decision at UMBC on May 5, 2004.

However, that winning streak was in serious jeopardy on Wednesday afternoon after the Retrievers took a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning.

UMBC took a 1-0 lead in the second inning but could have scored more than once in the inning. Senior catcher Tom Meaney led off with a single. However, Tiger righthander Charlie Cononie got freshman Max Himmelstein to ground into a double play that was started by third baseman Austin Harclerode. Moments later, the double play loomed even larger when senior leftfielder Bryan Russo belted his third home run of the season over the left field fence, giving UMBC a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second, the Tigers tied the game with the help of an error by UMBC shortstop Justin Lamborn. With one out, Harclerode reached on an error by Lamborn. After UMBC righthander Kevin Clark walked senior Aaron Gabrielian, freshman rightfielder Ben Winter lined an RBI single to left center, scoring Harclerode with the tying run.

With the score knotted at 1-1 in the fifth inning, the Retrievers used some aggressive base-running to take a 3-1 lead. With one out, senior centerfielder Wink Nolan started the rally with a walk. When freshman Brian Klukowicz lined a single down the right field line, Nolan raced over to third base. With third baseman Justin Ferguson at bat, Cononie threw a pitch in the dirt that bounced away from catcher Max Kelly. Even though the pitch was only 30 feet from home plate, Nolan alertly raced for home and scored the go-ahead run on the wild pitch. Ferguson kept the inning alive when he grounded into a force play and beat the throw to first base to keep Towson from turning an inning-ending double play. After Ferguson stole second base, senior second baseman Brad Brainer lined a single to centerfield to drive in Ferguson for a 3-1 UMBC advantage. At that point, junior lefthander Wes Shifflett came in to relieve Cononie. He surrendered an opposite field double to Lamborn as Brainer moved to third base. Then, Shifflett threw a wild pitch to allow Lamborn to score for a 4-1 lead. But, Shifflett came back to strike out Meaney and end the threat.

Shifflett enabled the Tigers to come from behind with a very effective 2.1 inning performance. He allowed no runs on one hit with two walks and six strikeouts.

However, the Tigers were still trailing by 4-1 entering the bottom of the eighth. In the eighth, junior centerfielder Kevin Collins started a rally with an infield single. Yarsinsky followed with a double down the left field line to give the Tigers two runners in scoring position.

Kevin Collins came around to score when sophomore righthander Austin Drewyer threw a wild pitch as Yarsinsky advanced to third base. When senior first baseman Matt Collins hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, Yarsinsky scored to cut the Tigers' deficit to 4-3. With two outs and nobody on base, Harclerode tied the game when he blasted his first home run of the season to rightfield.

After senior righthander Josh Squatrito shut out UMBC in the ninth inning, the Tigers came to bat with a chance to pull out another close win.

Junior catcher Max Kelly led off the ninth inning by drawing a four-pitch walk from UMBC lefthander Ed Bach. Kelly was replaced on the basepaths by pinch runner Brady Baxter. While Bach was pitching to pinch hitter Jason Stifler, Baxter advanced to second base on a wild pitch. After Stifler struck out, senior second baseman Gary Helmick lined a single to right centerfield. But, Nolan made a good play on the single and kept Baxter from scoring.

With runners at first and third, Kevin Collins drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. On the first pitch he saw, Yarsinsky singled to right, driving in Baxter with the game-winning run.

Yarsinsky and Winter led the Tigers with two hits each as Towson outhit UMBC, 9-8. First baseman Shawn Retz topped UMBC with two hits.

Clark, the Retrievers' starting pitcher, turned in a very effective performance, allowing one unearned run on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts in four innings of work.

TIGER TALES:  For the Tigers, the win over UMBC marked the first game of a ten-game home stand over the next 12 days ... Towson will host Holy Cross in a three-game series this weekend and faces Yale in a three-game series on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday ... The home stand concludes on the weekend of March 20-22 when the Tigers host Delaware in a three-game Colonial Athletic Association series.

The Tigers are now 4-0 at Schuerholz Park this season ... Dating back to last year, the Tigers have won 23 of their last 30 home games ... Harclerode, normally a Tiger outfielder, made the first start of his college career at third base and did well ... He handled all four fielding chances well and started two double plays ... In the win over UMBC, the Tigers turned three double plays.

With his ninth inning single, Helmick has hit safely in 12 of the Tigers' 13 games this season ... He leads the Tigers with a .464 batting average ... Yarsinsky is also batting over .400 after 13 games ... He is second on the team with a .411 batting mark.

The Tigers are now 5-2 in one-run games this season ... Towson's 5-4 win over UMBC was its second “walk-off” win of the year ... The Tigers have won three games in their final at bat.