Davenport, Fla. – The Washington University in St. Louis baseball team continued its winning ways with a 9-8 victory over Spalding University on Wednesday in the Bears' final game of the RussMatt Central Florida Invite. 

WashU rallied from an 8-7 deficit with two runs in the eighth, before closing the game out in the ninth to preserve the win. 

WashU improves to 3-7 on the season with the win and posts a 2-2 record on its spring break trip. 

The Bears had a big first inning, using timely two-out hitting as they recorded six runs on five hits in the bottom of the first.

Clayton Miller's RBI single scored Magnus Dunn from second, pushing the Bears out in front 1-0. Miller would later score in the inning off an error. 

Leading 2-0, Zac Styka connected on an RBI single to bring home Jack Miller, extending the lead to 3-0. Kaden Bernhard scored the fourth inning of the frame off a wild pitch, while Brandon Buday's bases loaded walk scored Styka. 

The final run of the inning came via an RBI single from Dunn, scoring Zac Malis. 

Matt Bauer, who got the start on the mound on Wednesday, was dealing early on, holding Spalding to just one hit in the first three innings of play. 

With two outs in the top of the fourth, the Eagles rallied back with five runs on five hits, reducing the Bears' lead down to 6-5. 

The Bears nearly got out of the inning unscathed, but the inning continued after a costly error on a bases loaded dropped third-strike pitch extended the inning, as the Spalding batter reached first. 

Spalding then connected on a two-RBI single and then a two-RBI double to cut the lead down to one. 

The Eagles added two more runs in the fifth, scoring two runs off an error in the outfield, which gave SU its first lead of the day at 7-6. 

Spalding would score its eighth unanswered run in the top of the seventh, but WashU would answer in the bottom half of the inning after Broghan O'Connor's RBI double scored Jack Miller from first base. 

Trailing 8-7, the Bears loaded up the bases in the bottom of the eighth following a Buday leadoff walk and back-to-back singles from Dunn and Tim Van Kirk. 

Back-to-back RBI groundouts from Clayton Miller and Jack Miller allowed Buday and Dunn to cross the plate, putting WU back in front at 9-8. 

Spalding had the tying run on third base in the ninth with one out, but the Bears shut the door, collecting consecutive groundouts as Sebastian Guzman earned the save. 

Joseph Hettinger, who entered the contest in the eighth inning, notched the victory on the mound. 

In total, the Bears' pitching staff collected nine strikeouts in the victory and allowed no earned runs due to three errors throughout the game. 

WashU recorded 11 hits and Jack Miller, Dunn, and Van Kirk all finished with two hits apiece, while Clayton Miller led the Bears with two RBI 

The Bears will return to Kelly Field on Saturday as they play host to Ozarks. Game one will begin at noon with game two to follow afterwards.