ADRIAN, Mich. – Despite losing an early lead, the RV Washington University in St. Louis baseball team opened up its regional bracket with a 10-9, walk-off win over Ohio Northern on Friday afternoon at Nicolay Field on the campus of Adrian College.

The Bears got things started in the bottom of the first inning when senior Brandon Buday reached on an error by the Polar Bears. A sacrifice bunt by graduate Colter Couillard-Rodak pushed Buday over to second. Then with two outs, graduate Will Yarbro hit a single through the right side that allowed Buday to race around and score from second, putting WashU ahead 1-0.

After ONU tied the game up in the top of the second, WashU responded with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the frame. Senior Braden Mazone flew out to center to start, but a second error by the Polar Bears allowed junior Shane Pellegrino to reach first. With two outs, sophomore Anthony Equale doubled to right center that scored Pellegrino from first, giving WashU the lead again, 2-1. A passed ball allowed Equale to reach third before he came around and scored on a single by Buday. Couillard-Rodak followed with his own single, this one to left field that put runners on the corners. After graduate Noah Reichman was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Yarbro got the fourth hit of the inning with a single through the left side scoring Buday and putting WashU ahead 4-1 after two complete innings.

In the bottom of the third, the Bears added a pair of runs to their lead. Once again with two outs, first-year Cooper Greene walked. Equale then got his second extra-base hit of the contest with a home run over the fence in left field, putting the Bears ahead 6-1.

The two teams would trade single-run innings. After ONU got one of the runs back, WashU saw its second home run in the bottom of the fourth, this one from Yarbro as it put its lead back up to five runs, 7-2.

The sixth inning was kind to both squads as ONU used a trio of singles to score a pair of runs. The Bears responded immediately with their third home run of the contest. Reichman led off the bottom of the frame with a double to left. A ground out by Yarbro allowed Reichman to take third. Soong then followed with his third home run of the season, this one over dead-center field, once again putting WashU up by five, 9-4.

The offense continued to be hot for the Polar Bears as they would add two runs in the top of the seventh before tying the game up in the top of the ninth with three runs on four hits.

Not wanting to start their regional on the downside, the Bears got the game-winning run in the bottom of the frame, preventing extra innings. After Equale flew out to center, Buday hit a hard single to the shortstop and slid into first, head first, to reach safely. A bloop single to center by Couillard-Rodak put runners on first and second. Reichman then stepped up and smacked a single to left that was played off the wall. Buday had to wait and tag up, but once he started, he ran through third, touching the base, and made another slide, this time into home around the nearly simultaneously arriving throw from the third baseman for the walk-off run.

The Bears collected 15 hits in the contest with both Couillard-Rodak and Yarbro collecting three. Buday, Reichman, and Equale each had a pair. Yarbro and Equale each had three RBIs with Buday scoring three runs.

Sophomore Parker Guthrie got his first postseason win of his career, pitching the final three innings.

WashU advances in the winners' bracket and will face off against the regional top-seed No. 2 Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Bears and Warhawks will face off on Saturday, May 17 at 2:30 p.m. ET.