Freshman John Lozano's two-out single in the top of the eighth inning brought in what would be the game-winning run for the Owls. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge]

MOBERLY -- It's hard to win a road game in the NCMC -- particularly a close one, especially in extra innings -- but the Marshall baseball team pulled it off again Wednesday.

Freshman John Lozano's two-out single in the top of the eighth inning gave the Owls an 8-7 victory at Moberly, their third win in the last four games. Being in competitive contests has become commonplace for Marshall, which has had six of its last eight games decided by two runs or less.

This one would have been very easy to lose, since the Owls blew a 6-1 lead in the middle inning and a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh. Yet, as they did the previous night during a 5-4 win at Fulton, the Birds proved resilient.

Senior Mike Sartor's single in the first inning and senior Jeremy Glassmaker's base hit in the second put Marshall up, 2-0.

The Owls' big rally would come in the fourth, when they scored four times. Senior Ethan Williams led off with a walk and singles by sophomore Lucas Hart and senior Andrew Bridges brought him in.

Glassmaker doubled in a run and Lozano and Sartor followed with RBI singles.

The Spartans began their comeback in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Aaron Harms began the frame with a double, with two errors and senior Roger Apel's single plating two runs.

Bridges tripled to begin the sixth and came in on a squeeze bunt by Glassmaker, but Moberly countered with three runs -- starting with a solo homer by sophomore Derek Fletcher. Junior Kyle Huffman's two-run single closed the margin to 7-6.

The Spartans would make up the remaining run in the seventh, and came close to winning. Harms and Fletcher singled, chasing senior starter Jared Porter. In a reversal of the previous night's order, senior Michael Crim relieved, but walked two batters.

A wild pitch let the tying run in, but the Owls made a defensive play to prevent any further damage when Bridges gunned out Fletcher when he attempted to advance to third base on a fly out to left field.

Porter singled with one out in the top of the eighth, got into scoring position when Glassmaker's grounder was booted and came in on Lozano's single.

Crim walked the lead-off batter in the bottom of the eighth, but Phillips gunned him down on a steal attempt -- the 16th time Marshall's opponents have been caught. Senior Travis Allred singled with two out, but Phillips handled a pop-up to end the game.

Moberly (9-9, 4-6 NCMC) had 15 hits, but stranded 10 runners and had two more thrown out on the base paths.

The win moves the Owls (5-9, 3-4) out of the cellar and into third place in the conference standings. They are scheduled to host Warrensburg for a non-conference make-up game Friday.