Sophomore Bryan Russo hit his third home run of the season Wednesday.

TOWSON, Md.—The UMBC baseball team led by three runs going into the final two innings, but could not pull off the victory as Towson scored three in the eighth and one in the ninth to defeat the Retrievers, 5-4 Wednesday afternoon. The loss dropped UMBC to 1-4 on the season, while the Tigers improved to 7-6.

The Tigers scored three off of sophomore Austin Drewyer (Ellicott City, Md./River Hill) in the eighth before Steve Yarsinsky’s single off of junior Ed Bach (Columbia, Md./Atholton) (0-2) scored Brady Baxter to win the game.

The Retrievers opened the scoring in the second when sophomore Bryan Russo (Westbury, N.Y./Clarke) hit his third home run of the season over the left field fence. In the fifth, both seniors Wink Nolan (Ellicott City, Md./Calvert Hall/Maryland) and Brad Brainer (Chester, Md./Kent Island/Chesapeake JC) scored on wild pitches and junior Dustin Ferguson (North East, Md./North East/Cecil College) scored on a Brainer single.

Junior Kevin Clark (Alexandria, Va./Hayfield/Catonsville C.C.) started for UMBC, allowing two hits and one unearned run in four innings of work. Charlie Cononie started for the Tigers, allowing four runs in four and 2/3 innings pitched. Josh Squatrito (1-0) earned the win after pitching a scoreless ninth.

The Retrievers travel to Florida for Spring Break and return to action Saturday against Ohio State at 3:30 in West Palm Beach, Fla.