COLUMBUS, Miss. -  After spending the first three weeks of the 2022 season on the road, the Mississippi University for Women's baseball team made its first contest in Columbus worth the wait for its fans, with an 8-5 win over Greenville University. The win over the Panthers at Heritage Academy helped the Owls improve to 4-7 overall this year.
 
Righthander Joel Estabrook gave his team 7.0 solid innings of work. He gave up - just two hits and one earned run, striking out six and walking two. Unfortunately, Estabrook would not earn a decision, despite leaving with a 5-2 cushion.
 
In the eighth, Brandon Fenimore could not get an out, giving up two hits and hitting one batter. All three Panthers facing Fenimore would score to level the game at 5-5 through 7 ½ innings. Tyler Temple came on and closed out the frame.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, The W embarked on another of its two-out rallies, this time with the game on the line.  Thomas Tucker was hit by a pitch and Tanner Evans followed with a double, with Tucker holding at third. Joel Estabrook was intentionally walked to set up a force, which worked for Greenville after Austin Telano grounded into a double play, home to first.
 
With runners at second and third and two down, Blake Estabrook was also given an intentional pass to again set up a force at any base. That brought catcher Bret Linton to the plate with the base paths full of Owls. Linton promptly crushed a base-clearing double off the rightfield fence that provided the margin of victory, 8-5.
 
Temple closed out the Panthers in the ninth, as The W won for the fourth time in its last five games. Temple went 2.0 innings, scattered three hits and did not allow a run in getting the victory.
 
The Owls' productive eighth inning supplemented their first five runs of the night, four of which were unearned after Greenville miscues.  A solo home run by Tanner Evans in the seventh inning not only gave his team some breathing room, 4-2, but was also The W's first round-tripper of 2022.
 
MUW's 13-hit attack was keyed by leadoff man Blaize Gann. Gann went 3-for-5 and scored a run.
 
Evans, Joel Estabrook and Linton each amassed two hits, apiece.  Evans scored three times, while Linton had the three big RBI.
 
The two teams will play a 12 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday to cap the three-game series in Columbus.