BROSELEY -- Greenville just left the door cracked open a little too long and a little too often Monday as Twin Rivers overcame four separate deficits.
The Royals took advantage of Greenville mistakes late and rallied for an 8-7 walk-off win at Royals Field.
Twin Rivers (5-11, 2-3 OFC) scored all of its runs when trailing and only led once before snapping a nine-game losing streak. With the win, the Royals positioned themselves to secure at least the fourth seed in the upcoming Ozark Foothills Conference Tournament.
"We found a way to win one and recently we've been finding ways to lose them," Twin Rivers coach Jared Stockton said. "We've had leads in seven of the eight games we've lost recently, just weren't able to hold them. Today we couldn't hold the one we had but was able to come back and get it."
Twin Rivers finished with 11 hits and drew six walks, the biggest of which came late.
Trailing 7-6 heading to the bottom of the seventh, Greenville (1-7, 0-3) had the host Royals down to their final three outs with the bases loaded after Jamie Robards walked and Jalen Hicks was hit by a pitch. Preston Martin followed with a hit that appeared to be caught by Greenville's center fielder but popped out of the glove on his diving attempt, allowing Robards to score and tie the game.
Montana Kendle drew another walk one batter later to load the bases again. Four pitches later, pinch hitter Brady Leutert worked a full-count before taking ball four to give the Royals the literal walk-off win.
"I've told our guys all year that we've got 13 guys that I feel comfortable playing at any position, so even of they don't start they've got to be ready to go," Stockton said. "Brady was ready for his number to be called."
Robards went 3 for 3 with two runs scored and two RBIs for Twin Rivers, while Hicks finished 2 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Zac Hardin added a double and an RBI, and Preston Martin and Jackson Siebert each had two hits.
Jack Becker pitched 1 1/3 innings of relief for Greenville and was tagged with the loss after giving up the final two runs on a hit and three walks.
"It was a little uncharacteristic of him to not throw strikes but that's a tough spot for him to be in," Greenville coach Jeremy Smith said. "But we want to be in that position because if we run into that again in the spring, Jack and the other guys on this team will hopefully be better prepared for it."
The start was promising for the Bears, who jumped on top right away with a bases-loaded walk of their own off of Robards, the Royals' starter.
But the visitors stranded the bases loaded and faced their first deficit a half inning later when Robards helped himself with a two-run double before trading places with Jalen Hicks for a 3-1 lead.
But as the game wore on, leads weren't easily held on to by either team.
Zach Garrett led off the top of the second with a single and Clay Russell doubled before Greenville starter Tye Huff gave himself the lead again by belting a three-run home run over the left-field fence for a 4-3 advantage.
"He was great today despite kind of getting off to a slow start this year," Smith said of Huff, who was 1 for 1 with three walks and four runs scored. "He's going to be a big part of this offense, and seeing him hit that 3-1 pitch, it was amazing."
Hardin's RBI double in the third tied the game at 4-all in the second. The Royals had a chance to do more damage in the third when they loaded the bases with no outs. Instead, Huff fielded Martin's grounder hit right back to him and threw it home to start a 1-2-3 double play.
Huff got a strikeout to end the inning then drew a walk to load the bases in Greenville's productive fourth inning.
Noah Surratt came up with a two-run single two batters later to chase Robards and give the Bears a 6-4 lead.
Two Greenville errors in the fifth helped the Royals get right back in it.
Tanner Ledbetter reached on one to lead off the frame, Jamie Robards followed with a walk and Hicks came up with his second RBI hit to pull Twin Rivers within one. The sophomore advanced to second on a throwing error, moved to third on Martin's groundout and scored on a passed ball to tie the game for the second time.
"We've been fighting all year to come back, so it wasn't anything new for us," Stockton said. "Just a lot of resilience from our guys."
With two outs in the top of the sixth, Huff drew his final walk of the evening and stole second. Hicks followed with his third hit to give the Bears their final lead.
Hicks finished 3 for 3 at the plate while Surratt 2 for 2 with a walk and two RBIs.
"Even though we lost, I'm pretty excited about the progress we're making right now," Smith said. "Our record doesn't show that but it's little things we've done on the field that are helping this team grow."