STELA NIAGARA, N.Y. (Interstat) — Rees Kozar’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Niagara Purple Eagles to a 7-6 victory over the Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers on Thursday afternoon at Bobo Field in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matchup.

The back-and-forth affair concluded a two-game series that began with a Mount Saint Mary’s blowout win Wednesday. Niagara improved to 26-18-1, while the Mountaineers fell to 21-26.

Niagara’s Reuben Malamed earned top-star honors with five innings of work, allowing five hits and no earned runs while striking out one. He departed with a 5-0 lead before the Mountaineers chipped back.

Mount Saint Mary’s starter Riley Williams lasted 3 1/3 innings, yielding two earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts, but the game turned on defensive miscues and late-inning heroics.

Niagara struck first in the bottom of the first inning. Jacob Brooks singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Kozar’s single up the middle. The Purple Eagles added three unearned runs in the third after a right-field error loaded the bases. Kozar reached on the error, allowing two runs to score, then stole second and third before scoring on a wild pitch for a 4-0 lead.

The Purple Eagles extended the lead to 5-0 in the fourth when Nick Cote singled, advanced on a balk and scored on Matthew Ganschow’s groundout.

Mount Saint Mary’s began its comeback in the fifth. Ryan McKay doubled, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a fielder’s choice by Ty Fredo that also featured a throwing error by the third baseman.

In the sixth, Cameron Biller walked, advanced on two groundouts and scored on Sam Meyer’s single to left-center, cutting the deficit to 5-2.

The Mountaineers tied the game in the seventh. Joey Agar walked, Fredo doubled and Christian Bauman singled to score Agar. After Alex Mendes grounded into a double play, Fredo scored to make it 5-4.

Niagara regained the lead in the eighth. With one out, Cote singled and was replaced by pinch runner Nate Milk. Jason Green singled, then both runners stole bases. Ganschow singled to right, scoring Milk for a 6-4 lead.

Mount Saint Mary’s answered in the top of the ninth. Bauman singled, then Mendes homered to right-center, his two-run shot tying the game at 6-6.

In the bottom of the ninth, Brooks singled, moved to second on a wild pitch and was intentionally walked by reliever Josh Halcisak. Curtis McKay flied out to right, allowing Brooks to advance to third. Kozar then delivered the game-winning hit, a single to right-center that scored Brooks.

Kaden Kimble pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the Mountaineers, allowing no hits and striking out one. Maximus McCrary worked 1 1/3 innings, giving up one earned run. Halcisak took the loss after allowing one run in one inning.

For Niagara, Andrew Damiani threw 2 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs while striking out two. Matthew Ganschow went 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Kozar finished 2 for 5 with two RBIs.

For Mount Saint Mary’s, Bauman went 3 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Mendes was 1 for 5 with the home run and two RBIs. Fredo added two hits and scored twice.

The game featured 11 hits by the Mountaineers and 14 by the Purple Eagles. Both teams used five pitchers.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Niagara 7, Mount Saint Mary’s 3, and its ELO system gave the Purple Eagles a 64.90 percent probability to win. The teams meet again Friday for the series finale.