GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire baseball team outlasted Beloit with a 13-10 victory in 12 innings.

Knox (1-2) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Kobe Shutter, scoring Paul Sanders. The Bucs tied the game 1-1 in the second and then added six more runs in the third to take a 7-1 lead. The Prairie Fire responded with five runs of their own in the third and tacked on two more in the fourth to take an 8-7 lead. Beloit tied it up in the top of the fifth and then Knox regained the lead by tacking on a run in the bottom half. The Bucs and Prairie Fire exchanged runs in the seventh and eighth to take a 10-10 tie into the ninth inning.  The teams both put up goose eggs in the ninth, 10^th, and 11^th innings before Auggie Ward's three-run walk-off home-run in the 12^th inning earned the Prairie Fire a win in their home opener.

Matt McCaffrey led Knox with four hits in six at bats, including an RBI double in the five-run third inning.  Sanders, Shutter, and Brendan Powers each finished with a pair of hits. Sanders knocked two doubles, with McCaffrey, Tristan Hannah, and Juston Woodard each added a double.

Jack Barreca earned the win with six innings of one-run ball. He struck out eight while only allowing four hits. Barreca pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the ninth to help send the game to extra innings.

Knox will travel to Jacksonville, Ill. on March 6 to battle Iowa Wesleyan in the final tune-up before their spring break trip to Florida.