Missouri S&T overcame a nine-run deficit Tuesday afternoon against Missouri Southern, but the Lions came away with the victory by scoring twice in the top of the 10^th inning for a 14-12 win at the S&T Baseball Field.

 

Juan Hernandez, who saved the game for the Lions by making a diving catch at the warning track in the bottom of the ninth to send the contest into extra innings, hit an RBI double in the top of the 10^th to put Southern up for good in the marathon contest.

 

The four-hour, nine-minute game saw 39 hits and the use of 14 pitchers by the two teams, with a total of 54 hitters reaching base by hit, walk, hit batter or error.

 

Southern broke on top in the first on a home run by Skyler Rawlins and extended its lead to 4-0 in the fourth before the Miners got on the scoreboard. Tim Kerouac (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) led off the inning with a double and came in to score on Brandon Cogan (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower)'s one-out double. After Thomas McCormick (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood) walked with two outs, Cody Bass (Chattanooga, Okla./Chattanooga) delivered a run-scoring single to bring S&T to within two at 4-2.

 

However, the Lions broke loose for three runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to take an 11-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth – before the Miner bats came to life.

 

The bottom of the sixth started with a double off the bat of pinch-hitter Louie Joseph (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) and he later scored on an infield single by Cogan. Cogan's hit, which came with the bases loaded, left the sacks filled for Eaf Redden (Gunter, Texas/Gunter) to clear them with a double into the left field corner.

 

Redden would score on a hit by Drew Davenport (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West), then S&T got its sixth run in the sixth on Joseph's second hit of the inning.

 

The Miners drew closer in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Redden and an RBI groundout off the bat of Bass, then caught the Lions in the eighth when a throwing error by shortstop Fernando Lugo allowed pinch-runner Grant Johnson (LaSalle, Ill./St. Bede Academy) to come home.

 

MSSU moved back in front in the ninth on an RBI single by Jacob Taylor, but another throwing error by Lugo to start the bottom half of the ninth got the Miner rally started.

 

After Redden reached base on the error, Bass bunted his way on with one out and a subsequent throwing error allowed Redden to move on to third. Davenport followed by executing a squeeze bunt and Redden barely beat the tag at the plate to tie the score at 12.

 

S&T would then load the bases with one out, but Southern reliever Carter Lance struck out Johnson and then got the game-saving catch by Hernandez on a drive by Kerouac into the gap in left center.

 

Lugo would get on base with a hit with one out in the 10^th for the Lions and came all the way around to score on the double by Hernandez that put Southern back in the lead.

 

The Miners had 16 hits in the game, three from Cogan and two from six others in the lineup. Redden drove in four runs for S&T, who left 15 runners on base and fell to 6-15 on the season.

 

Mark Lupkey (Farmington, Mo./Park Hills), the sixth of the eight pitchers employed by the Miners Tuesday, was credited with the loss.

 

Missouri S&T will head on the road for its next eight games, beginning Monday with a doubleheader at Central Oklahoma.