LAWTON, Okla. – The long ball proved to be the Miners' downfall Tuesday, as 26^th-ranked Cameron belted four timely home runs en route to a 12-2 win over Missouri S&T in the opener of the teams' two-game series.

 

The Aggies hit home runs in the third and fourth innings to take the lead, then hit back-to-back homers to open a seven-run sixth inning that broke the contest open.

 

Cameron broke on top in the first inning off S&T starter Zach Gronek, but the Miners came back to tie up the score in the third. After a leadoff walk to Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) and a sacrifice bunt, hits off the bats of Chris Kruppe (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and Brandon Cogan (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower) brought Morrison home.

 

But in the bottom of the third, Alex Lyons led off with a home run to put the Aggies in front for good at 2-1. One inning later, Clint Powell blasted a two-run shot off Gronek to extend the Cameron lead to 4-1.

 

S&T got a run back in the sixth after Cogan reached on an error with one out. Following a walk and a strikeout, Thomas McCormick (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood) singled up the middle to drive home Cogan to cut the Aggie lead to two.

 

However, Powell led off the bottom half of the inning by hitting his second home run of the game to chase Gronek, then Kyle Nyhart greeted reliever Mark Lupkey (Farmington, Mo./Park Hills) with the Aggies' fourth home run of the day. Cameron went on to score five more runs in the inning to make the score 11-2, then ended the game on the run rule with a run in the eighth.

 

The Miners were held to four hits in the game – two coming from Cogan – as they were shackled for a good part of the day by Aggie starter James Maxwell. Maxwell fanned nine in six innings and gave up just three hits during his stint in the game.

 

Gronek gave up five runs in five-plus innings to take the loss for S&T (7-17), who will wrap up its trip to Oklahoma with another game against Cameron Wednesday at noon.