WARRENSBURG, Mo. – Missouri S&T fired the first shot in Wednesday's non-conference game at Central Missouri, but the Mules threw a bigger salvo at the Miners in the bottom of the first, scoring seven times to propel them to a 10-5 victory.

 

Eaf Redden (Gunter, Texas/Gunter) hit a pair of two-run homers for the Miners, but his offensive exploits were overshadowed by the Mules' outburst in the first that put Central in control of the contest by the time the Miners came back to the plate in the second inning.

 

Redden hit the first of his two homers in the first, as he belted a 1-2 pitch from Ryan Dawson over the fence in right. Andrew Vance (Stilwell, Kan./Blue Valley ) reached on an error to start the inning and scored in front of Redden on the home run.

 

However, the Mules – who put 20 runs on the scoreboard Tuesday in a win over Missouri-St. Louis -- answered in the bottom half of the inning as S&T starter Zac Helton (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette) was only able to retire one batter. Central used four hits and a walk to score the four runs, then got a three-run homer from Matt LeGree to wrap up the scoring in the opening inning.

 

Redden hit another homer in the third with Vance on base to cut the lead to 7-4.

 

Central scored twice in the fourth to extend its lead back to five before the Miners got one back in the fifth, with Cody Bass (Chattanooga, Okla./Chattanooga) driving in the run with a ground out. Redden had walked with one out and went to third on a double by Thomas McCormick (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood).  The Mules scored the final run of the contest in the sixth.

 

Redden had three of the Miners' nine hits – all extra base hits as he added a double in the ninth – while Vance also had two hits for S&T. Central (17-9) had 10 hits on the evening, with six of them coming in the decisive first inning.

 

S&T (9-20) will return to action Saturday when it begins a four-game weekend series against Drury in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. The Miners and Panthers will play doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. each day at the S&T Baseball Field.