BOLIVAR, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team made a spirited comeback Tuesday afternoon, but the rally from a nine-run deficit came up two runs short as Southwest Baptist handed S&T an 11-9 loss.

 

The Bearcats built an 11-2 lead through seven innings, but the Miners made the game close by scoring seven times in the eighth inning. But after S&T left the bases loaded to end that inning, it went down in order in the ninth to fall to 2-9 on the season.

 

S&T scored in the opening inning, getting a leadoff double from Brandon Cogan (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower) and a one-out RBI single off the bat of Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla). The Bearcats tied the game on Kyle Wise's home run to lead off the second, then scored three times in the third and fourth innings to build a 7-1 lead.

 

SBU extended that lead with two more runs in the sixth, then the Miners got a run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Matt Kempin (Wichita, Kan./Trinity Academy). However, the Bearcats tacked on two more runs in the bottom half of the inning to build the lead to 11-2.

 

In the eighth, Drew Davenport (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West) greeted SBU reliever Josh Seay with a single, then hits by Tim Kerouac (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) and Hunter Scheib (Lawrence, Kan./Free State) brought in the first run of the inning.  Another run scored on a groundout by Morrison and the third run scored on an infield single by Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon).

 

Following a hit by Kempin, Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) belted a three-run homer to cut the lead to three. Kerouac delivered another hit later in the inning to score the Miners' seventh run of the frame, then S&T loaded the bases before Seth Tucker got a strikeout to end the inning.

 

The Miners had a season-high 14 hits in the game – the first time they have had at least 10 in a game this year – getting two apiece from five different players.

 

S&T starter Nick Johnson (St. Charles, Mo./Duchesne) was credited with the loss as the Miners used five pitchers in the contest.

 

Missouri S&T will play in the Heffington Optical Classic this weekend in Springfield, Mo., beginning Friday with a game against Arkansas Tech at 2:30 p.m. at Meador Park. The Miners will also face Southern Arkansas Saturday and Ouachita Baptist on Sunday.