SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri S&T got a big double play with the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday, allowing it to hold on for an 8-7 win over Drury in the first game of a four-game series between the top two teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference's West Division.

 

Game two of the scheduled doubleheader was postponed until Sunday – starting at 2 p.m. – due to wet field conditions. The final game of the series will take place on Monday at Meador Park.

 

S&T held an 8-3 lead after scoring twice in the top of the seventh, but Drury got two in bottom of the seventh and single runs in the eighth and ninth to cut the Miner lead to one. After a single by Maury Wilmes put pinch-runner Evan Jones into scoring position at second, Zach Gronek entered the game to pitch for S&T and got Bret Gallion to hit one back to the mound to start a 1-6-3 game-ending double play.

 

The victory moves the Miners past the Panthers into first place in the division, as S&T's ninth win in its last 11 games improved it to 11-14 overall and 8-1 in the GLVC. Drury fell to 10-9, 4-1 in GLVC play.

 

The Miners got on the board in the opening inning when Matt Kempin (Wichita, Kan./Trinity Academy) singled home Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla), but the Panthers scored single runs in the second and third to take a 2-1 lead. S&T responded by knocking Drury starter Chris Barratt out the game with a five-run outburst in the fourth.

 

With one out, Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) doubled and came home on a hit by Sam Adams (Forsyth, Mo./Forsyth). Following a walk to Zac Helton (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette), Drew Davenport (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West) doubled into the gap to score both runners and give S&T a 4-2 lead. Brandon Cogan (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower) followed with a two-run homer to left to give the Miners a four-run advantage.

 

Drury scored a run in the sixth on a hit by Gallion, but the Miners scored twice in the seventh to take their biggest lead of the contest.

 

The seventh started when Kempin reached on an error by the rightfielder, then he went to third on a double by Carter. Adams followed Carter's double with a triple to right center to drive in both runners for an 8-3 Miner lead.

 

Drury got a leadoff homer from Kendall Findley in the seventh, then the Panthers got an unearned run later in the inning when an error on what would have been the third out allowed a run to score. The Panthers cut the lead to two in the eighth with a run that scored on a double play, then staged the rally effort in the ninth that was snuffed out by the fourth double play turned by the Miners in the contest.

 

Despite being outhit 18-14, the Miners did get four hits from Morrison and three from Carter. Adams also drove in three for S&T, who won despite being struck out 15 times by four Drury hurlers.

 

Caleb Lambert (Romulus, Mich./Inter-City Baptist) pitched the first 5 2/3 innings to get the win for the Miners and Gronek picked up his first save.