SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Three unearned runs, including one with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, proved to be Missouri S&T's downfall in the first game of Sunday's baseball doubleheader at Drury, as the Panthers knocked off S&T 3-2. Drury completed the sweep with a 6-1 win in the nightcap.

 

S&T, which moved into first place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference's West Division Saturday when it won the opening game of the weekend series, fell out of the top spot as it dropped to 8-3 in league play and 11-16 overall.

 

The Miners broke on top in the opener in the top of the third. Sam Adams (Forsyth, Mo./Forsyth) led off the inning with a hit, moved up to second and then third on each of the first two outs of the frame, then scored on Brandon Cogan (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower)'s double.

 

Drury grabbed the lead in the fifth on a one-out double off the bat of Kendall Findley that scored two. S&T responded by tying the contest in the sixth on Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic)'s RBI double, but lost a runner at the plate in an effort to get the lead.

 

However, Drury reclaimed the lead by scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth, as an error with two outs allowed the go-ahead run to come home. The Miners got a runner on base in the seventh when pinch-hitter Louie Joseph (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) got a hit with two outs, but the Panthers got the final out to close the contest.

 

The Miners outhit the Panthers 6-5, with Pieper getting two of the six S&T hits. Andrew Page (Stoney Creek, Ont./Cardinal Newman) suffered a hard luck loss for the Miners, as he allowed no earned runs in the 5 2/3 innings that he worked and struck out two without issuing a walk.

 

In game two, the Miners missed a good scoring chance in the opening inning when they got runners on first and third with one out, then the Panthers got a run across the plate in the bottom half while S&T was turning a double play.

 

The Miners tied the game in the second when Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) led off with a triple and scored on a hit by Adams, but Drury scored twice on Brett Gallion's two-run single in the bottom of the frame to take a 3-1 lead.

 

The Panthers tacked on another unearned run in the fourth as the result of two errors in the inning and two more in the fifth for the final margin.

 

S&T's offense, which came into Sunday's doubleheader averaging 10.9 runs per game in GLVC play, was held to just three runs in the twinbill. Drury's Chris Marston held the Miners in check in game two, as S&T had just three hits off him after the second inning and struck out 10 times against the Panther righty during his 5 2/3 innings on the hill.

 

Adams and Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) had two hits each for S&T. Chris Bowe (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) took the loss on the mound for the Miners, who will wrap up the four-game series with the Panthers with a single game Monday at 4 p.m.