SPRINGFIELD,Mo. – Drury used an early offensive outburst and held off a furious comeback by Missouri S&T to take the final game of the weekend series Monday evening by a count of 17-12 at Meador Park.

 

Monday's game saw S&T and Drury combine for 29 runs and 37 hits and it was the Panthers' early success that put the Miners in a hole that it couldn't quite climb out of as they lost for the third time in succession after winning Saturday's series opener.

 

The Miners jumped on top in the game by scoring three times in the opening inning, scoring the first run on a RBI double by Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) that scored Hunter Scheib (Lawrence, Kan./Free State), then Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) followed with a two-run homer.

 

However, the Panthers responded by scoring five times in each of the first two innings and getting into the Miner bullpen by the second inning. Drury had seven straight runners reach base in the first during that five-run outburst, then had six more reach in succession in the following inning.

 

S&T picked up two runs in the third, getting one when Sam Adams (Forsyth, Mo./Forsyth) reached on a fielder's choice to score one run and a subsequent throwing error the second run to cross the plate. Drury got those two runs back in the bottom half of the inning and tacked on four more in the fifth to extend its lead to 16-5 by the time that frame ended.

 

The Miners started chopping away at the margin the sixth, putting five runs on the board when they got into the Drury bullpen. After hits by Louie Joseph (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) and Tim Kerouac (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) to start the inning, Brandon Cogan (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower) drew a walk to load the bases. One run scored when Scheib hit into a fielder's choice, then Morrison hit a sacrifice fly to score Kerouac.

 

Following a walk to Pieper, Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) belted a three-run homer to cut the lead to 16-10.

 

S&T drew even closer an inning later, getting an RBI double off the bat of Kerouac and an run-scoring single from Scheib later in the inning, but that turned out to be as close would get. Drury added one more run in the eighth and closed out to win to finish with three wins in the four-game set between the teams.

 

Drury outhit the Miners 24-13, with Kerouac and Carter getting three hits apiece to lead the way for S&T. One of Carter's hits was the three-run homer in the sixth.

 

Zac Helton (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette), who started the game on the mound for S&T, was credited with the loss.

 

The Miners (11-17, 8-4 Great Lakes Valley Conference) will host Lincoln in a single game Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the S&T Baseball Field. GLVC play will resume for the Miners Friday when they face Rockhurst.