ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team grabbed a lead in the fifth inning Tuesday afternoon, but was unable to hold onto that advantage as it fell for the fourth straight time by a count of 9-6 to Lincoln University at the S&T Baseball Field.

 

The Miners, who had just completed a four-game series against Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division leader Drury on Monday evening, struggled defensively in the first half of the contest and offensively after taking that lead in the fifth.

 

Lincoln jumped on top with an unearned run in the first off freshman Kyle Robertson (Granite City, Ill./Granite City), but the Miners knotted the score in the bottom half when Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) walked with two outs, Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) was hit by a pitch and Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) drilled a single to left to score Morrison.

 

The Blue Tigers, however, scored three times in the second as they took advantage of two Miner errors in the inning. Chris Pfau's two-run single put Lincoln in the lead, then the third run scored on an infield out.

 

S&T tied the score in the third, scoring all three after two outs were recorded. Morrison doubled with one out and scored on a two-out single by Carter. A wild pitch followed, then another after Matt Kempin (Wichita, Kan./Trinity Academy) was hit by a pitch, before both runners scored on a single to center by Sam Adams (Forsyth, Mo./Forsyth).

 

Lincoln regained the lead in the fifth when a run scored on a passed ball, but the Miners scored twice in the bottom half to move in front for the first time. Carter doubled with one out and later scored on an error, then S&T took the lead on a squeeze bunt by Zac Helton (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette) that scored Kempin as he slid around the tag at the plate.

 

LU's Joey Pate tied the game with a leadoff homer in the sixth, then the Blue Tigers went back into the lead in the eighth when Greg Lawson delivered a two-out single off Zach Gronek that scored Kyle Henke with the go-ahead run.

 

The Blue Tigers added two more runs for insurance in the ninth as the Miners managed only three hits in the final five innings after winning pitcher Cody Dudenhoeffer entered the contest for LU.

 

Lincoln outhit the Miners 14-9. Carter had three hits for the Miners while Adams had two and drove in three on the afternoon. Gronek was tagged with the loss for S&T (11-18), who will return to GLVC play Friday when it hosts Rockhurst in a doubleheader at 1 p.m.