By: John Kean, Sports Information Director
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team was unable to overcome an early offensive onslaught by Arkansas Tech and as a result dropped a
14-5 decision in the first of its three games at the Heffington Optical Classic.
The Miners fell behind 2-0 in the opening inning before getting on the scoreboard in the third on an RBI single by
Brandon Cogan (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower) that scored
Sam Adams (Forsyth, Mo./Forsyth). However, the Wonder Boys got a pair of home runs in the bottom of that inning to score four times and take a 6-1 lead.
S&T cut into the lead by scoring twice in the fourth, taking advantage of two errors in the inning by ATU. The first was a throwing error that allowed
Matt Kempin (Wichita, Kan./Trinity Academy) to advance to third; he would score on a fielder's choice off the bat of
Louie Joseph (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic).
The second run scored when Cogan reached on an error later in the inning to allow Joseph to cross the plate.
Arkansas Tech blew the game open by scoring three in the bottom of the fourth and adding a single run in the fifth and two more in the sixth.
The Miners got their last two runs in the seventh on a two-run triple by Kempin that allowed
Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) and
Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) to score. Arkansas Tech (12-5) finished the scoring with two more runs in the seventh.
S&T finished with 10 hits in the game, getting two apiece from Morrison, Pieper, Kempin and
Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon).
Andrew Page (Stoney Creek, Ont./Cardinal Newman) was charged with the loss on the mound.
The Miners (2-10) will face Southern Arkansas on Saturday in their second game at the Heffington Optical Classic; game time is at 2:30 p.m.
