SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri S&T ended up on the wrong end of a slugfest Saturday afternoon, falling 15-9 to Southern Arkansas on the second day of the Heffington Optical Classic at Meador Park.

 

The wild affair got started early as the Muleriders scored three runs in the bottom of the first, only to see S&T score three of their own in the second. Louie Joseph (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) drove in the first run of the frame with a hit that scored Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon), then a balk allowed Sam Adams (Forsyth, Mo./Forsyth) to come in and score.

 

Carter scored later in the inning on a passed ball to tie the game at three, but Southern Arkansas answered with four in the bottom half of the second to take a 7-3 lead.

 

S&T chipped away at the advantage, scoring a single run in the third on an RBI single by Carter to score Matt Kempin (Wichita, Kan./Trinity Academy) and two more in the fourth as Hunter Scheib (Lawrence, Kan./Free State) and Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) delivered run scoring hits to trim the margin to one.

 

But after the Miners cut the Mulerider lead to 7-6, SAU tacked on four more runs in the fifth and four in the seventh after the Miners scored in the top half of the latter inning on an RBI double by Carter.

 

The Miners added another run in the eighth when Morrison reached on a fielder's choice to allow Grant Brasher (Bridgeton, Mo./DeSmet Jesuit) to score, but couldn't draw any closer as they fell to 2-11 on the season.

 

Carter had four of the Miners' 13 hits in the contest, while Cogan finished with three hits. Caleb Lambert (Romulus, Mich./Inter-City Baptist) took the loss on the mound for the Miners. Southern Arkansas improved to 15-3 on the year with the win.

 

The Miners will wrap up play in Springfield Sunday when they face Ouachita Baptist.