LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Missouri S&T's baseball team dropped a pair of contests Saturday at Bellarmine, falling back to the .500 mark in Great Lakes Valley Conference as a result. The Knights took game one 5-2 and held off a furious S&T rally in the nightcap to win 8-6.

 

In the first game, Bellarmine built a 4-0 lead by scoring two runs in each of the first two innings. A two-run single off the bat of Braxton Graven put the Knights on top on the first, then Chris Wiedmar hit a two-run homer off S&T's Caleb Lambert (Romulus, Mich./Inter-City Baptist) in the second.

 

The Miners cut the lead in half in the third, as Tim Kerouac (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) led off with a walk and reached third on a double by Brandon Cogan (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower). Hunter Scheib (Lawrence, Kan./Free State) drove in both runners with a hit to right center.

 

However, S&T missed opportunities in the fifth when it left the bases loaded and in the eight when it had two on and nobody out and failed to score. The Knights would add an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth.

 

Cogan had two of the Miners' six hits in the opener.

 

Bellarmine got out to a quick start in the nightcap as well, scoring three times in the first off freshman Kyle Robertson (Granite City, Ill./Granite City). Robertson settled down after that, holding the Knights scoreless on just two hits over the next four innings, but the Miners could only muster one run in that span.

 

That tally came in the third when Cogan led off with a hit and scored on a two-out double by Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic).

 

The Knights broke the game open in the sixth, however, scoring five times – all with two outs -- off four Miner pitchers. Nick Riganti's double after the second out was recorded extended the lead to 4-1, then four more run scoring hits followed later in the inning.

 

S&T made a valiant comeback in the seventh, getting five runs back and getting the tying run to the plate in the process.

 

After Caleb Smith (Calgary, Alta./Central Memorial ) walked to start the inning, an error and a walk followed to load the bases. After the next two hitters were retired, Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) singled to drive in a run, then Sam Adams (Forsyth, Mo./Forsyth) doubled to left to clear the bases and cut the lead to three.

 

Adams would score moments later on a hit by Matt Kempin (Wichita, Kan./Trinity Academy), but Knight reliever Cory Thomas entered the game and got Grant Brasher (Bridgeton, Mo./DeSmet Jesuit) to fly out to end the contest.

 

The Knights outhit the Miners 10-9 in game two, with Pieper, Adams and Kempin all getting two hits apiece for S&T.

 

The Miners (12-23, 9-9 GLVC) and Knights will play the second doubleheader of the weekend series Sunday at noon (Eastern time).