EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri S&T's baseball team dropped a high-scoring contest Saturday to 15^th-ranked Southern Indiana as its rally effort from an 11-run deficit came up short in an eventual 16-10 loss.

 

The Screaming Eagles scored runs in each of the first six innings and in seven of the eight in which they batted. USI got a run in the first on Caleb Ehmke's RBI double, then tacked on three in the second and a single run in the third before the Miners got on the scoreboard in the fourth.

 

S&T's first run came when Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) singled with two outs, stole second and scored on a hit by Matt Kempin (Wichita, Kan./Trinity Academy). The Eagles, however, answered the run by scoring three times in the bottom half of the fourth.

 

The Miners scored again in the fifth when Sam Adams (Forsyth, Mo./Forsyth) led off the inning with a home run, but USI scored two more in its half of the fifth and three in the sixth to extend its lead to 13-2.

 

S&T cut into USI's lead over the next two innings, scoring three times in the seventh and four in the eighth to get the advantage down to four. Tim Kerouac (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) drove in two in the seventh with a double, then Carter – who had four hits in the game – drove in another with a single.

 

In the eighth, the Miners got an RBI double from Hunter Scheib (Lawrence, Kan./Free State), a two-run double from Drew Davenport (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West) and another run scoring single from Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla), but Dylan Mooney hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth for USI to stem the rally.

 

The Miners had 19 hits in the game – USI finished with 20 – with Kempin adding three hits and five others having two apiece to go along with the four posted by Carter. S&T starter David Birkby (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway West) took the loss.

 

The Miners (12-28, 9-13 GLVC) and 15^th-ranked Eagles (33-9, 19-3 GLVC) will wrap up the four-game series Sunday with a doubleheader which will begin at noon.