ROLLA, Mo. – A two-run homer by Drew Davenport (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West) in the bottom of the eighth broke a two-all tie and gave Missouri S&T its first season opening victory since 2003, as the Miners defeated Upper Iowa 4-2 Friday to begin the 2011 campaign at the S&T Baseball Field.

Davenport got ahead in the count against Peacock reliever Mario Madera and slammed the two-run shot to left that put the Miners ahead for the first time in the contest. Clint Wobbe (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS) was hit by the first pitch thrown in the bottom of the eighth and was bunted over to second prior to the Davenport homer.

Alex Dunn (Independence, Mo./Truman) finished off three perfect innings with a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up the victory in relief. Dunn fanned three of the nine hitters he faced in relief of starter Chris Bowe (Rolla, Mo./Rolla), who scattered five hits over the first six innings.

Upper Iowa grabbed the lead in the third as Patrick Arntson doubled with one out and scored on Rudy Casillas' two-out single. The Peacocks then got a solo homer from Kody McCauley to lead off the fourth before the Miners' Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) answered with a homer in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead back to one.

S&T tied the game in the sixth when Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) doubled to the fence in center to score Davenport.

The Miners finished with seven hits on the afternoon , with Pieper getting two of the hits as he reached base three times. Upper Iowa finished with the five hits it collected off Bowe in his six innings of work.

The last win for the Miners in a season opener came in 2003 when they beat Westminster 6-1.

S&T and Upper Iowa will face off in a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon to wrap up the weekend series.