FLORENCE, Ky. – Missouri S&T's baseball team wrapped up a successful weekend road trip to the easternmost stretches of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, splitting a doubleheader Sunday at Northern Kentucky on the heels of its sweep Saturday at Bellarmine. NKU took the first game 7-5, but the Miners took the second contest by a 4-2 count.

The Miners overcame a four-run deficit in the opener, but the Norse scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to pull out the win. S&T saw NKU make up a two-run difference in the second game, but the Miners scored runs in the fifth and seventh innings to improve to 5-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and 11-10 overall.

In the second game, the Miners gave starter Zack Gronek (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) a 2-0 lead in the third as Drew Davenport (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West) singled with one out and Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) hit a ground rule double to put runners at second and third. Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) followed with a hit through the hole to put the Miners in the lead, which was followed by Lee Voth-Gaeddert (Hesston, Kan./Hesston HS)'s successful squeeze play to score Carter with the second run of the inning.

NKU got single runs in the third and fourth innings to tie the contest, but the Miners retook the lead in the fifth when Davenport drew a leadoff walk, stole second, moved to third when Pieper reached on a bunt single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Voth-Gaeddert.

Gronek retired the Norse in order in the fifth and sixth, then got an insurance run in the seventh when Voth-Gaeddert drove in his third run of the afternoon when he bunted in Davenport.

The Norse got the tying runs on base with nobody out in the seventh, but after a sacrifice moved both into scoring position, Gronek closed out the game by striking out Patrick Hyde and getting Bradley Vanderglas to ground out.

In his second straight complete game performance, Gronek allowed just five hits and struck out nine without walking anyone. He got offensive support from Davenport and Pieper, who had two hits apiece, and Voth-Gaeddert with his three runs batted in.

Northern Kentucky jumped out to a 4-0 lead after four innings in game one off S&T starter Chris Bowe (Rolla, Mo./Rolla), scoring once in the third and three times in the fourth. The Miners got on the scoreboard in the sixth when Will McCord (Kingman, Ariz./Kingman HS) and Davenport had back-to-back doubles to open the frame, but the Miners couldn't get any more in that inning.

NKU got that run back in the bottom of the sixth, but the Miners staged an uprising in the seventh that eventually knocked out Norse starter Blake Bagshaw out in the process.

The inning started with a hit from Josh Caffrey (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington HS), then with two outs, Clint Wobbe (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS) drove him home with a hit up the middle. McCord and Davenport followed with hits, the latter of which scored Wobbe, then Carter reached on an error to keep the inning alive and scored McCord in the process. Pieper tied the game with a hit that brought home Davenport.

However, the Norse got two runs across in the bottom of the eighth off S&T reliever John Auble (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South), taking the lead on Zac Asman's two-run double with two outs in the inning. The Miners went down in order against Andy Heston in the ninth.

The Norse outhit the Miners 11-10, with McCord, Davenport and Pieper getting two hits apiece for S&T.

The Miners are scheduled to return home for a non-conference game Wednesday against William Woods at the S&T Baseball Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.