KANSAS CITY, Mo. – As was the case on Saturday, Missouri S&T's baseball team followed up a first game loss to Rockhurst with a huge offensive performance, as the Miners ran up season highs for runs and hits in a 20-6 nightcap victory over the Hawks Sunday afternoon. The rout came after the Hawks took an 8-3 decision in the opener.

With the two second game wins, in which S&T scored 32 runs, the Miners remained above the .500 mark in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at 7-5 and overall at 13-12 heading into a home doubleheader Wednesday against Drury. S&T is currently in second place in the GLVC West, one game behind 8-4 Quincy.

The Miners rang up 22 hits in the nightcap and scored on all five Rockhurst pitchers that appeared in the game. Five different Miners had at least three hits in the contest and Drew Davenport (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West) finished with four, including a double in the first inning that was part of a three-run rally to open the game.

S&T got its first run of the inning when Lee Voth-Gaeddert (Hesston, Kan./Hesston HS) hit a sacrifice fly to score Will McCord (Kingman, Ariz./Kingman HS), then Davenport followed with a double and scored along with Josh Caffrey (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington HS) on a hit by Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic).

The Miners added to their lead in the second on an RBI ground out by Caffrey, then got two more runs in the third on a run-scoring single by Pieper and an unearned run on an throwing error that allowed Pieper to cross the plate.

Rockhurst got single runs in the second and third to trail 5-2 after three, but the Miners added a run in the fifth on an RBI single by Grant Brasher (Bridgeton, Mo./DeSmet Jesuit) and went to work on the Hawks' bullpen in the final three innings of the contest.

S&T tallied two runs in the sixth on a two-run double by Brasher that scored Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) and Caffrey, then posted five in the seventh to break the game open. The Miners opened the seventh with four consecutive hits, including a two-run single by Caffrey and an RBI triple off the bat of Carter. Following another sacrifice fly by Voth-Gaeddert, Pieper and Brasher recorded back-to-back doubles to make it 14-3.

Following a three-run seventh by the Hawks, the Miners put six more on the scoreboard in the eighth to lead to a run-rule victory at the end of the frame. As was the case in the seventh, S&T got four straight hits to start the inning, including RBI hits by Caffrey and Voth-Gaeddert to score the first two runs.

An RBI fielder's choice off the bat of Pieper brought home a run and an error during the play allowed the fourth run of the inning to score, then the Miners got a sacrifice fly from Andy Hall (Rolla, Mo./Rolla HS) and a run-scoring hit by Eric Van Dyke (Longmont, Colo./Silver Creek) to close the scoring.

Besides Davenport's four hits, the Miners also got three from Carter, Caffrey, Pieper and Brasher; the latter three also drove in four runs apiece. Zack Gronek (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) picked up his fifth victory of the year without a loss as he pitched into the seventh inning, allowing five runs on six hits. John Auble (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) threw the final 1 2/3 innings for S&T.

The 20 runs scored by the Miners tied the fourth-most in a game in school history and was the second highest in a GLVC game, topped only by the 21 S&T scored in a win over Wisconsin-Parkside last season.

In game one, Rockhurst took a 1-0 lead in the opening inning on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Porter, but the Miners tallied three runs in the fifth to take the lead.

Following a leadoff walk to Pieper and a wild pitch, Andy Hall (Rolla, Mo./Rolla HS) doubled to center to tie the contest, then another double off the bat of Nick Burke (Good Hope, Ill./West Prairie HS) brought home Hall with the go-ahead run. Burke moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an opposite field single by McCord.

The lead, however, was short-lived as the Hawks answered with five runs in the bottom half of the inning. Rockhurst took the advantage back on Patrick Chandler's sacrifice fly, which was followed by a two-run single by T.J. Dailey that gave the Hawks a 6-3 lead.   Rockhurst added two more runs in the sixth for the final margin.

McCord had two hits for the Miners, who were outhit 9-7 in the opener. S&T starter Chris Bowe (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) suffered the loss as he gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings.

The Miners return home Wednesday to face Drury in a key Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader, with the first game getting underway at 1 p.m. at the S&T Baseball Field.