ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Missouri S&T saw its 10-game winning streak and run in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament come to an end Friday, as the Miners dropped a 5-4, 10-inning decision to Northern Kentucky, followed by a 7-4 setback at the hands of Drury in the elimination game that followed.

The Miners, 29-17 overall, will have to wait until Sunday night to see if their season will continue at the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional.   S&T was ranked fourth this week in the Midwest region and won its first round contest over Bellarmine Thursday before suffering the two losses Friday.

Missouri S&T and Northern Kentucky, the region's third-ranked team, battled through a game where NKU answered every time S&T scored, then pulled out the win in extra innings.

After three scoreless innings, the Miners got on the scoreboard against NKU starter Andy Heston in the fourth. With one out, Josh Caffrey (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington HS) singled up the middle, stole second and scored on Lee Voth-Gaeddert (Hesston, Kan./Hesston HS)'s single to center. However, the Norse came right back and tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Brian Erie drove in Brad Clement.

The Miners regained the lead in the seventh by taking advantage of some of NKU's defensive positioning.  With the Norse's corner infielders playing inside the bag in an effort to control the Miners' bunting game, Ben Pieper (O'Fallon, Mo./St. Dominic) hit a ball off the glove of third baseman Brandon Wood for an infield single with one out.

Voth-Gaeddert followed with a ground rule double to left center, which would have scored Pieper had the ball remained in the field of play. Zach Carter (Perkins, Okla./Perkins-Tryon) was intentionally walked to load the bases, then with two outs, Nick Burke (Good Hope, Ill./West Prairie HS) looped a single over the head of first baseman Brett Cisper – who was playing in on the grass – to score two and give the Miners a 3-1 error.

But an error to start the bottom of the seventh gave NKU a chance to tie the game, which it did when Max Colaner tripled to score one run and crossed the plate himself a moment later on pinch-hitter Randy Weinel's infield out.

S&T took the lead for the third time in the eighth when Clint Wobbe (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS) opened the frame with a hit, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and fly ball and scored on a hit up the middle by Caffrey.

Once again, the Norse responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning. Reliever Nolan Korn (Cedar Hill, Mo./Northwest) hit Zac Asman to open the inning, which was followed by a hit-and-run single by Clement and a sacrifice fly by Bryan Rose to knot the score at four apiece.

The Miners had a good scoring chance in the 10^th after the Norse pulled Heston, as Burke singled to open the inning and on second after a walk to Will McCord (Kingman, Ariz./Kingman HS). However, Burke was picked off second after straying too far off the bag for the second out of the inning.

Following the pickoff – one of seven instances in the game in which the Miners lost a runner on the bases – Drew Davenport (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West) reached on a throwing error to put runners on second and third for Caffrey. The Miner catcher hit a ball near the mound that pitcher Brent Wethington barehanded and barely threw Caffrey out to end the threat.

In the bottom half of the inning – Cisper led off with a hit, moved to second on a passed ball, then to third on a sacrifice bunt. Clement, who already had three hits in the contest, singled between third and short to drive in the winning run.

The Miners outhit NKU 13-9 in the contest with Voth-Gaeddert going four-of-four. S&T also got two hits apiece from Caffrey, Pieper, Burke and Wobbe.

Chris Bowe (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) pitched into the seventh for the Miners, allowing just four hits and one earned run while striking out two. Harry Dunsford (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) suffered the loss in relief.

After losing that contest, the Miners had turn around and face Drury's Blake Wixson, whom they had not seen in any of the four previous contests between the teams that were all won by S&T. Wixson dominated the Miners in his eight-inning stint, retiring the first 14 Miners before Carter got S&T's first hit. Carter had the only other hit off him with a double in the eighth.

Drury broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the fourth. Emilio Villanueva drew a leadoff walk from Kyle Robertson (Granite City, Ill./Granite City), then R.J. Knese hit a ball between the mound and home plate that Robertson fielded and threw to first, with the ball and Knese arriving at the same time. The ball got away and the runners ended up on second and third.

An infield out scored the first Panther run, then McCord slipped a fell while preparing to catch Caleb Cole's fly ball that allowed the second run to score. Cole would cross the plate later in the inning on a wild pitch.

S&T got on the scoreboard in the sixth on Davenport's sacrifice fly, but the Panthers broke the game open with a four-run seventh off four Miner pitchers.   The big blow of the inning was a two-run double off the bat of Nick Thimesch.

Burke hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth and the Miners added two in the ninth on runs driven in by Caffrey and Pieper for the final margin.

Robertson took the loss despite allowing just five hits and one earned run in six innings of work. Carter had two of the Miners' four hits as Drury outhit S&T 9-4.

Missouri S&T was making its first appearance in a conference tournament since 1997.