Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri S&T was unable to overcome a rough first inning Thursday and dropped its opening round game in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament to Missouri-St. Louis 5-1 at the University of Southern Indiana.

The Tritons, who have won 22 of their last 26 games, scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back, frustrating the Miners throughout the afternoon and sending them into an elimination game at 6 p.m. tonight against either Northern Kentucky or Drury.

UMSL loaded the bases with one out against S&T starter John Auble (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South), then took the lead on a two-run single by John Pilackas.  Following a walk to Taylor Holman, Nolan Craig hit a ball off the pitcher's mound that sailed over the head of second baseman Michael Lockett (O'Fallon, Mo./Timberland), while allowed two more runs to cross the plate.

The Miners got on the scoreboard in the second on a leadoff single by Josh Caffrey (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington HS) and a double that followed off the bat of Will Morrison (Rolla, Mo./Rolla), but the rest of the day became frustrating for the Miners, with a number of hard hit balls right at UMSL defenders and missing two chances with the bases loaded in the late innings.

S&T hit into inning-ending double plays in the fifth and sixth innings, then loaded the bases in the seventh with two outs, but Lockett flied out to end the threat.  The Miners filled the bases again in the eighth on three consecutive hits, but Reed Brown (Rogers, Ark./Heritage) hit a fly ball to center that was not deep enough to score a run, then UMSL pitcher Jeremy Butler got pinch-hitter Kyle Rich (Olathe, Kan./Olathe South) to hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

Auble settled in after the first inning, throwing seven scoreless innings after that and allowing only seven hits in that span with three strikeouts.  The Tritons (30-19) outhit the Miners 12-10 for the game.

Morrison had three hits for the Miners (31-14), while Caffrey and Lockett had two apiece.