Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ROLLA, Mo. – Thanks to a strong performance by senior righthander John Auble (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South), Missouri S&T's baseball team gained a split of its Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader by taking the second game 3-1.  Rockhurst won the opener by a count of 7-3.

Auble scattered six hits and held the Hawks off the scoreboard until there were two outs in the top of the seventh, when a passed ball allowed the only run to score.  He struck out only one hitter, which came in the seventh, but got 17 of the other 20 outs on ground balls.

The Miners provided Auble with all of the runs he needed in the first two innings.  In the first, Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) drew a one-out walk, moved up on an opposite field single by Michael Lockett (O'Fallon, Mo./Timberland) and came around to score on Lance Portwood (Edmond, Okla./Edmond Santa Fe)'s two-out single to center.

An inning later, Reed Brown (Rogers, Ark./Heritage)'s double with one out scored Tyler Bodenstab (Independence, Mo./Truman) and Zach Siegel (Sarasota, Fla./Riverview) to give S&T a 3-0 lead.

Auble set down nine straight Hawks in one stretch after getting the three-run lead to work with.  He was aided by an early defensive play when Calin McCourt was caught off third after a ground ball was hit to Brown in the first and also got a double play ball after Stu Jeck's leadoff single in the second.

The Miners outhit the Hawks 7-6 in the second game as they improved to 15-19 overall and 9-11 in the GLVC.  Portwood had two of S&T's seven hits.

In game one, the Hawks scored twice in the second on a two-run double by Dalton Thompson and added two unearned runs off S&T starter Kyle Robertson (Granite City, Ill./Granite City) in the third.  S&T cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third when Brett Yasui (Mililani, Hawaii/Kamahameha) singled and stole second, then following a hit by Brown and his stealing of second, a wild pitch allowed Yasui to cross the plate.

Brown scored moments later on an RBI ground out off the bat of Bodenstab.

Rockhurst scored a run in the sixth that the Miners answered in the bottom half on an RBI ground out by Trevor Karbowski (Standish, Mich./Sterling Central), but missed opportunities to draw closer in that inning and in the seventh with runners on base and less than two outs.

The Hawks, who outhit the Miners 15-7 in the contest, pushed two more runs across in the ninth for the final margin.

Brown and Portwood had two hits apiece for S&T.  

The Miners and Hawks (13-19, 11-9 GLVC) will play another twinbill Sunday to complete the weekend series.  Sunday's game time has been moved up to 10 a.m., due to pending weather issues later in the day.