ROLLA, Mo. – After posting 24 runs in a pair of wins Sunday over Missouri-St. Louis, Missouri S&T picked up right where it left off by taking two more from the Tritons Monday to complete a sweep of the four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series at the S&T Baseball Field.
The Miners posted a
6-4 win in the first game, then finished off the sweep by routing the Tritons
11-1 in the series finale.
After spotting the Tritons a run in the first inning of game one, the Miners tied the contest in the second when
Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) led off with a double and later scored on an infield out by
Brandon Farley (Vancouver, Wash./Heritage). S&T then broke loose in the third as it batted around and put five runs on the board to take a commanding lead.
The inning started with an infield single by
Tyler Bodenstab (Independence, Mo./Truman) and with one out,
Trevor Karbowski (Standish, Mich./Sterling Central) drew a walk. After UMSL starter Kurt McGuire got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Ulrich singled through the right side and Bodenstab scored as the catcher was unable to hang onto Justin Busekrus' strong throw to the plate.
The remaining runners ended up in scoring position after the throw to the plate, then
Adam Richter (Breese, Ill./Mater Dei) singled home both of them to give the Miners a 4-1 lead. A wild throw on the play allowed Richter to reach second and he scored moments later on an opposite field hit by Farley.
UMSL got three runs off S&T starter
Micah Dohlen (Kent, Wash./Kent Lake) with two outs in the fifth, but he got out of the inning when second baseman
Collin Zurweller (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt East) speared a ball that took a bad hop and threw out Shane Brinker at first with the tying runs on base.
Dohlen proceeded to set the Tritons down in order in the sixth and pitched around a one-out hit by Busekrus in the seventh to improve to 3-2 on the season. He scattered 10 hits – seven of which came in UMSL's two scoring innings – and fanned seven.
Ulrich and
Tyler Johnson (Union, Mo./Union) had two hits apiece for S&T, who finished with eight hits in the contest.
In the nightcap, the Miners took advantage of some early wildness from Triton starter Luke Hayes, as they loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batter. With one out, Ulrich doubled into the left field corner to clear the bases, then he scored himself on a triple by Richter.
S&T added to the lead in the third when Farley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, then after the Tritons (11-6, 6-6 GLVC) got on the scoreboard in the fourth on an RBI single by Jarret Clark, the Miners busted the game open with three more runs in the bottom half of that inning.
A throwing error on a sacrifice bunt by Johnson allowed the first run to score, then a balk brought home Bodenstab moments later. Portwood drove in the third run with a double down the line in left that scored Karbowski.
The Miners scored in the sixth on an RBI single by Richter, then ended the game with two runs in the seventh on run-scoring hits by Johnson and Karbowski.
Richter had three hits for the Miners in game two, while Karbowski and Portwood had two apiece. Ulrich drove in three for the Miners, who completed their first four-game sweep of a conference series in two seasons.
Keith Coulson (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) went the distance on the mound for the Miners (13-10, 8-4 GLVC), allowing only five hits and striking out two in his seven innings of work.
The Miners will be back on the field Wednesday when they host Drury in a noon GLVC doubleheader at the S&T Baseball Field.
