SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Missouri S&T answered an early home run by Illinois Springfield by taking the lead in the following inning, then got a solid performance from starter Keith Coulson (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) to maintain the lead in a 4-1 victory in the first of a four-game series Friday afternoon.

Missouri S&T scored in the opening inning following back-to-back hits by Tyler Bodenstab (Independence, Mo./Truman) and Trevor Karbowski (Standish, Mich./Sterling Central); Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney)'s ground ball one out later allowed Bodenstab to score.  However, UIS tied the contest in the bottom of the first on Adam Warda's one-out solo home run.

The Prairie Stars threatened to take the lead later in the inning when they got two more runners on base, but Coulson was able to get out of the jam with a strikeout and a fly ball.

S&T rebounded in the second by scoring twice, loading the bases with nobody out and getting the two runs home on a ground out by Adam Richter (Breese, Ill./Mater Dei) as UIS got the first out, but the second run scored during a rundown at the end of the play as the Prairie Stars recorded the second out.

Coulson, who got a double play ball to get out of the third, got another double play from his defense to escape a two-on, nobody-out jam in the fourth.

After S&T got the second double play in the fourth, it got its first two runners on base in the top of the fifth and Ulrich brought home a run with a sacrifice fly to give the Miners a 4-1 lead.

Coulson retired the final five hitters he faced in the sixth and seventh innings, then came out after allowing a two-out single in the eighth to Trey Hannam.  Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) took over and got Kenny Hansen to fly out to end the eighth.

In the ninth, the Prairie Stars got their leadoff man on, but Ethan Krenning (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) induced the third double play of the day to erase that runner and got Aaron Kuper on a comebacker to pick up his first save.

In picking up his second win of the season, Coulson scattered seven hits and walked two while fanning two.

UIS outhit the Miners 8-6 in the game – Karbowski and Collin Zurweller (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt East) had two hits apiece for S&T – while Ulrich drove in two of the four runs.

The Miners (9-4) and Prairie Stars (2-4) will continue their weekend series Saturday.