ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T led one time in Wednesday's game against 20^th-ranked Missouri Southern – but it was at the time when it mattered the most as the Miners rallied from a seven-run deficit to upend the Lions 12-11 in 10 innings at the S&T Ballpark.

S&T trailed 7-0 after five innings and 10-4 going into the bottom of the eighth, but scored six times in that half of the frame to knot the score.  After giving up a run in the top of the 10^th, the Miners rallied again, tying it on an RBI triple by Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, Mo./Lutheran-St. Charles) and winning the game one pitch later when a wild pitch allowed the Miner catcher to score.

The Lions took the initial lead in the contest in the third on Richie Gorski's sacrifice fly, then roughed up S&T reliever Bryan Nolan (Ballwin, Mo./St. Louis University HS) in the fourth with a five-run outburst – four of them scoring after the second out was recorded.  Jesse Ralls hit the first of his two home runs to start the scoring, then the next four scored on Hayden Steele's RBI triple, a wild pitch and a passed ball.

Ralls hit his second homer in the fifth to give Southern a 7-0 lead that it carried into the sixth inning, when the Miners finally got to Lion starter Kyle McCullough with help in part from some ragged defense by  the visitors.

The uprising started on a ball chopped in front of the plate by Tyler Bodenstab (Independence, Mo./Truman), who beat a throw that wound up going down the line in right to send him to second.  Following a hit by Swindle, Eli Miller (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) singled down the left field line to get S&T on the board; a bobble in the outfield put the runners on second and third.

Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) then reached on an infield single and as the throw to first was wild, Miller followed Swindle across the plate.  Moments later, Tyler Johnson (Union, Mo./Union) knocked in Ulrich to make it 7-4.

The Lions extended the lead to six with three runs in the seventh and carried that lead into the eighth – a point in the game where just a day earlier, they led by five and surrendered six runs in the final two innings of a loss to Central Oklahoma.

Southern would go to its bullpen to start the eighth – and would go back to it three more times before the inning ended with the game tied.

It all started when Ulrich and Johnson drew back-to-back walks with one out, prompting the first pitching change of the inning.  Lance Portwood (Edmond, Okla./Edmond Santa Fe) greeted Sean Goostree with an RBI single to center, followed by run-scoring hits off the bats of Matt Reschke (Darien, Ill./Hinsdale South) and Adam Richter (Breese, Ill./Mater Dei) to cut the margin to three.

Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, Texas/Cushing) drove in the fourth run of the inning with a ground out before Bodenstab reached on an infield hit to keep the inning alive.  A passed ball scored Richter to make it a one-run game, then after a walk to Swindle, Miller slapped a hit into left and Bodenstab beat the tag at the plate to tie it at 10.

After inducing a double play ball to get out of the ninth and retiring the first two hitters in the 10^th, Ethan Krenning (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) walked the bottom two hitters in the Lion order before allowing a hit to Jacob Bryant that fell in front of Bodenstab in center to put Southern back in front.  Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic) took over on the mound and fanned Gorski to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 10^th, pinch-hitter Collin Zurweller (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt East) drew a leadoff walk and after the Miners failed to bunt him over, Swindle hit a ball to the fence in left center for his game-tying triple.

On the next pitch, Miller squared around to bunt, but the pitch was thrown at his feet and went to the backstop to allow Swindle to cross the plate with the game-winning run.

The Miners (19-9) outhit the Lions (22-10) 15-13, getting two hits apiece from six different players.  Marcheschi, who was the last of the six pitchers used by S&T, got his second win of the season.

Missouri S&T returns to Great Lakes Valley Conference play Saturday when it hosts Rockhurst in the start of a four-game series.  The teams will play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday starting at noon.