WESTFIELD, Ind. – Missouri S&T was unable to slow down Rockhurst's offensive attack Friday afternoon and saw its seven-game winning streak come to an end in a
15-7 loss to the Hawks on the second day of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at Grand Park.
After taking a 3-2 lead in the top of the third, the Hawks regained it in the bottom half and broke the contest open with a four-run fourth inning and a three-run fifth to send S&T into an elimination game Saturday morning.
The Miners will face Indianapolis at 9 a.m. (Eastern time), with the winner to take on Rockhurst at 3 p.m.
S&T missed a scoring chance in the first after getting its first two runners on base, as an interference call on a double steal led to an inning-ending double play. The Hawks then took the lead in the bottom of the first on Henry Weiler's two-run single.
The Miners staged a two-out rally in the second to cut the lead in half, as back-to-back hits by
Trevor Karbowski (Standish, Mich./Sterling Central) and
Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, Mo./Lutheran-St. Charles) preceded a throwing error that allowed Karbowski to score. S&T took the lead an inning later when
Tyler Johnson (Union, Mo./Union) singled,
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) doubled and
Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) brought home both with an opposite field single.
The two runs driven in by Ulrich increased his season total to 49, tying the S&T single-season record and also put him over 100 for his career.
However, the Hawks moved back in front in the bottom of the third and then took advantage of an error in the fourth to break the game open.
After Wylson Lamb singled to open the Hawks' fourth, David Stober's ground ball that could have turned into a double play was bobbled, leaving two on with none out. After S&T starter
Dan Borek (Greenville, Wis./Hortonville) got a fly ball for the first out, consecutive run scoring hits by Brett Marr, Seth Soto and Weiler pushed the Rockhurst lead to 8-3.
Rockhurst put three more on the scoreboard in the fifth as its starter, Andrew Ellwanger, was keeping the Miners at bay until the eighth, when a leadoff single by pinch-hitter
Tyler Schutt (Katy, Texas/Cinco Ranch) triggered an S&T rally effort that eventually led to the tying run coming to the plate.
Following Schutt's hit and a ground out, Karbowski and Swindle got hits – Swindle's scoring Schutt – to force Rockhurst to go its bullpen. However, the first hurlers out the pen were unable to squelch the rally as
Adam Richter (Breese, Ill./Mater Dei) drove in two with a double before Johnson drove him in with a hit to make it 11-7.
Miller was hit by a pitch to load the bases after the Johnson single, leading to a third pitching change in the inning by the Hawks. The fourth hurler of the inning, Alex Merithrew, got Ulrich to hit into an inning-ending double play on the first pitch to put an end to the uprising.
The Hawks pushed the lead back to eight with four unearned runs in the eighth.
Rockhurst finished the game with 19 hits to 16 for S&T, who was also guilty of four errors in the contest. Karbowski had four hits for the Miners, while Johnson had three. The Hawks had at least one hit in every inning except for the second.
Missouri S&T dropped to 35-16 with the loss, while Rockhurst improved to 29-22.
