QUINCY, Ill. – Missouri S&T fell short in a back-and-forth affair in its opening round contest at the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Thursday, as Southern Indiana scored twice in the sixth inning and held on for a 7-5 win over the Miners.

In a game where each team held the lead on multiple occasions, it was the Eagles (34-19) who grabbed the last advantage and held on to send the Miners (35-18) to an elimination game Friday at 10 a.m. against Alderson Broaddus.

Southern Indiana took the initial lead in the contest on Sam Griggs' RBI single in the first, but S&T answered back in the second after its first three hitters reached base.

Consecutive hits by Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) and Trevor Karbowski (Standish, Mich./Sterling Central) were followed by a bunt single by Collin Zurweller (St. Peters, Mo./Fort Zumwalt East) to load the bases, then with one out, Adam Richter (Breese, Ill./Mater Dei) singled into the hole between first and second to tie the score.

Following Richter's hit, Karbowski scored when Justus Nelson (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) reached base when USI first baseman Andrew Cope dropped a throw, but the rally ended there when Lucas Barnett recorded back-to-back strikeouts to escape the inning.

S&T added to its lead in the fourth with two outs when Nelson walked, Tyler Bodenstab (Independence, Mo./Truman) singled and Tyler Johnson (Union, Mo./Union) was hit by a pitch preceding a walk to Eli Miller (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) to force home a run.

But with two outs in the fifth, Griggs drove in his second run of the contest before Ryan Bertram belted a two-run homer over the wall in left to give USI a 4-3 lead.

The Miners again answered in the sixth after Richter led off with a hit, moved ahead on a sacrifice bunt and a hit by Bodenstab before Johnson brought him home on a hit into right.  Miller, who earlier in the game tied Will Morrison's S&T single season record for hits with his 75^th of the year, hit a sacrifice fly to score Bodenstab with the go-ahead run.

S&T starter Aaron Bedsworth (New Bloomfield, Mo./New Bloomfield) retired the first hitter he faced in the sixth, but hit Cope with a full count pitch and allowed a double to Joe Redburn that led to a pitching change.  Keith Coulson (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) retired Hamilton Carr with a ground ball that scored the tying run, then Kyle Niemeier singled to right to score Redburn with what turned out to be the decisive run.

USI added a run on the Miners' only error of the game in the eighth inning, then S&T got the tying runs on base in the ninth against Eagle closer T.J. Decker before he recorded a strikeout to end the game.

The Eagles outhit the Miners 14-10, with Bodenstab, Zurweller and Richter all getting two hits apiece.  Bedsworth took the loss on the mound, allowing nine hits and striking out three in 5 1/3 innings.