RENSSELAER, Ind. – Missouri S&T had its bats held in check by 25
th-ranked Saint Joseph's Sunday afternoon, as the Miners were only able to score two runs and suffered a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Pumas.
Saint Joseph's took game one
14-2, then pushed across a run in the bottom of the eighth to break a scoreless tie in a
1-0 nightcap victory.
The Miners were held to four hits in game two – three of them off the bat of
Justus Nelson (Plymouth, MN/Robbinsdale Armstrong) – by Puma pitcher Quinn Snarskis as he outdualed a quartet of S&T hurlers who held the Pumas off the scoreboard until the eighth.
S&T had its best scoring opportunity in the seventh, as it loaded the bases with one out without the benefit of a hit.
Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles) drew a walk, then an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt allowed
Adam Richter (Breese, IL/Mater Dei) to reach. Following another bunt that moved the runners up,
Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) was intentionally walked to load the bases, but Snarskis struck out the next two hitters to escape the jam.
In the eighth, Joshua Handzik doubled to lead off the inning, then an intentional walk and an error followed to load the bases.
Matt Lamb (Doniphan, NE/Grand Island) got Chase Fieldhouse to pop out for the first out of the inning, but Riley Benner singled off
Tate Bollweg (Butler, MO/Butler) to bring home the winning run.
The four Miner pitchers – which included starter
Anthony Garza (Belleviille, IL/Belleville East) and
Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax) – held Saint Joseph's to just five hits in the contest.
In the opener, the Pumas scored three times in the second off S&T starter
Dan Borek (Greenville, WI/Hortonville), two of them coming home on a double by Handzik. Saint Joseph's tacked on three more in the fifth, then broke the game open with a five-run sixth.
The Miners got on the scoreboard in the seventh when pinch-hitter
Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) drew a leadoff walk and later scored on
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, IL/Shelbyville)'s sacrifice fly, then Lira scored again in the ninth when he came home on a throwing error.
Saint Joseph's (13-2) outhit the Miners 21-7 in the first game.
Missouri S&T, who dropped to 9-8 on the year, will face the Pumas in another twinbill on Monday starting at noon.