OZARK, Mo. – After scoring 11 runs in the final four innings of the first game of Sunday's doubleheader at Drury – albeit, in a 16-12 loss – Missouri S&T carried its offensive surge into game two to come away with a split and capture the final game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference weekend series with an 8-5 win at U.S. Baseball Park.

The Miners scored twice in the first inning of game two and never trailed in the contest, holding off a couple of late Drury rally efforts along the way.

In the opening inning, Eli Miller (Shelbyville, IL/Shelbyville) reached on an infield hit to start things off and Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) drew a walk.  Moments later, a wild pitch by Drury starter Trey Faulconer allowed Miller to score from second to give S&T the lead, then Reid scored on a Matt Reschke (Darien, IL/Hinsdale South) groundout.

S&T went up 3-0 in the third when Adam Richter (Breese, IL/Mater Dei) drove in Miller with a hit, then the Panthers trimmed the lead to 3-2 in the bottom half of the inning on RBI singles by Ryan Colombo and Nic Perkins.  But the Miners answered right back in the fourth, as Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) followed a one-out single by Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) with a triple, then Knickerbocker scored himself with two outs on a double by Miller.

The Miners increased their lead in the fifth on an RBI groundout by Justus Nelson (Plymouth, MN/Robbinsdale Armstrong) that scored Reschke before the Panthers cut the lead to 6-4 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning.   But in the seventh, Reschke delivered an RBI to put the S&T lead back to three, then after Drury scored in the bottom half on a Colombo RBI double, the Miners got the three-run advantage back in the eighth on Reid's RBI single that plated Jack DeGarmo (Liberty, MO/Liberty North).

Drury got the tying runs on base in the eighth with two outs, but Matt Lamb (Doniphan, NE/Grand Island) – pitching in relief of starter and winner Dan Borek (Greenville, WI/Hortonville) and reliever Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax) – got Caleb Essick to fly out to end that threat and got a double play ball in the ninth to end it and pick up his first career save.

Miller had four hits and three runs scored for S&T in game two, while Reschke and Knickerbocker had two hits each as both teams finished with 12. 

The opener was a tale of two games, as the Panthers scored 12 unanswered runs after S&T scored in the first, then the Miners made a furious rally effort over the final four innings that came up short.

An RBI groundout by Adam Richter (Breese, IL/Mater Dei) scored Miller – who led off with a double – in the first to put S&T in front, but the Panthers sent 12 men to the plate and took advantage of a pair of Miner errors in the bottom of the frame to score eight times.

Drury tacked on three in the second and a run in the third to go up 12-1 after three innings, before the Miners halted the  run by scoring twice in the fourth.

With one out, the Miners got back-to-back hits from Richter and Reschke prior to a run-scoring double by Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles).  Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) followed with a ground ball that scored Reschke.  After Drury responded with two in its half of the fourth, S&T put two more across in the fifth with a two-out uprising.

An infield single by Zach Wiegand (Coppell, TX/Parish Episcopal), a walk to Brett Yasui (Mililani, HI/Kamahameha) and a double steal led to the first run, then an RIB double by Reschke brought home the second run.

The Miners got to within 14-8 with a three-run sixth, as Wiegand, Yasui and Nathan Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) all drove in runs during the inning, but the Panthers scored two in the bottom of the inning before S&T went back to work in the seventh.

With one out, Lira doubled and Reid reached on an error.  DeGarmo drove in a run with a hit, then Kyle Hix (Harrisonville, MO/Harrisonville) tripled home two more to cut the lead to 16-11.  Hix scored the Miners' fourth run of the inning on a groundout by Wiegand.

Drury (15-7, 3-1 GLVC) outhit the Miners 20-15 in the first game; five different Miners had two hits apiece.  Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) took the loss for S&T.

The Miners (10-12, 1-3 GLVC) will return home Saturday to host Quincy in a noon doubleheader to open a four-game GLVC series.