KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Missouri S&T bounced back from being swept in a doubleheader Friday at Truman State by taking both ends of Saturday's twinbill from the Bulldogs to come away with a split in the weekend series.

The Miners jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in game one and went on to blank the Bulldogs 8-0 behind the first career shutout by Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic), then completed the sweep by taking the second game by a count of 4-3.

After the first hitter was retired by Truman starter Bryan Clark, the Miners broke loose against him for the four first inning tallies.  Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) singled and ended up at third following a wild pickoff throw, then scored when Adam Richter (Breese, IL/Mater Dei) reached on a fielder's choice to put S&T on the board.

A double down the line by Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles) was followed by an infield single off the bat of Zach Bracken (Berthoud, CO/Berthoud) that scored Richter, then with two outs, Jack DeGarmo (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) drove in a pair with a base hit.

S&T added to its lead in the third as Swindle drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and after an error that allowed Justus Nelson (Plymouth, MN/Robbinsdale Armstrong) to reach, came home on a double by Matt Reschke (Darien, IL/Hinsdale South).  Before the inning ended, the Miners scored another run on a bunt single by DeGarmo that brought home Nelson.

In the fourth, the Miners tacked on two more on RBI singles by Bracken and Nelson.

Marcheschi scattered six hits and struck out six to record his shutout, allowing only three baserunners over the first six innings and pitching out of a bases loaded, one-out situation in the seventh by getting a strikeout and a ground ball to preserve the shutout.

DeGarmo had a career-high three hits and three runs batted in for S&T, who had 11 hits in the opener.

The Miners also grabbed a first inning lead in game two as an RBI ground ball by Richter scored Eli Miller (Shelbyville, IL/Shelbyville), but the Bulldogs tied it in the bottom half of the inning against S&T starter Dan Borek (Greenville, WI/Hortonville) when a wild pickoff throw allowed Mason King to score.

S&T got the lead back in the second with much of the damage being done with two outs.  Nelson walked to open the inning, then Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) singled with two outs; a throwing error on the play allowed Nelson to come home with the go-ahead run.  Miller followed with a hit to score Knickerbocker to give S&T a 3-1 lead.

The Miners added another run in the fifth – one that turned out to be the decisive run – when Reid singled with two outs and scored on a double by Richter.

Truman got to within a run in the sixth on a two-run homer by Jon Lyons, but the S&T bullpen of Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax) and Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) shut the door on any additional rally efforts by the Bulldogs.  The hosts stranded two runners in the seventh and had two on in the ninth before Erger retired Dave Gambino on a ground ball to short with the tying run at second to end the game.

Miller had three hits for S&T and Reid and Richter added two apiece as the Bulldogs (12-25, 5-11 Great Lakes Valley Conference) had the overall edge in hits by a 10-9 margin.

The Miners (17-17, 8-8 GLVC) will return to action Tuesday when they host Fontbonne in a non-conference game at 2 p.m.