KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Missouri S&T got back on the winning track Friday afternoon, sweeping a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader from Rockhurst by scores of 7-3 and 5-4 at Loyola Park.

The wins improved the Miners to 11-12 overall on the season and brought S&T to the .500 mark in the GLVC at 3-3, while Rockhurst dropped to 6-16 and 1-5 in the GLVC.

In the opener, the Miners broke a scoreless tie in the fourth when Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles) was hit by a pitch to start the inning and later scored on a two-out single by Matt Gruse (Neenah, WI/Neenah).

While S&T starter Dan Borek (Greenville, WI/Hortonville) was keeping the Hawks off the scoreboard, the Miners gave him some more runs to work with in the sixth with a three-run outburst. With one out, Swindle walked and stole second, then crossed the plate on a hit by Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield).

The Miners scored their other two runs in the sixth with two outs, as Connor Forsythe singled down the line in right to bring home Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) and Drew Aldana (El Paso, TX/JM Hanks) scored Gruse with a hit.

S&T added another tally in the seventh when Swindle drew a two-out walk and scored on a double by Knickerbocker and a subsequent error on the play.

Rockhurst broke the shutout in the opener in the eighth on a run-scoring single by Henry Weiler, then scored again before the inning ended on Corbin Hare's RBI single -- but the Miners got those two runs back in the seventh when Swindle doubled in Aldana and Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, TX/Cushing) before the Hawks got one in the bottom of the seventh.

Borek picked up the win for S&T, scattering eight hits over seven innings and striking out three.

Rockhurst outhit the Miners 13-10 as Knickerbocker had three of the Miners' 10 hits in the contest.

The Hawks took the initial lead in game two on a two-run single in the first by Alex Van Pelt, but the Miners overcame that deficit to take the lead in the third. 

With one out, Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) singled and moved on to third on a hit by Gruse, who took second on the throw.  Lira scored when Aldana hit into a fielder's choice, then the Miners would load the bases in front of Justus Nelson (Plymouth, MN/Robbinsdale Armstrong), who delivered a single into left center to drive in two and put S&T into the lead.

S&T would add onto the lead in the sixth when Gruse belted a two-run homer – and that turned into a critical blow as the Hawks got the margin back to one in bottom half of the inning on a two-run double by Tyler Edwards.    S&T starter Anthony Garza (Belleviille, IL/Belleville East) got out of the inning by getting pinch-hitter Tommy Kraus on a ground ball to second before turning it over to Matthew Lamb (Doniphan, NE/Grand Island) in the seventh.

Lamb entered the game with the one-run lead and proceeded to strike out the side in order – the last two on called third strikes – to preserve the victory for Garza and get the Miners to the .500 mark in conference play.

Both teams had seven hits in the second game, including three from Gruse and two from Lira.

The Miners and Hawks will wrap up their series with a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon.