JOPLIN, Mo. – Back on the field for the first time in 22 days didn't deter Missouri S&T's baseball team Monday, as it came away with wins over Wisconsin-Parkside and 14^th-ranked St. Cloud State at Joe Becker Stadium.

The Miners, who had not played since Feb. 3, opened the day with a 6-4 win over their former conference foes, then were buoyed by a pair of three-run homers in game two to knock off previously unbeated St. Cloud State to complete their sweep on the day and improved to 4-2 on the season.

In the opener against the Rangers, S&T got on the board in the opening inning as Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, TX/Cushing) led off with a hit, which was followed by a walk to Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) and a two-run double off the bat of Matt Gruse (Neenah, WI/Neenah).  The Miners added onto their lead two innings later, thanks to a pair of defensive miscues by Parkside that led to two runs crossing the plate.

Knickerbocker reached on an error to begin the frame and stole second, then after moving along to third on a fly ball, he scored on Tim Lira's (Granger, IN/Penn) sacrifice fly.  Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) and Zach Bracken (Berthoud, CO/Berthoud) followed with back-to-back singles, then Kaleb Reid's (Smithville, MO/Smithville) fly ball was dropped by right fielder Matt Tegtmeier, allowing Baxmeier to score the second run of the inning.

S&T added two more unearned runs in the fifth, with Gruse reaching on an error to begin the inning and later scoring on a fielder's choice off the bat of Bracken, followed by Reid's triple off the fence in left center that chased home Bracken.

Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) had another solid outing on the mound for the Miners, scattering nine hits and striking out seven in eight innings of work.   The Rangers (0-6) scored their only runs off Marcheschi on Nick Eisenmegner's solo home run in the eighth and the first of three runs Parkside tallied in the ninth to draw closer.

Dominic Esposito's two-run homer cut the Miner lead to 6-4, then Eisenmenger doubled off the third base bag, but Conner Forsythe (Farmington, MO/Farmington) closed out the contest by striking out Kurt Mlachnik on three pitches.

Gruse had two of the Miners' nine hits in the contest and also drove in two runs.

The St. Cloud State contest saw the Miners jump on Husky starter Shannon Ahern for four runs in the opening inning, which started when Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) reached on an error with one out.  Gruse and Lira followed with hits – Lira's driving home Hayes – then Baxmeyer belted a three-run homer to give S&T starter Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) an early 4-0 advantage.

S&T added another run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Hayes, then the Huskies – who were set down in order by Erger in each of the first three innings, got to the Miner starter for three runs in the fourth.

The Huskies loaded the bases on three walks, then Caeden Harris got the first SCSU hit to drive in two runs and Toran Shahidi followed with another run-scoring hit to cut the S&T advantage to 5-3.

However, the Miners got those runs back in the fifth when Lira greeted SCSU reliever Matthew Osterberg with a three-run homer, then the Miners escaped trouble in the seventh when Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax) got Najee Gaskins to ground into a double play to end that inning.

Martin got another run to work with when Bracken knocked home a run in the seventh, then retired the Huskies in order in the eighth.  Chasen Anderson (Moscow Mills, MO/Troy Buchanan) pitched a scoreless ninth in his S&T debut.

The Miners outhit the Huskies (5-1) 13-6 in the game, with Lira and Baxmeyer getting three hits apiece that included their home runs.  Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) also had two hits for the Miners.